The Mimicking of Known Successes presents a cozy Holmesian murder mystery and sapphic romance, set on Jupiter, by Malka Older, author of the critically-acclaimed Centenal Cycle.
On a remote, gas-wreathed outpost of a human colony on Jupiter, a man goes missing. The enigmatic Investigator Mossa follows his trail to Valdegeld, home to the colony’s erudite university—and Mossa’s former girlfriend, a scholar of Earth’s pre-collapse ecosystems.
Pleiti has dedicated her research and her career to aiding the larger effort towards a possible return to Earth. When Mossa unexpectedly arrives and requests Pleiti’s assistance in her latest investigation, the two of them embark on a twisting path in which the future of life on Earth is at stake—and, perhaps, their futures, together.
Jupiter-based researcher Pleiti is roped into solving a mystery when ex-girlfriend, Mossa, unexpectedly needs her help.
I enjoyed the world-building, but the characters and plot weren't really my thing. It was a little too cosy, and the romance felt bland. The use of somewhat unusual (or archaic) words added to the world-building when uttered by the characters, but I found it annoying when characters “expostulated” or “said precipitously” etc. All in all, it was fine, but I doubt I'll read the sequels.
The world building here doesn't fundamentally make sense, there's no universe in which building 200,000 mile rails to colonize Jupiter is more feasible in terms of knowhow or resources that fixing Earth or even colonizing the Moon or Mars. However, you owe it to the author to suspend disbelief on the central premise and go for the ride. The worldbuilding about all the heat and light coming from gas flames was so good it felt like it was the initial idea that the setting formed around.
The strengths were the worldbuilding and the formal language that made everything feel retro-futuristic.
The primary weakness, in my view, was that a good mystery often involves a unique or creative "perfect crime". In order to write a perfect crime, you have to work within the rules of the real world. If your perfect crime involves a creative interpretation of a fictional world, the …
The world building here doesn't fundamentally make sense, there's no universe in which building 200,000 mile rails to colonize Jupiter is more feasible in terms of knowhow or resources that fixing Earth or even colonizing the Moon or Mars. However, you owe it to the author to suspend disbelief on the central premise and go for the ride. The worldbuilding about all the heat and light coming from gas flames was so good it felt like it was the initial idea that the setting formed around.
The strengths were the worldbuilding and the formal language that made everything feel retro-futuristic.
The primary weakness, in my view, was that a good mystery often involves a unique or creative "perfect crime". In order to write a perfect crime, you have to work within the rules of the real world. If your perfect crime involves a creative interpretation of a fictional world, the rules you yourself made, it feels less clever. As an example, there's a reveal that a suspect had a creative way of riding the train. This didn't really feel like anything to me because the author hadn't previously established how people normally ride space trains.
There wasn't a lot to the love story, but I am guessing it will build in later installments.
I liked it and thought it was very funny that "conservative" is a swear.
The romance is tepid and sickly. The setting is poorly thought out. The plot has a huge Killmonger problem. This book makes the argument that literature departments should be defunded. Scientists, as depicted here, are uninquisitive and incapable of being self-critical. Ecological science is apparently based on reading Watership Down and Beatrix Potter and not scientific observation. The author has a poor idea of restorative ecology and how ecological systems work. The main character doesn't know what petals look like, yet grew up on a farm.
Also, this book does not reveal who did the crime that this book is about.
This is a fun sci-fi detective story placed far enough ahead that we’ve reverted to the sensibilities of 1800s England. That wasn’t my cup of tea (which they love) but the environment and story were amazing. I wish the detective was the narrator throughout (like the first chapter) but not doing so helps keep us in the dark much like her assistant ex girlfriend.
Well written and quite enjoyable. However the journey might be more enjoyable than the destination but I would absolutely read the sequel.
Imaginative setting with a steampunky feel to it. I liked all the travelling around on railcars. It's quite a page turner. But the characters felt a little distant despite the first-person perspective. Perhaps a tad too short. I'd love to read another story set in the same world, though.
I had to buy this after seeing Martha Wells promote it, and then within 24 hours, (and totally separately) Charlie Jane Anders. I didn't expect a novel set around Jupiter to feel so steampunk, but I suppose it might just inherit that from its Sherlock Holmes DNA. I did appreciate the coziness, and the mystery.
This book was a lot of fun and definitely my favorite Malka Older book so far. Out of everything, I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the slow romance the most. The world has very retro-future 19th century vibes, complete with Jupiter's fog misting, atmoscarves, gas heating, and railcars between floating platforms. This world and the characters were so much fun.
My one quibble is that I found some details of the mystery a little weak (although this may be my own expectations for what I want out of a mystery) but I will put those spoilery details in a separate comment.
The setup of the book is that Mossa the Investigator enlists Pleiti (an old university friend, and ex) to look into the disappearence of a man from a remote platform. Pleiti is a scholar of classics, which here stands in as "studying past Earth so that future Earth and …
This book was a lot of fun and definitely my favorite Malka Older book so far. Out of everything, I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the slow romance the most. The world has very retro-future 19th century vibes, complete with Jupiter's fog misting, atmoscarves, gas heating, and railcars between floating platforms. This world and the characters were so much fun.
My one quibble is that I found some details of the mystery a little weak (although this may be my own expectations for what I want out of a mystery) but I will put those spoilery details in a separate comment.
The setup of the book is that Mossa the Investigator enlists Pleiti (an old university friend, and ex) to look into the disappearence of a man from a remote platform. Pleiti is a scholar of classics, which here stands in as "studying past Earth so that future Earth and its ecosystems can be rebuilt perfectly". I love the connection here of her studying both the failure of Earth but also the failure of her past relationship with Mossa. The title drop during the book's conclusion bringing everything together is just chef's kiss
(Finally, an unrelated aside, but I YELLED when these two went out for dinner at a thematic wood-burning restaurant named Slow Burn.)
Review of 'Mimicking of Known Successes' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Very Sherlock Holmes! That part worked really well and made for an enjoyable read.
It's set on Jupiter, but the sci-fi part is not making a lot of difference. Public transport is free, but the weather is bad. People are sad because Earth is gone.
Okay, so it's making some difference. The crime is motivated by the sci-fi part and committed using its tools. But I don't understand it! The three guys stole some seed samples to restart the Earth biosphere. They illegally launched a spaceship to deliver them too. But what's up with Bolien? Why did he go around Jupiter on a suspended railcar? Why did they kill the homeless guy?
I was probably supposed to understand that. But I didn't worry about it too much. The relationship between Mossa and Pleiti was more important to me. There are several differences from Holmes and Watson. Our Watson (Pleiti) knows …
Very Sherlock Holmes! That part worked really well and made for an enjoyable read.
It's set on Jupiter, but the sci-fi part is not making a lot of difference. Public transport is free, but the weather is bad. People are sad because Earth is gone.
Okay, so it's making some difference. The crime is motivated by the sci-fi part and committed using its tools. But I don't understand it! The three guys stole some seed samples to restart the Earth biosphere. They illegally launched a spaceship to deliver them too. But what's up with Bolien? Why did he go around Jupiter on a suspended railcar? Why did they kill the homeless guy?
I was probably supposed to understand that. But I didn't worry about it too much. The relationship between Mossa and Pleiti was more important to me. There are several differences from Holmes and Watson. Our Watson (Pleiti) knows less. What Mossa is thinking and doing is as much a mystery as the crimes are. They are women. The relationship is more romantic. They think they are an autistic genius and a normal person, but actually they are both autistic geniuses. Otherwise it's the same. Gallons of tea.
If there's another Mossa & Pleiti story coming, I'm going to check it out!
I love the world Malka Older created and the two main characters are wonderful. But I would have liked the story to be longer. The resolution felt very rushed.
Review of 'Mimicking of Known Successes' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A delight from beginning to end: a cozy murder mystery set on rings around Jupiter, where humanity lives on great platforms linked by trains, centering on two women who rekindle an old romance as they get to the bottom of the crime. If that doesn’t sound like fun, I don’t know what to tell you.
I don't think I've ever had a book smack me over the head with the theme quite like this did, "It was right there in front of you the whole time, in the title even, how did you miss it?!" Anyway, as a story, the characters and setting, it was quite enjoyable, the mystery aspect was less well constructed as far as mysteries go, imho. Fans of The Locked Tomb would probably enjoy this quick read.
Review of 'Mimicking of Known Successes' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The Mimicking of Known Successes is a mystery novella set on a platform constructed around Jupiter. While the world-building is great, there isn't enough of it. I loved the descriptions of the platforms and how sections and railways are set around the uninhabitable gas giant—not to mention the university's large role in the future reintroduction to life on Earth through meticulously planned ecosystem building. Unfortunately, that was the only thing I really enjoyed about this book and there wasn't enough of it to paint a full picture.
The main plot centers around a mystery regarding a missing person and would could have become of him. Though there are numerous snippets of information thrown at Mossa and Pleiti, most of it seems disconnected, and the ending proves unsatisfying because there aren't breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout the story for the reader to pick up on. If I'm reading a mystery, I don't want …
The Mimicking of Known Successes is a mystery novella set on a platform constructed around Jupiter. While the world-building is great, there isn't enough of it. I loved the descriptions of the platforms and how sections and railways are set around the uninhabitable gas giant—not to mention the university's large role in the future reintroduction to life on Earth through meticulously planned ecosystem building. Unfortunately, that was the only thing I really enjoyed about this book and there wasn't enough of it to paint a full picture.
The main plot centers around a mystery regarding a missing person and would could have become of him. Though there are numerous snippets of information thrown at Mossa and Pleiti, most of it seems disconnected, and the ending proves unsatisfying because there aren't breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout the story for the reader to pick up on. If I'm reading a mystery, I don't want to come to the end without having seen it coming. I should at least be able to look back, knowing everything that led up to that point, and stitch clues together. This story did not offer that, and for that reason the ending fell flat.
I also disliked the overstated romance. Mossa and Pleiti's relationship is paper thin, yet the narrator (Pleiti) never lets up about how she wishes Mossa will give her a sign that their relationship—which Pleiti broke off—might be rekindled.
All in all, I believe there was too much going on in this 176-page novella. If it had been novel length, there would have been time to flesh out the world, mystery, and romance.
