Name: The Spare Man
ISBN: 9781250829160

Mary Robinette Kowal

Hugo, Locus, and Nebula-Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal blends her no-nonsense approach to life in space with her talent for creating glittering high-society in this stylish SF mystery, The Spare Man. 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. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Spare Man

I wanted to enjoy this book so very badly, but it wasn't worth starting. The mystery is not compelling, there are too many characters, the main character (Tesla Crane) is almost insufferable to read through as she has nothing special to offer but her wealth and fame. I appreciated the author's attempts at representation in the areas of gender identity, PTSD, and disability accommodations, but those were the only good things about it. The dialogue tried far too hard to be clever; every time I read anything the lawyer, Fantine, had to say I just skimmed it because she speaks like "oh I'm so witty" word soup. The romance throughout the book was deeply off-putting to me; people are being murdered left and right and these two newlyweds are suddenly able to flip a horny switch on without a care. Even when Tesla's service dog is missing! It did not feel authentic to the emotional needs of the scenes and the plot was a whole ass mess. This was my first time reading Mary Robinette Kowal. I have been listening to her podcast, Writing Excuses, for years and I have trusted her writing advice—advice she doesn't appear to follow in her own writing.

Katelyn Caillouet

Thoroughly enjoyable sci-do murder mystery, and after reading the short bits afterwards about the science and other thoughts that went into this book, I want to read all of her books.

Katy Watkins

Some minor side mysteries weren't wrapped up, and seemed to have been weird just for the sake of throwing suspicion off the actual culprit. But Overall super well done mystery that had me guessing, and seeing the representation of a chronic pain sufferer- how that reflects into her relationships and into how she handles herself in tense scenes. I loved seeing that. I also adored the very well thought out, subtle science future that Kowal built. The science is wacky, but the societal aspects make total sense and are easily imaginable, grounding everything into being much more realistic. 

I'm also not entirely convinced Annie and Jalna weren't involved in something themselves. They're too shady, there's too many questions about their activity, and none of them are addressed. 

Christine Bruce

Some minor side mysteries weren't wrapped up, and seemed to have been weird just for the sake of throwing suspicion off the actual culprit. But Overall super well done mystery that had me guessing, and seeing the representation of a chronic pain sufferer- how that reflects into her relationships and into how she handles herself in tense scenes. I loved seeing that. I also adored the very well thought out, subtle science future that Kowal built. The science is wacky, but the societal aspects make total sense and are easily imaginable, grounding everything into being much more realistic. 

I'm also not entirely convinced Annie and Jalna weren't involved in something themselves. They're too shady, there's too many questions about their activity, and none of them are addressed. 