The Mimicking of Known Successes can be quickly described as what if Sherlock Holmes, but sapphic and in a sci-fi future where the Earth is uninhabitable and humans have colonized Jupiter?
Malka Ann Older’s resume is a wide combination of things, and it feeds directly into the kind of book that The Mimicking of Known Successes is. We have here a book that examines what happens next when final resources are used to leave Earth, but the goal is to go back. Pleiti is our POV character, and she is a scholar of Classics – what life was like on Earth. Basically, she’s studying our time. She and a vast array of other researchers are working to discover the correct balance of ecosystems to re-seed Earth for humanity’s return. It is this knowledge area that leads Mossa to turn to her to help aid in a missing person’s investigation, making Pleiti Watson to Mossa’s Holmes.
Coming in just shy of 170 pages this novella focuses on Mossa’s investigation into a missing man, based at the same university as Pleiti. We know from the prologue (the only section from Mossa’s POV) that involving Pleiti is more of an excuse to see her former romantic partner than an investigative necessity, but as the sleuthing continues it becomes clear that Pleiti is well-positioned to help Mossa. While I didn’t always jive with how in awe Pleiti was of Mossa, or how Pleiti’s reconsideration of having ended their relationship is portrayed, I did love the way Older paced the unveiling of the mechanics of the world and the layers of the mystery. While this was a 3.5 read for me, I did immediately request book two, The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles as soon as I finished this one (it’s on its way to my branch).
Bingo Square: Migrant. The migration of humans across the solar system is a crucial underpinning to the story.