A review by jselliot
Six Wakes, by Mur Lafferty

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

  • A one-sentence summary of this book: Six Wakes is a closed circle scifi murder mystery with clones in deep space. 

I started reading this book around 11:30am, and finished at around 11pm after breaks for food/chores/etc. It's very compelling, bingeable, even in spite of all the dark concepts that get rained down on you in what is essentially a biopunk future. While I wouldn't have minded just a little more length to the story, it was still ultimately pretty satisfying. Would have liked more information on Sallie, though, and just what she was doing that she felt the need to expel all of the people that she had successfully used for hundreds of years from the atmosphere. That was one question that just never got answered.

That being said, the world building in this book - for being told in flashbacks - is solid. It presents some excellent thoughts regarding moral/political issues in regards to cloning, and how that might be further refined. And once the twists start unfolding halfway in, they just keep coming and the momentum of the story picks up considerably.

5/5, would read again.
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