Clones, murders, spaceships and mayhem. A little on the gory side - I had to take a few breaks and read ahead when someone lost an eye in too graphic details for my delicate sensibilities

A truly interesting science fiction novel set on a colony space ship bound for a new planet. To get around the very long travel time (no FTL travel here) it is crewed by clones, all with their own secrets and motivations to commit to a 400 year long travel with only 5 other people as company.

The plot revolves around the murder of the crews previous clones, and the 25 years missing memories that proceed their murders and reawakening in new bodies.

The use of technology is very satisfactory without verging into hard science fiction, and although the story takes place on a spaceship, there are hints of cyber punk.

The internal logic of the plot is sometimes missing - for instance, one character has, for clone reasons, two sets of childhood memory, although we are told that cloning is always done with adult bodies. And the overarching plot bringing all the different threads together is not very believable or well-founded, making it feel very deux-ex-machina and not very satisfactory. ( )

This is, in part, a locked-room mystery set on a spaceship. The author has done an interesting job of creating the technological underpinnings for the story so that it can all hang together well. But for some reason I cannot put my finger on (which is not all helpful in a review, I know), I didn't find it as satisfying as I think it ought to be. Hence the three-star review. But I would encourage you to read it, nonetheless. Laffterty definitely has talent, and I look forward to reading her work in the future. ( )

Imagine waking up, naked, floating in zero-g with five other people, who are also just coming to. The six of you recently met at a launch party for the generational ship you are crewing together, the Dormire. Oh, also in the room with you are a few of your dead bodies.
None of you remember what happened. And you didn't just meet each other, either, you've been traveling together for twenty-five years. Time enough to learn each other's secrets. Time enough to plot how to kill everyone. If only any of you remembered.
Your mindmaps have all been reset to the initial recordings, they are as blank as your newest cloned bodies. There are no recordings, no logs and the AI is offline. All you have to go on are what little evidence can be gleaned from your former shells. Who can be trusted? Who will figure it all out first?

I was browsing the sci-fi section of our local used shop when I picked this one up to read the blurb. I had listened to Mur's podcast back in 2020, just after lockdown, but I had never looked into her work. When I saw that she had dedicated it to James Patrick Kelly, I bought it instantly. I am, to be brief, a fan. You can see the lineage of Think Like A Dinosaur here in Six Wakes.
I really enjoyed this Locked Room mystery. In Space! With clones and AI! And I'm not the only one who liked it. Six Wakes won the 2018 Hugo award, the 2018 Nebula award and was a finalist for the 2018 Phillip K Dick award. ( )

Only read about 50 pages of this, just couldn't bring myself to waste anymore time on it. I imagine it might do well as a comic book, maybe. A whodunnit on a spaceship, but it could not compel me to care enough to finish. ( )

This was really good. A locked door mystery where everyone has died but also everyone is still alive and without their memories.

The characters were well developed, the plot twisty but understandable, and the ending completely believable and earned.

Mur Lafferty tells a seemingly familiar story with suspense, style and wit. ( )