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rogoreads 's review for:
The Spare Man
by Mary Robinette Kowal
This book was alright. I found myself wanting to finish quickly, though I wonder how much of that is me trying to make sure I got the mystery resolution before I forgot all the details that were chucked into the story. In between endless cocktails, awkward makeout sessions the main characters used as a pretense to communicate subvocally, everyone cooing over the dog, PTSD and pain management, hand-wringing about swinging privilege around...it's a lot. Add in the asynchronous conversations with the lawyer; the strange geometry of the ship that I couldn't quite visualize, despite the little map at the front; and me losing track of when they were interfering with the murder investigation vs. when they were supposed to be suspects. Basically, the book felt both chaotic and labored at the same time. A lot of the bits of characterization and setting were cool, but the repetition made things drag.
Maybe it's a me problem, though. I read the first Lady Astronauts book and some of the same things bothered me there, too: romantic chemistry not working for me, and repeated hammering on mental/physical tics that I suppose are realistic but don't make for an engaging read. But while Lady Astronaut had more of an emotional character arc, I didn't really see one for Tesla. She's sort of the same at the beginning and end of the book, other than starting incognito and ending resigned to the fact that she isn't anymore, as the cruise lavishes her in apology offerings for all the trouble that went down. Other reviews have covered how she throws her wealth around once she drops her disguise; I also didn't see her and Shal's antics as charming if I tried imagining what it would be like as a server just trying to do my job. But I'll throw in an extra star for managing to bait me into staying up too late reading.
Maybe it's a me problem, though. I read the first Lady Astronauts book and some of the same things bothered me there, too: romantic chemistry not working for me, and repeated hammering on mental/physical tics that I suppose are realistic but don't make for an engaging read. But while Lady Astronaut had more of an emotional character arc, I didn't really see one for Tesla. She's sort of the same at the beginning and end of the book, other than starting incognito and ending resigned to the fact that she isn't anymore, as the cruise lavishes her in apology offerings for all the trouble that went down. Other reviews have covered how she throws her wealth around once she drops her disguise; I also didn't see her and Shal's antics as charming if I tried imagining what it would be like as a server just trying to do my job. But I'll throw in an extra star for managing to bait me into staying up too late reading.