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A review by singlier
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older 3.5/5 ๐
The Mimicking of Known Successes is a short story following Investigator Mossa uncovering a missing person's cases. In this world, humanity has been relocated to Jupiter, where they live on elevated platforms connected by railcar about the planet's gaseous surface. As she digs into the case, she seeks the aid of her old college flame Pleti, a Classics scholar and co-worker of the missing person. As our two characters uncover a secret conspiracy against the Earth Preservation society, we as reader gain knowledge of how this world came to be: how the Earth was destroyed and polluted, how all species of plants and animals were cloned, and how the ultimate goal of Classical scholars is to study the literature of Earth in order to rebuild the lost ecosystems and return home.
The mystery of this story...is not great. I'm not super compelled by the characters or the events happening, and it's all *incredibly* scripted, beat by beat. It's like someone took a fill-in sheet for "Murder Mystery" and made it into a book.
The charm and appeal of this book lies in both the characters and the depth of its world building. Both characters are richly developed (and frustrating at times), but the romance that reignites between them is compelling and very sweet. The story too, of how humans came to live on such an inhospitable planet is told wonderfully through the gradual uncovering of the mystery--like Pleti describing her most recent project reading "Watership down" (not mentioned by name) in order to understand the ecosystem of rabbits--and never feels like forced exposition. This short story tells it's history from the inside out, rather than out looking in, something I've never seen done so well before.
If you are expecting a complex mystery, I would stay away from this book. But if you enjoy a gentle Sapphic romance with rich sci-fi world building, give this book a chance.
The Mimicking of Known Successes is a short story following Investigator Mossa uncovering a missing person's cases. In this world, humanity has been relocated to Jupiter, where they live on elevated platforms connected by railcar about the planet's gaseous surface. As she digs into the case, she seeks the aid of her old college flame Pleti, a Classics scholar and co-worker of the missing person. As our two characters uncover a secret conspiracy against the Earth Preservation society, we as reader gain knowledge of how this world came to be: how the Earth was destroyed and polluted, how all species of plants and animals were cloned, and how the ultimate goal of Classical scholars is to study the literature of Earth in order to rebuild the lost ecosystems and return home.
The mystery of this story...is not great. I'm not super compelled by the characters or the events happening, and it's all *incredibly* scripted, beat by beat. It's like someone took a fill-in sheet for "Murder Mystery" and made it into a book.
The charm and appeal of this book lies in both the characters and the depth of its world building. Both characters are richly developed (and frustrating at times), but the romance that reignites between them is compelling and very sweet. The story too, of how humans came to live on such an inhospitable planet is told wonderfully through the gradual uncovering of the mystery--like Pleti describing her most recent project reading "Watership down" (not mentioned by name) in order to understand the ecosystem of rabbits--and never feels like forced exposition. This short story tells it's history from the inside out, rather than out looking in, something I've never seen done so well before.
If you are expecting a complex mystery, I would stay away from this book. But if you enjoy a gentle Sapphic romance with rich sci-fi world building, give this book a chance.