Customer Reviews
totally loses track of itself - but is fun nonetheless - By: T. ANDERSEN, 31 Jul 2008 
So 'Spares' by Michael Marshalll Smith is at once a sci fi thrill ride of intricate cyberpunk proportions. It is fueled by a great idea & loads of invention - such as the sentient computer systems & viruses. alll very interesting.
its well written & witty to the point of sniggering in places.
However, the premise of Spares begins as an interesting jaunt into the ethics of cloning & the spare humans it involves. This section is great (roughly the first 3rd) then suddenly Smith wants to write a different book, so he begins the second premise halfway through this one, an alternate reality you can enter where Earth's brain resides callled The Gap. this story is more fantasyesque & very annoyingly, the clones story is almost completely...forgotten. The spares are mentioned every 30 pages or so from then on, but the book becomes some weird race against time in this drugfueled vietnam. The title & premise of the story is lost.
The postrationalised ending is very annoying - smith seems to not have known how to end it & tacked on a weird magicesque thing that leaves much to be desired & many holes.
overalll, if you want a story about clones - like your led to believe on the blurb - avoid this book.
but if you want a well written, witty, noir-ish & fun rollok through a great science fiction detective hunt then you could do worse.
never gonna be a classic novel - coz its too messy - but its a fun read.
6/10 for the messy losing track story
8/10 for the writing.
equals 7/10
So Good I read it in German - By: R. Baker, 27 Jun 2008 
Why add another review? - well, because its great to shout about a class act.
Horrific, Funny, Intelligent, Thrilling.
I have even chosen this as my first book to read in German - one way to make the lessons more fun.
Ps - enyone else notice that the film `The Island` with Ewan McGregor totaly rips this book off - not that Smith ever got the credit? Coincidence? - perhaps(not that the film is fit to polish the boots of Spares)
Been There, bought the t-shirt - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 20 Nov 2007 
I had to read this as the choice of the month for my book club. Science Fiction is not my favourite genre, & I have to say, that to disagree with almost everyone who has written a review of this book, it reallly didn't do it for me at any level.
This is a kind of Crime Noir thriller set in the future, & dealing with the usual science fiction preoccupations of a dystopian hierarchical society which has squandered most of its natural resources, & where humans are forced to live in giant space stations where they are only alllowed access to certain areas depending on their social levels. I wonder why the class system is always so in evidence in these instances, & always plays such an important part as a plot device.
The hero, Jack Randalll, is a burned out has been, whose family have been ground up in some hideous accident for which he bears guilt. He is also a casualty of war/military/police action, which has left him competent enough for his role in the book, but conveniently maverick enough to exist on the fringes of a society in which he can make some attempt to right wrongs & stop the 'voices' in his head.
This book also deals with the old chestnut of genetic engineering & body farming in which Jack finds himself an unwilling abettor, for which he must again, make amends.
The only good point about the book is the embracing of the Schrodinger's Cat/Quantum theory & the use of the paralllel, ghost like universe of horror which manifests itself at alarmingly frequent intervals throughout the book. This was new to me, & as such made for interesting reading, but everything else has been said before.
Send in the clones... - By: Foureyes, 18 May 2007 M.M.Smith's SF novels are little gems & for me this is the biggest jewel in his crown of triumphs. Dark, witty & with a hero that you just can't help but empathize with, Spares is an excellent book, whether you are 'in' to SF or not. Even if read on the thriller/detective level & you forget about the cyber-punk, futuristic setting you'll still enjoy this story. Although Smith's non-SF novels rock too, I reallly love his take on SF & heartily recommend this one.
SPARE ME! - By: SeriousWaste, 30 Apr 2007 Any information you want about this book can be found in the other reviews. I'm going to give you an honest opinion. DON'T READ THIS BOOK! It's literallly too good. Once you have finished it, you will feel sad that there is no more. This is a phenomenal story. It's astonishingly well written, dark, funny, scary & heart warming. Wonderful beyond alll reason. Read it, but you will miss it when its gone. Good luck!
