Hardcover, 176 pages
English language
Published March 7, 2023 by Tordotcom.
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.
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.
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 …
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.)
