Reviews

The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Ann Older

puddledunk's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

3.5

turrean's review

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This reminded me of Lord Peter Wimsey and Sherlock Holmes (but more gay…) as well as Becky Chambers’ version of the settlement of outer space. The protagonist’s examination of her beliefs about her personal relationships and her life’s work are nicely parallel. 

elektrasoph's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious slow-paced

4.0

freya_amber's review

4.5

Enjoyable short read.

Sherlock Holmes (mystery with a smart and focused detective lacking a few social skills) combined with Murderbot (leftist sci-fi novella series), then make it sapphic.

I think I should have read with my eyes to comprehend the tying up of threads at the end a bit more.

kaixaron's review

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This needed more time, I think. There were interesting aspects but most of them fell flat. Cool setting and some decent world building. Post-apocalyptic humans taking refuge on Jupiter is an interesting concept, and I liked the way it was handled. I like some of the themes as well, though I wish they were explored just a little more. I always enjoy the idea of Greedy Humans Destroyed Earth, but it was only ever brought up a handful of times, and never seemed to go anywhere. 

The characters were incredibly one-dimensional so the romance especially ended up lacking. Despite being the narrator (and especially it being in first person) Pleiti had very little input for a huge chunk of the story. She really just gives a play-by-play of the plot. Mossa is a very typical detective archetype. Neither show much personality until the end, though I can't say that is from any sort of character development. The climax of the romance subplot also happened at a weird point in the book as well. (yes do please make out in a garden like you dont have a criminal tied up in your house????) 

I didn't love the way the mystery wrapped up. Perhaps this was just a me issue, because it took me so long to get through this book, but I didn't feel like I was following many threads. It also relied too much on the characters spelling everything out at almost every step. I feel as if they didn't make much progress in the actual case until about half-way through the book, and up until that point they did quite a bit of just going from A to B then back to A and then stopped at home for tea and scones.

The writing itself felt too clunky at times. Dialogue tags were sometimes placed mid-sentence, which made the dialogue itself read weird. 

I wanted to enjoy this book significantly more than I did, but nothing about the story really pulled through. The setting was good, but the characters needed more work, and the mystery just didn't keep my attention like it needed to.

ladybugvalentine's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

mustlovedragons's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

cloudyfields's review

adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

lynnebetweenthelines's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.0

lacyparrish's review

3.0

I have heard many raves about this novella (this one and the series), so I had decent hopes of really enjoying it. I'm not sure if the writing style isn't for me, if novellas aren't the best way to dive into this world or if I simply just didn't vibe with the characters ... or some combination of the three. This is simply a book that I read -- nothing really that I remember at this point about a week later. The mystery wasn't super engaging, the second-chance romance was too low-key for me to get into, and the pacing throughout was what I imagine riding one of the old-style railcars to feel like. 

Full Rating (out of 10 possible): 5.286 (based on a modified CAWPILE system)
Romance level (out of 5 possible): 1 (for full closed-door, chaste intimacy scenes)