A review by aspiringcowboy
The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

3.0

while this is well-written and i absolutely was engaged by the retrofuturist vibes of the universe, there are some things about the story that really bug me. there's a running commentary on gender, privilege and disability throughout the work, and for the most part, it's well done - except for when it comes to tesla's privilege and status as a person of wealth. with such a utopia re: other issues, like the elimination of gender (which is something i found both interesting but also unnecessary - i think we can make spaces for genders beyond the male/female binary and allow genderless options without completely stripping ourselves of terms like "wife", "husband" etc, and there's just a point where it kind of seems to say, "if you use anything gendered, you're not exactly being inclusive," but where does that leave trans people who fit onto the gender binary and WANT to use gendered terms?), why is there even a social hierarchy based on money? why is tesla so famous and beloved because of her family name and wealth? it's stated in the book she tries to be "aware" of her privilege, but by the point it's said out loud, she's already weaponized her identity and wealth so much that it comes across almost as an afterthought to acknowledge the immense power she wields because of her wealth. every use of "i want to speak to the manager" or the tongue-in-cheek inner commentary about how often tesla uses that exact phrase makes me cringe. i'm not sure if the intention is supposed to be that tesla is attempting to not use her privilege, but ultimately does since that's typically how it goes with people of means, even those who want to be allies to those of "lesser" means, but it's just really hard to ignore the very present capitalist nature of the main character when it's how so much of the plot moves forward - because once her identity is fully made public (since she and her spouse had been traveling under fake identities), she's allowed to interfere almost unhindered with the investigation, primarily because she throws her money around to make it possible, and without those funds there wouldn't be any way for her to solve the mystery.

but if you overlook the capitalism, tesla's not too bad of a main character. her spouse is far more interesting to me and i wish he'd gotten just a little more development, but the portrayal of tesla's disability was refreshing. it's present without being her entire character, like often becomes the case. the only real downside is how the mystery is seemingly solved because of her service dog and how everyone seems to agree only a villain would Not be "charmed" by her little dog - so i guess people like me who are scared of dogs and would not want to be around gimlet are bad, or something :/

all this criticism aside, i really do want to reiterate how engaging this story was. i love noir and i love space and the marriage of the two was very well done. i think kowal did a great job at painting a vivid portrait of the setting, and although i think the pacing could have been quicker (particularly there were some bits that felt repetitive, like the continuous cycle of shal being released from custody > they drink > something happens > shal is a suspect again, etc), there was never a moment where it felt like the ending came out of nowhere. it's a very well-choreographed mystery. i'll definitely be giving some of her other books a chance, despite the mixed feelings i have about this one.