Six Wakes

high stakes clone shenanigans in space.

A spaceship being crewed by clones is beset by a unique murder mystery where the murder in question is everyone’s, after they all wake up after an emergency reset to a massacre of their own previous bodies and a system wipe and disabled ultra-sentient AI to prevent any of them from knowing what happened. It’s a big twisty reveal where we learn the backstory and the connections of each character, and in real time unpack what has happened to them, past and present, before whatever it is can happen again. There are only six of them, plus the AI, and at least once before, everyone ended up dead, and whoever did it must be one of them…

While I know I had some focus issues, I did enjoy this because it's my favorite kind of sci-fi: fun, fast-paced, and weird! It involves clones and assassins and yeah, I was engaged.

At first, I thought it was a Dark Matter episode. But it turned out to be way cooler and much more delightful. Fun read, and left me pondering AI and personhood.

A locked room murder(s) mystery on a generations spaceship run by ex-cons pursuing redemption. A good mix of action, detective-style reasoning, and backstories with a satisfying ending.

I expected to like this book more than I did. I got it on sale at Audible. I'd heard good things about it. I know of Ms. Lafferty from various podcasts she's been associated with in the past, and I liked her then. So when I saw that she had narrated the audiobook, I thought that it would be fine. I'm sorry to tell you that I felt that it was NOT fine. It's a murder mystery. That part's fine. It's about clones. That part's fine. The plot is a bit convoluted. That part's fine, though maybe a little confusing sometimes. The technology is often a bit like magic. Ok, I can handle varying amounts of handwavium. The problem for me was the narration. Ms. Lafferty does a straight reading of the book, without varying voices for different characters. That made it a bit hard FOR ME to tell who was speaking sometimes. Her relatively noninflected narration sometimes made it hard to follow what was happening. There are obvious edits where the audio levels drop, and then return to previous levels, which made the whole thing sound a bit unprofessional TO ME. Perhaps the novel length isn't the best choice for her. So yeah, a bit disappointed that my choice of format probably hindered my appreciation of the story. Maybe some day I'll eye-read it and then I'll see if I like it better. If I do, I'll update the review.

I liked Mur Lafferty's Shambling Guides books a whole lot, but SIX WAKES represents a significant level up for her. It's a great murder mystery, a terrific character study, and top notch science fiction.

Interesting point of view, and completely changes the idea of a generation ship from generations of people to generations of clones. "A man with no soul will mourn its loss, every day of every life. A man with a grudge and nothing to lose can hunt; it's not like he fears hell anymore. You can't confess the loss of a soul. You can't do penance when there is nothing to heal inside you."

This was a book with a really nice premise, but I feel what the author wanted to write got lost along the way, or needed to be done in multiple books, to allow this story the amount of time it needed to be told. The entire focus of the cover information, is "Six Crew, One Ship, One Killer" and six clones wake up with no memory of their murder on a space ship, and must find out who the killer is before they strike again. I turned down buying this book about five times because I hate the cover. As an Illustrator, I am a HUGE butthead and absolutely judge books by their cover. This cover would be fine if it wasn't for the figure, it doesn't need it, and I was not surprised to see a credit to "Getty Images" inside, as it is obviously a skateboard stock image where the skateboard has been poorly photoshopped out. But they kept the skinny black jeans, sneakers, and short-sleeved black shirt. Even though the characters spend the whole book in boots and jumpsuits. But... WHATEVER. Rant over. So on to the actual book. I read this quickly, it was interesting enough, but me reading a book quickly is honestly usually not a good sign. But to the author's credit, the pacing for most of it was good, and it kept me interested enough to read on and on. The plot of this book is started when 6 people awake on a space ship, all clones, with only the memories of first launching. They quickly see a massacre as their previous bodies had all been murdered, and had all aged at least 25 years. The clone bay is broken, their AI is offline, and they need to find out what happened, and protect their current bodies, as there is no coming back this time. Oh, and they are all criminals, this is a colonizing ship where the crew accepted being awake for 400 years in exchange for clean slates on the other end. Since they are all criminals, and their crimes aren't revealed to each other, WHO DID IT? ooooooohhhhhohohohoho However, I went into this book expecting a thriller in space, murder mystery, and people being picked off one by one. To my defense, that's what the cover implied. However, that is not what this book is about. This book is about the history of clones in this world. Which is interesting in its own right, and really well fleshed out. The author brings some nice new things to the table regarding clones and you can tell they spent a long time planning it. However, it would have been more eagerly accepted by me, had I known this book was going to focus on that rather than the mystery. The book is set up in one chapter in the present, one chapter in the past, repeat, formula. So for every chapter, we have in the present, we are then given the backstory on each character, the backstory they don't even know. When I first described this book to my partner, I had focused on the clone part, comparing it to Altered Carbon, and it's the murder of a clone, who can't remember who killed him. However my partner pointed out the glaring similarities to the show Dark Matter, a bunch of people wake up on a ship, with no memories, and they are all criminals + an AI. They then unravel their pasts while trying to figure out what happened to them. This was such a glaring similarity that it kind of killed the book a little for me, so I'm probably too biased at this point. I understand everything is a derivative of something else, but sometimes it's super hard living with a savant for media who always know what something is a derivative of. My greatest problem, is honestly this book could have been saved if it borrowed the format of Dark Matter MORE. Dark Matter very intelligently delivered the backstories of its amnesiac crew. The viewer received the information at the same time as the crew member does. Every bit of the past is utilized to propel the present and support the present plot, even the delivery of the past, keeping us firmly grounded in the present. However, the author of this book chooses to just give us their backstories separate from the present. Every other chapter is just a backstory, it's not someone finding it, it's just given. , and so the reader just kind of sits on this information waiting for it to hit the fan. Because the crew in Six Wakes, KNOWS their backstory, just not the last 25 years, this information doesn't really affect their actions, not nearly as much as it should, so it's just information, we don't even really get to see the excitement or drama revolving around this info coming to light in the finale, as the finale is so rushed, and none of it really matters at that point. Had the information been delivered through the vehicle of the present, and more time spent in the present for these revelations to affect the crew, and build distrust and confusion, then we might have had a far more successful story. Instead, when it does finally get revealed, and everyone knows everyone's secrets and how they are connected, it's delivered with a giant book equivalent of a "shrug". The character's who should be way more affected by it get over it as if someone had just eaten the last cupcake, rather than ruined their past lives or affected their very being. The majority of the mystery is delivered over a few shortish chapters, that feel like segways to the chapters about the history, rather than the other way around. Also, it's primarily just everyone saying "that's just conjecture" "that can't be proved" "we can't point fingers" only for the big finale reveal to fit under all the same categories, but this time they're okay with pointing fingers. There is never a clear cut answer, just the answer everyone chooses to accept. Rather lackluster and disappointing. My other main issue was a series of inconsistencies with the world, and the arguably main character Maria. With so much time being focused on the backstories, you'd think the author would have spent time on making sure there were no plot holes. In one flashback, Maria makes it very clear that confidentiality is very important to her and her clients, and all removed or unused data is given back, she never keeps it. However, in a pivotal point of the book, she just happens to have all the memories of another character because of the "Squirrels away" and hoards data. It did establish that she squirrels away data, but it was also established that she never squirrels away data from clients, let alone for a job she has no memories of. SO it was an awfully convenient plot device to allow the present plot to advance. They also were able to do something that knows one has been able to do, (I don't' want to spoil it), and everyone says that Maria would get a Nobel for it, all because she's just THAT SMART. She was too smart, oh and super nice, and people who should hate her, don't because she's just so likable. It was very forced and convenient for the author. The ultimate reveal is equally as forced, the reasoning behind the whole thing is just so absurd, and ostentatious, that it's not believable. I described both of these things to my partner and was met with a "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard" and even I, queen of finding excuses, Duchess of suspended disbelief, couldn't deny that he was right. The format of this book destroyed it, leaving me uninterested in the present, the lack of consequences for the past also made me feel nothing for any of the characters (who were all kind of the same person anyway). The overload of the past made me question what the goal of the book was, a history of this world, or a murder mystery. The past was not utilized to further the plot of the present, which made it easy to forget about the present, causing the whole thing to feel like two novellas, the History of Clones, and a bunch of people sit on a space ship and go "so you did it" "no, I didn't " "oh, ok then, then it must have been the" "no probably not" "oh okay". The author should have allowed the past plot points needed to be delivered by the actual characters and ground the book in the present. Perhaps delivering the full stories separately as short stories, or as follow-ups to the reveal and consequence of the reveal. Rather than keeping this book so disjointed. However, if you were to remove all the flashbacks, there isn't enough meat to the present story to stand alone. Yet the flashbacks don't help the present much, which means the book doesn't have enough meat. They just make the book bigger. The author should have made sure they had a strong story for the present first. I feel like even my review is starting to get disjointed in my attempt to explain how disjointed this book is. This author has great ideas, and a solid base for a world of clones, however, they did not pick the right way to deliver it, leaving us a lackluster book with an underutilized concept, that is arguably a little too derivative of two successful, recent, shows. If they were to choose to revisit this world they've created, in another way, I'd read it in a heartbeat, because they really did excel at that. However, I highly suggest they study character development, and psychology before biting off too much again, as this book failed at delivering non 2d characters that realistically are affected by their own pasts and each others.

Mur Lafferty kannte ich bislang zwar nicht als Autorin, aber als Host diverser Podcasts, wie damals „Escape Pod“ oder aktuell „I should be writing“. Aug ihr Buch bin ich aufmerksam geworden, weil es zu den diesjährigen Finalisten der Hugo Awards gehört und ich gern das ein oder andere Buch von dieser Liste lese. „Six Wakes“ ist auf den ersten Blick ein „locked-room mystery“: auf einem Raumschiff geschahen gruselige Morde – aufgelöst werden sie von den Klonen der Opfer. Zunächst weiß man als Leser nicht, worum es hier eigentlich geht, wer diese „Menschen“ sind, was ihre Mission ist und wieso diese Taten begangen wurden. So besteht der Anfang des Buches darin, ein wenig Ordnung in dieses Chaos zu bringen und den Crewmitgliedern bei der Auflösung der Situation zur Seite zu stehen. Doch schon bald wird klar, dass es hier um deutlich mehr geht. Klonen gehört in dieser Gesellschaft zur Norm, allerdings wird die Technologie nicht zu Vervielfältigungszwecken eingesetzt, sondern sie ist eine Option der Verlängerung des Lebens. Es darf jeweils nur eine Kopie eines Menschen existieren, dessen „Mindmap“ (was ihn als Persönlichkeit ausmacht, seine Erinnerungen, Erfahrungen, usw.) werden auf den Klon 1:1 und ohne Veränderungen übernommen, auch seine DNA bleibt gleich, sein Körper erwacht jedoch in einer starken, frischen Form. Während die Besatzung den aktuellen Ereignissen auf den Grund geht, werden nach und nach Hintergründe zu ihrer Vergangenheit offengelegt und darin wiederum erfährt man als Leser, dass die Situation der Klone in dieser Welt nicht so einfach ist, wie sie erscheint. Man lernt etwas über die geschichtlichen Entwicklungen der Technik, dem Umgang mit den Kopien, den politischen Bestrebungen und religiösen Ansichten. Insbesondere das Kapitel, in dem die Religion im Vordergrund steht, fand ich hochinteressant. Die Diskussion darüber, ob ein Klon tatsächlich die Seele seines Vorgängers besitzt oder lediglich eine maschinelle Vervielfältigung ohne eigenen Charakter darstellt, hätte meiner Meinung nach vertieft werden können. Sie ist der stärkste Erzählstrang in diesem Buch, voller Emotionen und wertvoller moralischer und ethischer Aspekte, die zukünftig im Hinblick auf Künstliche Intelligenz eine Rolle spielen könnten. Mur Lafferty bringt großartige Ideen zum Thema „Klonen“ in ihrer Erzählung ins Spiel. Sie reißt sie grob an und überlässt es dem Leser, sich auszumalen, welche Folgen dies für das Zusammenleben hat. „Six Wakes“ ist nicht nur hervorragende Unterhaltung. Es regt außerdem zum Nachdenken darüber an, wie KI oder das Klonen sowohl eine Gesellschaft als auch den Einzelnen verändern können, denn mit den Möglichkeiten kommen auch die Gefahren eines Missbrauchs und man wird sie nur eindämmen, niemals aber verhindern können. Ein tolles Buch für Einsteiger in das SciFi-Genre und genug Grübelstoff für Fortgeschrittene!

If you like the idea of a locked room murder mystery that takes place on a cool sci-fi space ship, with interesting and multifaceted characters involved, then this is the book for you. Plus this story had so many cool concepts pertaining to cloning that I’ve never even thought of before.

The characters wake up on a spaceship in a cryogenic chamber that looks like a bloodbath and they have to sort out whodunnit. They have this giant microwave thing that can make pigs.

Sort of like a wolf game: six astronaut clones wake up being recently murdered and re-cloned all of them. Who did that - and why? The book also provides very interesting looks at some disturbing consequences of cloning / brainmaps.

3.5

This read was part of a book club round robin. Very interesting premise. I enjoyed all the twists and turns.

Quality characters, smart story-telling. Genuine feel of mystery due to great writing rather than simply "there's no way you could know this because I didn't tell you...hahaha" that most do. I really liked all the characters, how they were developed, and their interactions.