Delightful shortish novel sequel with sapphic Holmes and Watson, only instead of gas lamps it's a gas giant because the books are set on Jupiter (where humanity has fled after the collapse of Earth).

I love the setting, it's gleefully imagined with the planet-spanning rails, and I adore how so many of the metaphors and vocabulary Pleiti uses are drawn from the rails. Mossa and Pleiti's relationship is a little bit prickly, a little bit uncertain, entirely engaging.The mystery wasn't hugely complex since it's a fairly short read, but fun. And I really, really need to see the Murderbot opera that exists in this world oh my God.

Linked to but not exessively weighed down by the first book. Absolutely lovely cover. I hope there will be many more in this series. f-f murder-mystery sff74 s * A Reader Obsessed *2,349 487

3 Stars

A solid performance but personally, not as engaging as The Mimicking of Known Successes.

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 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 Stars2024 bookphiles-educators-librarians-x crime-mystery-suspense-x ...more48 s4 comments Chantaal1,112 159

The Mimicking of Known Successes was one of my top reads in 2023, and I was so excited for this follow up to the Holmesian coziness that is Mossa and Pleiti solving a mystery. The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles takes place some time after the first book, and Mossa and Pleiti are in something of a relationship. Mossa is assigned a missing person case at Pleiti's university, and the two begin to investigate it together.

Older manages to blend a sci-fi setting with the comfort of reading a Holmesian mystery with ease. There is an equal amount of attention given to the mystery itself as well as to Pleiti and Mossa (though Pleiti's eyes) as characters. In this second short novel, we also get to see Pleiti navigate her relationship with Mossa; she often has trouble with her own perception of what their relationship really is, and with trying to fit Mossa's whole Holmes-ish character within the relationship they're building. But then Mossa smiles and Pleiti's lovestruck by it and they're incredibly adorable.

I would say that the one thing that brought it down a star for me compared to the first book is that the world building felt it took over a little more this time around, instead of feeling a lot more natural within the storytelling. But I truly enjoy this world Older has created, this future colony living in the orbit of Giant (aka Jupiter), growing and surviving and thriving even as they try to figure out if they can ever inhabit Earth again.

I highly enjoy this series and its weird but interesting blend of sci-fi and mystery. Seasoned sci-fi and mystery readers should definitely give it a chance if you haven't already.

Many, MANY thanks to NetGalley and Tordotcom for giving me the chance to read and review this! The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles will be available on February 13, 2024.

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12/27: Cannot believe Malka worked a Boys Over Flowers reference into this lmaooooo. Review to come!

11/1: Ya girl got approved for an ARC on NetGalley, I am about to EAT THIS UP

6/20: IT HAS A COVER AND THE COLORS ARE SO PRETTY
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