Mary Robinette Kowal – Cannonball Read 17

Liked the vibes, lacking in execution

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

May 26, 2025 by NatalieH Leave a Comment

I picked up Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Spare Man up for no other reason than it was on sale and I liked the cover. It’s got this sort of retro-futuristic vibe that spoke to me (and essentially said “read me”). Tesla Crane is a famous heiress, inventor, and survivor of a corporate science disaster. She and her new spouse, Shal—a retired detective, are honeymooning on an interplanetary cruise liner from the Moon to Mars, when they chance upon a murder-in-progress. Shal becomes the prime suspect […]

Murder on an interplanetary cruise

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

October 26, 2024 by Dome'Loki Leave a Comment

What: A murder mystery in space! Lovebirds Tesla Crane and Shal Steward are celebrating their honeymoon on an interplanetary cruise ship. Tesla’s notoriety has them traveling incognito and all is going well until Shal finds a woman who has been stabbed in the corridor. When the woman dies shortly thereafter, he is accused of murder. Tesla and Shal work to solve the murder, clear his name, and try to have a honeymoon! Who: Tesla Crane is a ridiculously rich heiress and retired roboticist. Living with […]

Brandon Sanderson (1); Mary Robinette Kowal (1)

The Original by Brandon Sanderson; Mary Robinette Kowal

January 17, 2023 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

A novella co-written by Sanderson and Kowal, and with every co-written book like this, especially when I know both authors’ work to a certain degree, I spend a lot of time thinking about who must have written what. It’s not like a lot of Brandon Sanderson works, but it’s not quite what I know from Kowal. The novella is called “The Original” because we find ourselves in a future in which people can opt-in or out of certain technologies, including a cloning technology. Our narrator […]

An alternate history of the space program? Sign me up!

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

September 2, 2022 by RaRaGabor Leave a Comment

It’s 1952, and a meteorite has just impacted in the Chesapeake Bay, instantly obliterating much of the east coast, including Washington, DC (and all the important stuff therein). Enter Elma York, a former WASP pilot and current computer for the space program. Elma is a math whiz, and shortly works out that the cataclysm is actually an extinction-level event. As go the dinosaurs, so are about to go the people. Humanity’s response to the impending disaster is to look towards the stars: if Earth will […]

Don’t toss your baby brother around on the moon

Molly on the Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal

April 5, 2022 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

When Molly moves to the Moon, she is going to live in such a small home that she can only bring one toy with her, her special soft toy lamb. But that does not stop our Molly on the Moon from having fun. She has some tin cans for having tea, an old cover for a cape and her imagination. However, one day that special toy goes missing only to be found in the clutches of Molly’s baby brother, Luke, (who since the gravity is […]

A mystery on the moon.

The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronaut, #3) by Mary Robinette Kowal

October 4, 2021 by narfna Leave a Comment

This is my favorite of these books so far, but I will admit that there is just something about Kowal’s writing that doesn’t perfectly gel with my tastes. I’m curious enough to keep going to see how this series turns out, but I may need to rethink reading any more of her books (I also was pretty unenthused about the first book in her fantasy-Austen-pastiche series). We switch narrators from Elma York (who is on her way to Mars during the course of this book) […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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