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Summary: Interesting Story
Review: I normally do not read this type (SF) of book so I did not know what to expect going in. In reading it I found that the plot developed and worked well. I believed the characters as they were written and thought they worked well in the book. There was a lot going on - main sub plots, but that added to the book, because if I would have been completely focused on the main plot I may not have bought into it as much. This book is geared to the mass market, it is not a high prose work that is destined for awards and top ten lists. It is imaginative fiction that takes to reader into a story, which is why you buy the book.
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Summary: Spares - going to be a film ??? - I hope so....
Review: I read Spares about six months ago, on the recommendation of a friend. He's a good friend, because it was a good book. I am only 16 (15 when I read the book), and I found the book to be the best progression from Arthur C Clarke's Odysee series - since it is a far more lively, and strangely humorous experience. Spares really is an experience. Smith develops the characters in the book beautifully, and deals with a wide range of complex emotions and ethical problems in a very interesting way. The book has action sequences and thoughts on relationships that like those in Only Forward, but they deal with different issues, which you will understand when you read the book. I love the way Smith incorporates sort of Arthur C Clarke and other Sci-Fi and real life AI problems into his books, but tends to show the darker side of them (and life in general). I really hope that when this book is made into a film that they don't cut it too heavily, or screw around with it too much. And I hope that the Daily Mirror will stop being such b*****ds by slagging off everything that they deem unsuitable for the Brittish public!
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Summary: More great SF from Smith.
Review: I'm finding it increasingly bizarre that a search for Smith's great first novel, 'Only Forward', continuously comes up empty here on the Amazon.com search engine. Thankfully I live in Canada and grabbed the paperback in a WH Smith store a few years back, mostly on the merit of it's groovy cover (I hate doing that, I've been burned so many times thinking like that, but I just can't stop doing that). I wasn't burned this time, however. What I got was a rollicking hard-core Adams/Pratchett-like SF detective story. Now Smith is back with his second novel, and it's even better than the first. Others here have exhaustively detailed the plot (to exhaustively, in my opinion, part of the pleasure is watching Smith weave an exciting adventure out the vast tapestry of characters and locations he sets up for yourself), so I won't get into that. But Spares is a much tighter, grimmer novel than the first, so it's easier to follow the plot but not as easy to laugh during the precedings. But there still is humour present as we follow our hero Jack Randall around his old stomping ground...a giant flying megamall that doesn't quite have the urge to get off the ground anymore. So if you're like me and are always frustrated at the lack of any wit or humour in the SF section of the bookstore, pick up Michael Marshall Smith's Spares. It's one brilliant read.
Rating: 
Summary: not worth reading - It's a bait and switch
Review: i've read 3 of michael marshall smith's books (spares, one of us, only forward) and enjoyed 2 of them, "one of us" and "only forward".I was, unfortunately, very disappointed in "spares" and thought it was a waste of time to read. The book is a bait-and-switch, because the concept of "spares" (using body parts of a clone to replace those in the original person when needed) which is very interesting, is not a central part of the story. Rather, the story is more of a prolonged chase of the main character which is both boring and predictable. Don't bother with this book.
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Summary: Spares. Shallow, superficial and unashamedly good fun.
Review: If you are a person of towering intellect who seeks books that challenge, cause you to analyse your position in society, make you wrestle with your conscience and grind you through the mill of the full range of human emotions, then go and buy something else. If you, like me, are content with being engaged and thought-provoked on a more basic level then this should prove to be an entertaining read. Marshall Smith's Spares is a bleak and fairly crude dissection of modern culture: A runaway train of scientific advancement; huge buisness corporations with questionable morals and widespread social decay. Jack Randall is the pathetic, self-centred, though not entirely malicious anti-hero from the dismall lower reaches of this futuristic cityscape. With Randall as a corrupt ex-cop and former 'Bright Eyes' (a G.I.-come-Marine) Marshall Smith allows himself scope to introduce narcotics by the bucket-load and 'The Gap', a metaphor for Vietnam that is played out in a parallel dimension. While the book does contain one or two cliched tools of the sci-fi writer's trade, Marshall Smith employs a lightly comic touch that one should consider when questioning the depth and gravity of the story. While Spares lacks the breathtaking foresight of Huxley's 'A Brave New World' it remains a pleasing and essentially entertaining read.
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Summary: Michael Marshall SMith continues to wow!
Review: If you enjoyed Only Forward, you'll absolutely love Spares. Although Spares is somewhat darker in tone than Only Forward, it is an amazing story -- one that kept me from reading my school books AND kept me from sleeping. While reading the book, I was actually scared to go to sleep sometimes!
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Summary: Absolutely excellent!
Review: Imagine William Gibson and Terry Pratchet rolled into one. A must buy
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Summary: The best of the Same
Review: It's true that Spares is very like 'Only Forward', but I don't see that as a problem. As a one of book it is excellent, just as 'OF' is. I love the worlds that Smith creates, and although the atmosphere is the same, the story is different enough to make this book more than enjoyable. My advice, read it and enjoy.
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Summary: Ever Thought Of Cloning Yourself ?
Review: Michael Marshall Smith effortlessly blends the worlds of Douglas Adams, William Gibson, Will Self and Raymond Chandler in this illuminating Sophomore novel. "Spares" is a humane, cleverly written rumination on the nature of humanity, and how far we'll go to convince ourselves that we've lost it, masquerading as a cyber-punk detective-thriller/comedy/fantasy/horror novel. Taking, as it does, our worst fears about the misuse of cloning technology and accelarating them to the Nth degree, Michael Marshall Smith plunges us into the world of Jack Cardigan, a disgraced former policeman/war veteran/drug addict running from a past he can't escape into a future he can't control. On the way he'll revisit another plain of reality, be accosted by a talking Fridge and explain to you where cats really do "go" when you let them out. Yes, it is as off the wall as it sounds and several times more ingenious than you suspect. If you're a would-be writer, you'll put down your pen and not want to bother after reading this. It really is that good.
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Summary: An involving mix of noir and science fiction.
Review: Michael Marshall Smith is a great new writer with a very unique and invividual voice. Coming on the heels of his debut, _Only Forward_, _Spares_ confirms that he is definitely someone to watch! Some reviewers have faulted Smith for attempting to shoehorn too many diverse ideas into a single book, or for creating such an unlikeable person in his protagonist, Jack Randall. Depending on your point of view, this may be a valid criticism. For me, the mix worked and worked in a magical way I come across all too infrequently in my reading these days. Jack is a drug-addicted former policeman in the surreal future world of New Richmond, Virginia, a grounded MegaMall which has been taken over as the basis for a city. On the run with a group of spares he's liberated from a Farm, Jack comes up against the same forces which necessitated his escape five years previously. Throw in the Gap, a strange, interdimensional reality, not quite analagous to cyberspace but similar, in which a war was fought 20 years ago, a war Jack and several of the other characters are veterans of, and the book is almost overflowing with ideas, originality, and an amazing level of energy. If you're a fan of cross-genre mixes, hardboiled/sci-fi, this book is definitely worth your while. Based on his first two novels and a number of his short stories, including "More Tomorrow," an excellent Internet horror tale, Smith has quite a future ahead of him and, for now, a dedicated new fan in this critic.
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