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lizlbarrett 's review for:
The Spare Man
by Mary Robinette Kowal
Soft four stars. I liked a lot of the pieces of this novel - the world building and ideas were novel and fun. A cruise ship mystery in space is really fun. The main character was a bit unlikable and her main power was calling the manager and being rich, but I liked her husband and the other characters.
As a mystery it was kind of flat, with the ending feeling a bit tacked on. A good mystery should have the reveal click into place and illuminate the earlier plot. To make it a surprise the bad guy can imitate voices and there’s been no earlier clues about this is a bit of lazy. There were so many plot threads and red herrings that didn’t go anywhere - the other roboticist wanting to have a conversation, the missing robots, the purpose of the kidnapped kid plot, why the dog was kidnapped. The more I think about it the more the plot seems chock full of threads that didn’t go anywhere and weren’t resolved.
I love to find new ideas in speculative fantasy and give a lot of points to novelty. This book has that in spades. The plot though needed a good editor
As a mystery it was kind of flat, with the ending feeling a bit tacked on. A good mystery should have the reveal click into place and illuminate the earlier plot. To make it a surprise the bad guy can imitate voices and there’s been no earlier clues about this is a bit of lazy. There were so many plot threads and red herrings that didn’t go anywhere - the other roboticist wanting to have a conversation, the missing robots, the purpose of the kidnapped kid plot, why the dog was kidnapped. The more I think about it the more the plot seems chock full of threads that didn’t go anywhere and weren’t resolved.
I love to find new ideas in speculative fantasy and give a lot of points to novelty. This book has that in spades. The plot though needed a good editor