Spares (1996)

fairly dull and predictable. ( )

The point of art is to create a reaction in people, good or bad, the stronger the better. Michael Marshall Smith always accomplishes that with me, but unfortunately in this case it was a hate reaction. I had previously read and loved "One of Us" and "Only Forward", so dove into this book eagerly.

MMS always creates interesting, oddball worlds that are very full and developed around the characters. I found the clone concept to be very upsetting in and of itself - the entire way it was set up and they were used was difficult to read. However, if that had been it, I probably would have survived this book and rated it higher. The sci-fi "twist" in this book (as is common in MMS books) involved an alternate world they could walk into that was entirely based on, or flashbacks to, a war. I never read books about war or watch movies - I find it upsetting and pointless. So, strike two.

Add in that our hero is a drug addict, another concept I never enjoy, it was three-strikes for this book. The writing is good and the pacing is nice, but it ended up just being a swamp of abject misery for me, and I read for enjoyment.

I also couldn't get over what, for me, felt like a glaring plot hole - a bunch of super-rich people who are able to grow full clones of themselves and have a state-of-the-art facility to do all this, as well as largely automated care... hire one lone dude as "security" and the best that money can buy is a raging drug addict. Really?

While it feels unfair to me to lump this book in with the Kindle free atrocities... All in all, I left the book feeling sick, upset, and annoyed. This is one Michael Marshall Smith book that I will not revisit. ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/201251-spares-michael-marshall-smith.htm... ( )

Not for the squeamish, this is nevertheless brilliant. And for some modern SF in 1996 it's aged pretty well. Hard to put down you find yourself wanting to know not just what happens next, but what happened in the past to get to this point. Jack Randall is deeply flawed, yet somehow still a hopeless idealist. The concepts in the book are still fresh and engaging, and the thriller plot keeps you turning the pages. I think it's one I'd recommend, but not if you find some of Iain Banks a bit too gory/unpleasant for example. Loved it. ( )

I feel cheated. Spares isn’t really about spares – clones created to provide convenient, fuss-free body parts when their rich, conscienceless originals damage their own. The spares might be there at the start, but then they get… amputated. The story that remains is an able, fast-paced thriller, but it’s not the one I expected or the one I would have preferred.

Read the full review at my blog Violin in a Void ( )