#the spare man

[literary-illuminati]

Book Review 44 – The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

Alright, first full novel I’ve read entirely due to it getting a Hugo nomination. In retrospect that fact that there was absolutely no wait list for it at the library was perhaps a sign I should have paid attention to. I’m not sure it’s a bad book, exactly, but my god is it just chock full of little things that grated on me (which more or less tracks with my very vague memories of casually perusing The Calculating Stars when it first came out, so probably just a sign Kowal’s not for me, really.)

The story’s set in a fairly grounded space age future, on an ultra-lux cruise liner taking its passengers from Earth to Mars in speed and style. Tesla Crane, heiress, celebrity, and generally incredibly famous and unfathomably wealthy, has booked one of the nicest suites in the earth-gravity section of the ship under a false name to enjoy some anonymity on her much anticipated honeymoon cruise. Things of course take a drastic turn as a woman is murdered outside their sweet, and her spouse is framed for the crime. The shipboard security is obstructive and suspicious, bodies keep piling up, and it’s largely up to Tesla to solve the murder and clear his good name.

So first off – this is largely a style thing that grates on me far more than it should, and it probably effects my overall reading experience to an entirely unjustified degree, but – the standard etiquette in the story’s future is for everyone to use the gender neutral Mx. Using gendered terms like wife, husband, sir, m’am, or similar is also called out as being somewhere between archaic and offensively retrograde. Also, it is totally standard courtesy to list someone’s pronouns in any case where you’d their full name. In which case what is the point of taking so much care to be gender neutral of everything else. (In a sense this actually inspired worldbuilding, insofar as it’s exactly the sort of stupid language games high aristocracy or its equivalent tends to love, but the reading experience kind of grated).

The society’s generally very consciously progressive in a way that kind of calls attention to itself. It really wasn’t a surprise to see in the acknowledgement’s section that all the mentions of courtesy masks being a thing were edited in as covid happened. This is all mostly just background noise though, as far as narrative focus the only things that really occupy the story’s attention are its portrayal of disability and its bizarre class politics.

So, a key point of her backstory is that some years before the story, a lab disaster (during a demonstration of a personal assistance mech, which is actually some incredibly bitter dramatic irony I’m surprised the story doesn’t call any attention to?) killed six people and left Tesla with permanent spinal damage, chronic pain, and PTSD. Medical science doesn’t seem to have made many innovations on a cane or breathing exercises as far as mobility aids and PTSD treatment goes, but it does provide the absolutely incredible wish fulfillment device of a switch in your brain that lets you turn your pain sensitivity up or down at will. Tesla’s disability is a recurring thing throughout the book and generally the portrayal seemed fine to me? A couple conversations that bled into ‘giving the reader an important message’ territory, but only slightly and hardly the worst in the book.

The book’s attitude to class and wealth though, woof. Like, okay, the story is clearly a bit of a pastiche, a sanguine attitude to vast inequality and social hierarchy are necessary for the whole fantasy to work, but my god in that case please stop calling attention to it. The book so badly wants to simultaneously be progressive and have Tesla’s life be as maximally glamorous and exalted as possible that it gets twisted into this incredibly awkward spirals showing that she’s a good hyper-elite oligarch which really only call attention to the issue without doing anything to resolve it. Her internal monologue including some variation of the line ‘normally I hate just using money as a bludgeon to get what I want, but” happens a few too many times for it to not make un less likeable than an aristocrat who owns it.

Like, this is potentially uncharitable, but the book seems to take it as read that I find the idea of demanding to speak to a manager and having them grovel and apologize for how I’ve been disrespect far more alluring than I do? Not being that customer is a subject Tesla ruminates on at some length, and at the same time calling up her high priced lawyer and threatening to bury the whole cruise line in lawsuits while they rush to provide apology gifts is definitely portrayed as this thrilling power fantasy. It all left me actively rooting against her, at least a bit.

The actual mystery itself honestly wasn’t much to write home about – a bit confused, red herring introduced blatantly and too late, the obviously suspicious and personally unlikable character was the villain – but in a similar vein it did seem…telling, that the guy who’d been positioned as the unlikable asshole oligarch in opposition to Crane was secretly a murderous gold-digging imposter all along! Also, the fact that this was proven by a photo showing the oligarch to have been a dog guy, and the imposter being quite literally the only character in the entire book who didn’t adore Tesla’s emotional support dog. Like, c’mon.

Speaking of the dog – the book had a few recurring beats which I’m sure I’m supposed to have found funny or endearing but just overstayed their welcome with me several times over. The entire cast’s brains leaking out whenever they saw Tesla’s westie like it was some sort of platonic ideal of canine cuteness was one of them, along with like, Tesla and her spouse making out at a moment’s notice because a plot point meant that their encrypted tele-chat required skin-to-skin contact, and the book doubling as a cocktail guide. All things that if I’d liked the book I could have easily overlooked, but as is were just extra straws on the proverbial camel’s back.

Anyway, yeah, didn’t work for me.

[whilereadingandwalking]

It was so lovely visiting Milwaukee last weekend. We have a special love for the beer Spotted Cow, which you can only buy in the state of Wisconsin! I spent a lovely afternoon drinking it with my Mary Robinette Kowal.

[judgeitbyitscover]

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

Cover art by Jaime Jones

Tor, October 2022

Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again.

[mercury-waters]

three books i loved in october

murder your employer by rupert holmes || mystery(?), academic setting

an innovative book that presents itself as a covert textbook from a mysterious murderous academy, telling the story of three characters who go through personal journeys to off their enemies.

half sick of shadows by laura sebastian || fantasy, camelot, minor romance

a feminist retelling of the arthurian myth centering around the prophetic lady of shallott, and a powerful story about friendship and destiny.

the spare man by mary robinette kowal || mystery, sci-fi, glitz & glamour

an heiress and her new spouse are framed for murder on their honeymoon trip and must find the real killer to avoid disaster. bonus points for including a fancy cocktail recipe at the top of every chapter.

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Spare Man | Author: Mary Robinette Kowal | Publisher: Tor (2022)

[lizabethstucker]

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

2 stars out of 5.

Couldn't get into this one at all despite it having all the elements I tend to like, particularly the Nick and Nora Charles vibe the main characters were giving me. It was very wooden, not engrossing at all. Barely kept my attention. I've enjoyed other books by this author, finding her writing to be strongly character driven, which I love. Frankly if I didn't know better, I would've guessed that this was a debut novel. Probably would've given Kowal a slightly higher rating if it had been.

Then there was Tesla. Unlike Nora Charles who was kind to everyone, no matter their place in life, Tesla had a bit of underlying entitlement that annoyed me every time it came up. Okay, you have more money and accompanying power than anyone else, but that's no excuse. That may also be an issue that dragged my enjoyment down. shrugs

As to the mystery itself, it was okay. Could've had tighter plotting, but I've read worse. I didn't find it that hard to guess what was going on pretty early on, but that doesn't necessarily hurt my opinion of a mystery, even one held in space. So I'll give that a pass.

My end thoughts? This really didn't need to be in space. Might've even worked better if it was on a ocean liner set in the 1920s, after the Great War, but before the buildup of things leading to World War II. Would I recommend it? Well, I wouldn't go out of my way to discourage anyone opting to read it, but this particular book wouldn't be one I would immediately think of to mention to friends.

[eyeheartboobiez]

happy father’s day to the amazing father of all eighteen of our children🥹 it was a hard birth, but anything for you kento🫶🏿

[geomimetry]

woe be upon ye

[hinamie]

7/3: pov u r nanami kento pleased that i managed to pull smth together in time for your bday

[vonzimofancy]

I finally gave up and got another copy of The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal after searching everywhere including the trunk of my car for my former copy. Absolutely baffled. Don't know where it went. The only possible answer is sneaky book gremlins.

[torpublishinggroup]

oh look a new class, and 3 book recs!

TOR WRAPPED 2023

Books for every Spotify Wrapped listener class! 

VAMPIRE

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Mordew by Alex Pheby

HYPNOTIST

The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu

Daughter of Redwinter by Ed McDonald

Spring’s Arcana by Lilith Saintcrow

ALCHEMIST

The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller

The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

SHAPESHIFTER

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

The Warden by Daniel M. Ford

Wolfsong by TJ Klune

FANATIC

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

The Fragile Threads of Power by V. E. Schwab

TIME TRAVELER

Kinning by Nisi Shawl

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

MASTERMIND

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

Exadelic by Jon Evans

COLLECTOR

The Wolfe at the Door by Gene Wolfe

Cassiel’s Servant by Jacqueline Carey

The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

[literary-illuminati]

It's also just kind of disorienting to go from

The Mountain in the Sea: the mere fact of owning a megacorporation is proof positive that this once in a generation genius is evil, as whatever her personal standards the logic of capitalism is such that subordinates and subsidiaries will cross them in pursuit and endless profit for her benefit

Even Though I Knew Thr End: the fact that Marlowe can throw around endless amounts of money despite doing nothing visible to acquire it, and lives in secluded luxury waited upon hand and foot by layers of servants, is an incredibly unsubtle way to signpost "THIS WOMAN IS A LITERAL ACTUAL DEMON"

To

The Spare Man: our heroine is a second generation telecom oligarch on an ultra-ultra-ultra lux honeymoon cruise, and the story is just resolutely not interested in exploring this one little bit.

[whilereadingandwalking]

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal is an absolute joy. In this space mystery, Tesla Crane is a famous inventor who's traveling undercover in order to better enjoy her honeymoon with new husband and retired detective, Shal. But when a murder occurs on the ship, and Shal is the one arrested by ship police, Tesla will do anything she has to do to get her husband back—including solve the whole damn thing herself.

From Tesla's absolutely precious service dog Gimlet to the twists and turns of a "closed-door" (I should say, closed-ship) murder mystery, this novel was hard to put down: fun, playful, sexy sci fi. Kowal's writing is excellent, bringing in great details—for example, Tesla's lawyer could only respond to situations on delay, which at turns was hilarious or suspenseful. And the disability representation was really good—Tesla deals with both PTSD and severe chronic pain, and uses implants and occasionally a cane to manage. So a great murder mystery, a well-written novel all around, and great disability rep to boot.

And then to cap it all off, I get to the back of the book and Kowal admits that the trivia contest in one of the chapters is playable! Infuriating. I haunted down all of the answers but still haven't been able to figure out the overarching theme despite spending way too much time working on it!

Content warnings for violence, alcoholism, panic attacks/PTSD, suicide, ableism.

[thegothiclibrary]

Review of The Spare Man—Murder Mystery in Space

Don’t you hate it when someone gets murdered on your honeymoon? To make matters worse, Tesla’s brand new husband gets accused of the crime in The Spare Man, a brilliant sci-fi mystery thriller from Mary Robinette Kowal, which came out last year.  Continue reading Untitled

[caffichai]

Polar bears are like, legendarily chubby! So here's my artistic take on Aurora

[reddy-reads]

I had a disappointing day but I started a new book: the spare man by mary robinette kowal.

I love it so far. It is a murder mystery set on a cruise ship IN SPACE. The protagonist is a former engineer and heiress who has chronic pain and a service dog who is super cute. She and her husband are trying to enjoy their honeymoon. And each chapter starts with a cocktail recipe. The overall style feels very glamorous in, like, a post-prohibition kind of way? I'll check back in when I've finished the book. I'm really enjoying it