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Marlowe and the Spacewoman #1
Marlowe and the Spacewoman
For Marlowe, an over-worked and oft worked over private eye recovering from yet another emergency resurrection, it's the start of a long day. He's murdered by a bar of sentient soap in the morning, and just when he's recovered enough to grab some lunch, a femme fatale crash-lands outside the City, causing a major political disturbance.
Forced by the government to investigate her claims to be from outer space, Marlowe struggles to strike a balance between solving his own murder and resisting his attraction to the alleged yet alluring extraterrestrial. All while dodging additional assassination attempts and the meddling of powerful figures who have their own ideas about how the 'Affair with the Spacewoman' should end.
Forced by the government to investigate her claims to be from outer space, Marlowe struggles to strike a balance between solving his own murder and resisting his attraction to the alleged yet alluring extraterrestrial. All while dodging additional assassination attempts and the meddling of powerful figures who have their own ideas about how the 'Affair with the Spacewoman' should end.
- GenresScience Fiction
315 pages, Paperback
First published January 2, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 26, 2013
This was the Book of the Month at the Indie Book Club on Goodreads (in the Other category).
Marlowe and the Spacewoman is a comedy sci-fi, set in the middling future (perhaps a century or so away). Technology has progressed, but not to an unfathomable extent. Marlowe, the protagonist, is a private detective and the clone/brother of the city’s Governor (who is practically a dictator). Fuelled by mutual loathing of a third party, the chief of police, Marlowe is hired by the Governor to ascertain whether a woman whose arrival destroyed the Brussels sprout crop is indeed from space.
Marlowe has his own troubles to deal with, not least a successful assassination attempt, but has no choice but to take the job.
The world is quite interesting, as technology has progressed in most spheres, but corruption’s also increased and civil rights have declined dramatically. In addition, many objects in the world have at least limited sentience, which works very well (reminds me a bit of Red Dwarf’s scutters or the DRDs in Farscape).
Marlowe is front and centre of the book, although once he meets Nina (the Spacewoman) the book becomes more of a double act. Fortunately, Marlowe’s a likeable, well-written character, and he and Nina make a great team. She’s (ironically) very down to earth and physically capable, having lived for a long time in high gravity, and he’s got an intimate knowledge of the murky realpolitik of the world.
The comedy works well, the writing style’s easy to read, and the world is well-realised.
Downsides are pretty hard to think of, to be honest… Occasionally there’s a bit too much chatter about technical stuff, but that’s about it.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is after a sci-fi comedy, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thaddeus
Marlowe and the Spacewoman is a comedy sci-fi, set in the middling future (perhaps a century or so away). Technology has progressed, but not to an unfathomable extent. Marlowe, the protagonist, is a private detective and the clone/brother of the city’s Governor (who is practically a dictator). Fuelled by mutual loathing of a third party, the chief of police, Marlowe is hired by the Governor to ascertain whether a woman whose arrival destroyed the Brussels sprout crop is indeed from space.
Marlowe has his own troubles to deal with, not least a successful assassination attempt, but has no choice but to take the job.
The world is quite interesting, as technology has progressed in most spheres, but corruption’s also increased and civil rights have declined dramatically. In addition, many objects in the world have at least limited sentience, which works very well (reminds me a bit of Red Dwarf’s scutters or the DRDs in Farscape).
Marlowe is front and centre of the book, although once he meets Nina (the Spacewoman) the book becomes more of a double act. Fortunately, Marlowe’s a likeable, well-written character, and he and Nina make a great team. She’s (ironically) very down to earth and physically capable, having lived for a long time in high gravity, and he’s got an intimate knowledge of the murky realpolitik of the world.
The comedy works well, the writing style’s easy to read, and the world is well-realised.
Downsides are pretty hard to think of, to be honest… Occasionally there’s a bit too much chatter about technical stuff, but that’s about it.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is after a sci-fi comedy, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thaddeus
February 2, 2012
This was an entertaining read! The action is fast-paced and the humour well thought out - it put me in mind of The Stainless Steel Rat and sequels. The twist at ending came a bit out of the blue, but set up the promised sequel quite nicely. Steph Bennion
September 7, 2013
This was the Goodreads Indie Book Club read (non-fantasy) for August.
This witty dark comedy sci-fi it follows Marlowe, a Private Investigator, in his search, not only for his own murderer but proof the woman in his custody is from outer space and both their lives depend on the answer.
The world is Earth, sometime in the future, when the USA is now a collection of bickering warlord-led City-states, the Internet is illegal, Brussels sprouts are the staple diet, even the soap is out to get you and genetically modified parrots are Public Enemy Number One, a dark world indeed! There are subtle nods to a collection of other sci-fi books, if you can spot them, cleverly woven into the main story and the pace of the story keeps up throughout.
Marlowe is likeable character with an unpleasant past, but resourceful, brave, if cynical, and quite complex. His array of gadgets and AI style sidekicks, including House who is the sarcastic supercomputer who runs the house and many of his other gadgets, and brilliantly done. He was definitely my favourite character.
Nina is amusing, finding her way in the world of the future and realising the stupidity of some of the laws. She is a feisty, no-nonsense character out to prove her story, certainly NOT a girl in need of rescue.
The twist at the end is unexpected, witty and left open enough to be a cliff-hanger with a few other delicious hooks for later books scattered within.
All in all a good and enjoyable read with great characters and a darkly amusing world, which leave the reader hungry for more. I will certainly look out for other books by this author.
This witty dark comedy sci-fi it follows Marlowe, a Private Investigator, in his search, not only for his own murderer but proof the woman in his custody is from outer space and both their lives depend on the answer.
The world is Earth, sometime in the future, when the USA is now a collection of bickering warlord-led City-states, the Internet is illegal, Brussels sprouts are the staple diet, even the soap is out to get you and genetically modified parrots are Public Enemy Number One, a dark world indeed! There are subtle nods to a collection of other sci-fi books, if you can spot them, cleverly woven into the main story and the pace of the story keeps up throughout.
Marlowe is likeable character with an unpleasant past, but resourceful, brave, if cynical, and quite complex. His array of gadgets and AI style sidekicks, including House who is the sarcastic supercomputer who runs the house and many of his other gadgets, and brilliantly done. He was definitely my favourite character.
Nina is amusing, finding her way in the world of the future and realising the stupidity of some of the laws. She is a feisty, no-nonsense character out to prove her story, certainly NOT a girl in need of rescue.
The twist at the end is unexpected, witty and left open enough to be a cliff-hanger with a few other delicious hooks for later books scattered within.
All in all a good and enjoyable read with great characters and a darkly amusing world, which leave the reader hungry for more. I will certainly look out for other books by this author.
September 7, 2012
I loved this story of a world-weary detective in a future America.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews