Six Wakes

Original premise, story unfolds like layers of an onion and across characters with elegant ease and perfect pacing. Narrative covers various ethical and moral conundrums succinctly too: the point here is reading for entertainment, but that doesn’t mean it has to be devoid of considered thoughts aptly woven through. A bit of a gem!

It’s July 25th 2493. Maria Arena awakens in a vat in the cloning bay of the Dormire (an interstellar ship staffed by 6 clones and an AI called IAN are tasked with taking 300 colonists to Artemis, a planet in the Cetus constellation) to find three dead bodies floating in the room around her. The corpses belong to her and her fellow crew members: Joanna Glass (ship’s doctor), Paul Seurat (engineer) and Wolfgang (the security officer and second in command). The corpse of Akihiro ‘Hiro’ Sato (pilot and navigator) is found hung in the bridge while Captain Katrina de la Cruz previous clone is found seriously injured in the medical bay.

Usually a clone wakes up with a mindmap that tells them what happened between their lives but all 6 crewmembers find that their mindmaps for the last 25 years have been wiped. They only have the mindmaps from the day they boarded the ship. Somehow, they must piece together the facts to work out who was responsible for killing their previous selves and why …

Mur Lafferty’s intelligent and thought-provoking SF novel uses multiple murder to investigate the ethical, legal and practical considerations of living as a clone and although some of the dialogue is a little stilted, Katarina and Paul are underdeveloped and the ending too pat, I really enjoyed how she weaves in the backstory for each of the characters and the way they slowly overlap and will definitely check out Lafferty’s other work.

I found the ideas about cloning really fascinating and Lafferty fully explores the legalities and practicalities involved in cloning. I particularly enjoyed how she weaves different aspects of this into the backstories for the different crew members, including theological and technological considerations and the way that cloning can be exploited for nefarious purposes. Maria, Hiro and Wolfgang are probably the best developed of the characters (in the case of Wolfgang this is mainly due to his backstory, which I found the most interesting) but Katarina and Paul are less convincing, mainly because their backstories are less interesting.

I did find the dialogue a little stilted at times (particularly Hiro who has a forced delivery, although there are reasons for this) and the ending was too neat for my tastes but the ideas in this book had me gripped from beginning to end and I will definitely check out Lafferty’s other books.

I ordered the Kindle version of this book and unfortunately became so frustrated with formatting issues - namely, missing line breaks, which made it difficult to determine which character was speaking - that I gave up on it. If this were rectified this would probably be a very enjoyable book.

Bought this for my boyfriend for Christmas. He is a big fan of classic sci-fi, as opposed to cowboys-and-Indians-in-space, and enjoys Asimov, Hamilton, HG Wells, Brian Aldiss, Arthur C Clarke, & Stephen Baxter to name a few.

He thoroughly enjoyed this, particularly as it had an element of whodunnit, which made a nice change.

He said:

"it was exciting and straight into the action. A lot of modern sci fi is very scientific and loses the wonder, but this wasn't like that. This still has the science but doesn't get bogged down in it. The mystery element really added to the story and the elements of peril added to the page-turning excitement. It was one of those ones that I didn't want to put down.

It ended well and made me want to read the next one straight away (this is very unusual for him). It's well written and very definitely modern but it has a classic feel to it."

I enjoyed reading this book.

It's a very interesting setup and I love the way it treats the impact of readily-available cloning on human society. The plot is engaging and I like the development of the main character.

Deducting one star for the fact that I didn't feel particularly connected to the characters. While I learned a lot about them, I can't say I was able to empathize much with their stories.

Editing felt a little sloppy on the edition I have - only minor stuff like the occasional typo or missing word, but enough to be jarring at times.

In deep space, a ship full of frozen colonists and a crew of six criminal clones runs into trouble. The whole crew wakes in the cloning room: they had all been murdered. Recloning after death is standard, but they realise they have no memory not only of the events leading up to the mass murder, but of the entire 25 years since launch. Their backups are destroyed, the ship’s AI is offline, and the food printer is dispensing only hemlock. They need to figure out what is going on before they all die again.

This is a great murder mystery, fully dependent on the science fictional context of the technology of printing clones and the consequent social changes, of the scope of body and brain hacking, and the ‘locked room’ setting of deep space flight. We gradually see the back stories of the crew, and discover how those relate to the current mystery. Of course, nothing is as it first appears. Everything is both complicated (there are several different stories at work) and simple (there’s a honking great clue early on), and it’s a fun read to see how the jigsaw fits together to build a futuristic picture.

Not gonna lie - I was disappointed. The set up was intriguing, but the pay off was, in my mind, not satisfying. Maybe my expectations were too high.

Great story that made me think. Very enjoyable read

In Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty veers away from her previous work in both genre and tone, and does so to remarkable success (not to rob her past books of their rightful praise).

The story’s premise and high stakes immediately suck you in. Tiny details of the intricately built world and its colourful cast are dispersed gradually as the plot unravels through the most effective use of flashbacks I’ve ever seen. There wasn’t a character I didn’t feel invested in by the end, and I often found myself going back to reread these flashbacks to get a better understanding of them and how each of their timelines were connected. Just thinking about all the thought and planning that must have gone into developing this detailed world and its extensive history makes me want to lie down!


I can’t help thinking about how this story would sing on the big screen, and I hope someday we are treated to a feature film based on Six Wakes. In the mean time, I can’t wait to see where Lafferty takes us next.

TL;DNR Review:

Go buy SIX WAKES now. Read it, enjoy, pass it to the person next to you. When you’re done reading it, you may thank me. (You’re welcome.)

Review:

SIX WAKES has all the elements of great science fiction: well explored moral and ethical dilemmas, fantastic but believable science, great setting, great characters, great plot, engaging writing. It will appeal to those who read very little science fiction, and to those who read tons of science fiction... So...WHY IS THIS BOOK NOT GETTING MORE BUZZ!??!

Highlights:

1. It’s like Murder, She Wrote - In SPAAACE! (Assuming, of course, that Jessica Fletcher is both a clone and a criminal -- and a bada$$!!) (Also with more swearing and slicing.)

2. I love Generation Ships. I just do. They’re one of my favorite scifi concepts and settings and Six Wakes nails it.

3. Lafferty creates engaging characters each with enough skeletons in his or her closet to keep the murder mystery murderously interesting.

4. The plot is tight, tense, and...um...well-plotted...yes it is.

5. Lafferty’s cloning concepts are fantastic enough to engage the imagination, but grounded enough that it all feels terribly plausible.

6. The morals and ethics surrounding cloning are well explored, and even when you feel like Lafferty is going to send a character into well-treaded territory, she usually doesn’t.

A Side Note:

One of my biggest complaints with current science fiction is that most scifi novels fall into one of two categories: either the ideas are awesome but the writing is overly complicated OR the writing is engaging but the ideas are shallow. SIX WAKES, thankfully (wonderfully), is the best of both worlds: engaging writing AND insightful ideas (AND a terrific plot to boot).

Lowlights?:

1. Um...it took me a while to buy into each character’s personality, I guess? But once it clicked into place, it worked well.

2. By the same token, I guess, it took a little while for me to separate the characters in my head. A Personae Dramatis presented at the front of the book would have been helpful.

3. The ending felt a touch like a Murder, She Wrote what with some of the pieces just “coming together.” But this is just a nitpick in an ending that is otherwise very satisfying.

In Summary:

SIX WAKES is excellent, intelligent science fiction that should appeal to anyone who likes science fiction, and if this book isn’t on the Best SciFi Novels Of 2017 come December, then there’s something seriously wrong with all y’all.

A bunch of clones wake up to find that most of their previous iterations had been murdered, with one committing suicide. Trouble is, this is happening in space. Yes, space— where nobody can hear you scream, and also where nobody can simply walk in and kill.

The killer is there among them!

It’s an interesting premise. Unfortunately, with every character turning out to be rather obviously unlikeable, with everyone acting as unreliable narrators, the book became a slog.

And the ending was so ludicrous that I seriously felt like leaving the plot of a murder mystery and entering one of those 'travel guides for zombies' that the author had written.

It was a good one-time read. That's all.

Muy recomendable novela de ciencia ficción que trata sobre los dilemas éticos de la clonación así como sus ventajas y sus alcances futuros. Este tema se desarrolla dentro de un escenario digno de una buena novela policiaca, pues se trata de un crimen cometido en una nave espacial en viaje a colonizar un nuevo planeta.

Holla die Waldfee! – was hat mich Six Wakes von Mur Lafferty gepackt! So eine geniale Mischung aus spannendem Weltraumabenteuer und Mord-Mystery! Das war wie ein besseres Cluedo im Weltall, bei dem sich die Ereignisse rasch entwickeln. Ich sage es gleich: dieses Buch habe ich in zwei Tagen durch gesuchtet und falls es bis hierher noch nicht klar war: ich bin richtig begeistert!

Ich weiß gar nicht worüber ich mich als erstes freuen soll. Das Buch beginnt mittendrin im Geschehen. Man steht, wie die Besatzung der Dormire, unerwartet im verstörenden Chaos aus Blut und Mord. Zusammen mit den Figuren gräbt sich der Leser durch temporeiche Szenen, durch die Probleme, die so ein Erinnerungsverlust mit sich bringt, Intrigen und natürlich einen Haufen Fragen. Dadurch macht die Geschichte schon vom ersten Moment an neugierig und entfaltet sich mit jedem Kapitel und jedem neuen Einblick mehr. Manchmal sind es Szenen der gegenwärtigen Ereignisse, manchmal sehr alte Erinnerungen der Besatzungsmitglieder, die uns die Autorin da präsentiert. Alles ist geschickt miteinander verworben und vielschichtig wie die Lagen einer Zwiebel. Besonders spannend fand ich die ganzen Verknüpfungen, die sich nach und nach ergeben, und die Hinweise, die man nachträglich erkennt.

Das Buch wechselt dabei zwischen den verschiedenen Perspektiven der sechs Klone und deckt schrittweise Teile ihrer Vergangenheit auf. Aber auch die gesamte politische Situation zwischen Menschen, Klonen und Splittergruppen innerhalb beider Parteien, bei denen man manchmal bewusst im Unklaren gelassen wird wer nun gegen wen arbeitet, wird auf diese Weise zum großen Ganzen gemacht. Es ist ein durchweg spannend bleibendes Puzzle, das die Autorin hier abliefert. Zu keiner Zeit hatte ich dabei das Gefühl den Faden zu verlieren, da jede Figur eine ihr ganz eigene Erzählstimme hat. Bei wechselnden Perspektiven gleich doppelt gut und wichtig. Ich muss außerdem gestehen, so unliebsam sich auch mancher der Protagonisten verhält, ich habe sie jeden für sich lieben gelernt. Alle verbergen sie etwas voreinander, aber auch vor dem Leser, und mit jedem Stück das ich mehr über sie erfahren habe, sind sie mir weiter ans Herz gewachsen. Besonders Hiro, der Pilot, und IAN, die KI des Schiffes, haben es mir angetan. Denn obwohl die Figuren in einer wirklich miesen Lage sind, versäumen es Hiro und IAN nicht ab und an für eine Prise Humor zu sorgen.

Während normale Krimis oft etwas simpel gehalten sind, fährt Six Wakes fast schon schwere Kaliber auf und flicht nebenbei ethische und philosophische Fragen ein. Was macht die Seele eines Menschen aus? Was seine Persönlichkeit? Wie viel Mensch ist man als Klon noch, wenn die eigene Persönlichkeit zu einem lesbaren und veränderbaren Code geworden ist? Wenn es nicht einmal mehr den Tod zu fürchten gibt? Die Problematik eine Antwort darauf zu finden, wurde geschickt in Erlebnisse verpackt und ich habe mich mehrfach dabei ertappt mir all die höchst komplizierten Fragen selbst zu stellen. Es ist erstaunlich wie verzwickt die Dinge werden können, und wie erschreckend, wenn bestimmte Möglichkeiten und Fähigkeiten in den falschen Händen landen.

Was mir gleich zu Beginn positiv aufgefallen ist, ist die Vielfalt der Figuren. Die Crew der Dormire setzt sich aus allerlei Nationalitäten und auch körperlich deformierten Personen zusammen, die ganz selbstverständlich zurechtkommen. Es war erfrischend auch mal eine körperlich behinderte Figur zu haben, die sich zudem völlig natürlich in die Gruppe einfügt. Das Klon-Konzept in Six Wakes ist überhaupt ganz anders ausgebaut als man es üblicherweise aus solchen Szenarien kennt und lohnt sich wirklich zu erkunden.

Kurz gesagt: Ein absoluter Spaß für alle Mystery-Fans, der gleichzeitig nichts von Seiten der SciFi vermissen lässt. Dieser Roman bekommt eine deutliche Leseempfehlung und gehört zu den Büchern von denen ich mir dringend wünsche, dass sie auch ins Deutsche übersetzt werden. Leider dürfte die Geschichte wieder so ungewöhnlich und vielschichtig sein, dass sich kaum ein deutscher Verlag herantrauen wird. Wer das Glück hat englischsprachige Bücher lesen zu können, der darf sich Six Wakes nicht entgehen lassen.