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A review by a_reader_obsessed
The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older
3.0
3 Stars
A solid performance but personally, not as engaging as [b:The Mimicking of Known Successes|60784309|The Mimicking of Known Successes (Mossa & Pleiti, #1)|Malka Ann Older|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1655389803l/60784309._SY75_.jpg|93113033].
I will say that I found the world building to be consistently interesting. Set in the far future, Earth’s descendants have colonized Jupiter with the main goal of one day returning to their home planet. In the meantime, life goes on right? People make a living, people have longings and desires, and people are still subject to and perform crimes.
This focused a bit more on the romantic relationship between investigator Mossa and her on and off paramour, scholar Pleiti. The main mystery is again a missing person and how these two work together since it involves a student from the university that Pleiti works at.
Again, I enjoyed the unique set up and the push pull of the relationship, though it would serve Mossa and Pleiti to actually communicate their wants and needs. Despite being nicely consistent in tone, I was often stymied by Older’s word choice. Where I found the first book quite charming as an audio listen, seeing the actual words on page was often cumbersome, confusing, and tiresome as I eventually just tried to infer what she meant instead of using my kindle’s dictionary function, many times discovering that terms were made up or were foreign words that were Spanish, French, Portuguese, and possibly more.
Should Older continue with these two protagonists, I would appreciate a more mature relationship progression, a different type of mystery, and Mossa’s POV. It’s time to get further insight into this interesting character, to see how her mind works as well as how she feels about Pleiti. That would be a nice change of pace.
Having said all that, I still really like the premise of this piece of science fiction that blends mystery, sapphic romance, and an odd mix of propriety and historical overtones as humanity continues to thrive on a new planet. Just so we’re clear, I wouldn’t say no to the next book despite my frustration with this second installment.
Thank you to the author and Tordotcom Publishing via NetGalley for an ebook in exchange for an honest review
Mossa and Pleiti Series
1. The Mimicking of Known Successes - 3.5 Stars
2. The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles - 3 Stars
A solid performance but personally, not as engaging as [b:The Mimicking of Known Successes|60784309|The Mimicking of Known Successes (Mossa & Pleiti, #1)|Malka Ann Older|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1655389803l/60784309._SY75_.jpg|93113033].
I will say that I found the world building to be consistently interesting. Set in the far future, Earth’s descendants have colonized Jupiter with the main goal of one day returning to their home planet. In the meantime, life goes on right? People make a living, people have longings and desires, and people are still subject to and perform crimes.
This focused a bit more on the romantic relationship between investigator Mossa and her on and off paramour, scholar Pleiti. The main mystery is again a missing person and how these two work together since it involves a student from the university that Pleiti works at.
Again, I enjoyed the unique set up and the push pull of the relationship, though it would serve Mossa and Pleiti to actually communicate their wants and needs. Despite being nicely consistent in tone, I was often stymied by Older’s word choice. Where I found the first book quite charming as an audio listen, seeing the actual words on page was often cumbersome, confusing, and tiresome as I eventually just tried to infer what she meant instead of using my kindle’s dictionary function, many times discovering that terms were made up or were foreign words that were Spanish, French, Portuguese, and possibly more.
Should Older continue with these two protagonists, I would appreciate a more mature relationship progression, a different type of mystery, and Mossa’s POV. It’s time to get further insight into this interesting character, to see how her mind works as well as how she feels about Pleiti. That would be a nice change of pace.
Having said all that, I still really like the premise of this piece of science fiction that blends mystery, sapphic romance, and an odd mix of propriety and historical overtones as humanity continues to thrive on a new planet. Just so we’re clear, I wouldn’t say no to the next book despite my frustration with this second installment.
Thank you to the author and Tordotcom Publishing via NetGalley for an ebook in exchange for an honest review
Mossa and Pleiti Series
1. The Mimicking of Known Successes - 3.5 Stars
2. The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles - 3 Stars