Rating: 
Summary: Good when it got going
Review: It took me a hundred pages or so to get into the book. The beginning is set up describing the extreme power that can be brought to bear on an individual by a corporation that becomes interested in them.After a string of bad luck (engineered by an interstellar corporation) Thiadora Murphy overcomes all (including the same corporation that had her helpless months ago) to change the Universe. Once you achieve the suspension of disbelief - or maybe this is the sort of story that interests you - it's a fun story. There is an interesting discussion of 'floater' (purely space born) culture with its own set of taboos, rituals and everything you'd need to describe a culture and make it compelling. The book has the giants of physics made into Gods, and the science has the same sort of feel to it. Very space opera in nature. Nevertheless, it was a fun book to read. The character of Thiadora also developed in interesting ways. A bit heavy-handed, but still quite interesting. Overall, well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: formula
Review: It was pretty much formula "space sci-fi". Some interesting ideas but if I squint a little, it could be any of 500 "space" sci-fi books I read in the 70s-80s.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining read
Review: Murphy's Gambit falls in the category of "brain candy" for me. Very enjoyable read, particularly once the story caught its stride. This fits well in the genre of the Miles Vorkosigan/Honor Harrington-type space opera, complete with the (initially) naive underdog but potent protagonist and lots of chewy space-tech. Reading other reviews I see complaints about the science. Any science inconsistencies are easily set aside, and are nowhere near as jarring as, say, your average Star Trek episode or the vast majority of science fiction I've ever read. I found the vast majority of the science to enhance my experience of the story. Does this qualify as a physics textbook? Why should it? It's fiction, a novel, and meant for entertainment. And as entertainment, it's certainly better value for the buck than the vast majority of other entertainments out there. I had fun--if you like Bujold and Weber, you'll probably enjoy this.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining read
Review: Murphy's Gambit falls in the category of "brain candy" for me. Very enjoyable read, particularly once the story caught its stride. This fits well in the genre of the Miles Vorkosigan/Honor Harrington-type space opera, complete with the (initially) naive underdog but potent protagonist and lots of chewy space-tech. Reading other reviews I see complaints about the science. Any science inconsistencies are easily set aside, and are nowhere near as jarring as, say, your average Star Trek episode or the vast majority of science fiction I've ever read. I found the vast majority of the science to enhance my experience of the story. Does this qualify as a physics textbook? Why should it? It's fiction, a novel, and meant for entertainment. And as entertainment, it's certainly better value for the buck than the vast majority of other entertainments out there. I had fun--if you like Bujold and Weber, you'll probably enjoy this.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong debut novel!
Review: Murphy's Gambit is a strong debut novel of hard science fiction. There's lots of cool world building, interesting culture clashes, and science that is right for a change. The plight of the floaters compares well to those in Lois McMasters Bujold's universe. The plot twists in all the right ways as well making the book a good read unlike some hard sf. Syne Mitchell has previously been known for fantasy short stories, a regular in the Sword and Sorceress anthologies, but she sure can write sf, too.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, SF for the Working Class!
Review: Murphy's Gambit is one of the best books to come out in recent years. Other people have done a fine job of saying what this book is about, so let me take up my 1,000 words by telling you what's GOOD about this book. I really enjoy Mitchell's concept of a "floater" society. These are the working class people of the future... something that much of science fiction is loathe to deal with. I found it fascinating that in Mitchell's vision, being working class became more than just a matter of desperation... after a while, when space began to physically change the floaters, what they did and who they were developed into its own culture. Thus, Murphy, who attempted to leave behind the unattractive parts of being a floater (poverty, etc.), had to struggle with a certain amount of working class pride, culture. There's a bit of that alive today, and I'd love to see more about this explored in future books by Mitchell. Despite what a lot of other reviewers have said--for me, what's important about the science in Murphy's Gambit is that Mitchell makes me feel that space is big, I mean, really big. I like gee-whiz space travel, and Mitchell makes the deep reaches of outer space feel awesome to me again. Details, schmetails. As a science fiction writer myself, I have to applaud Mitchell's efforts. One of the reasons I've never tried to write about space travel is because there are so many things readers can nit-pick and criticize. Honestly, for me, if the prose is smooth and the story gripping, the hard-core mechanics don't mean diddly. Murphy's Gambit is a compelling story. In fact, I loved it so much I've already pre-ordered Mitchell's next book. Everyone should do the same.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, SF for the Working Class!
Review: Murphy's Gambit is one of the best books to come out in recent years. Other people have done a fine job of saying what this book is about, so let me take up my 1,000 words by telling you what's GOOD about this book. I really enjoy Mitchell's concept of a "floater" society. These are the working class people of the future... something that much of science fiction is loathe to deal with. I found it fascinating that in Mitchell's vision, being working class became more than just a matter of desperation... after a while, when space began to physically change the floaters, what they did and who they were developed into its own culture. Thus, Murphy, who attempted to leave behind the unattractive parts of being a floater (poverty, etc.), had to struggle with a certain amount of working class pride, culture. There's a bit of that alive today, and I'd love to see more about this explored in future books by Mitchell. Despite what a lot of other reviewers have said--for me, what's important about the science in Murphy's Gambit is that Mitchell makes me feel that space is big, I mean, really big. I like gee-whiz space travel, and Mitchell makes the deep reaches of outer space feel awesome to me again. Details, schmetails. As a science fiction writer myself, I have to applaud Mitchell's efforts. One of the reasons I've never tried to write about space travel is because there are so many things readers can nit-pick and criticize. Honestly, for me, if the prose is smooth and the story gripping, the hard-core mechanics don't mean diddly. Murphy's Gambit is a compelling story. In fact, I loved it so much I've already pre-ordered Mitchell's next book. Everyone should do the same.
Rating:
Summary: Ripping Good Story!
Review: Science fiction with real people and real science is vanishingly rare. This is a classic "underdog makes good" story with really tough problems that get resolved in surprising but believable ways, and a pace that just keeps pounding on. Buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: Good story, wrong time.
Review: Space-born workers being treated like slave. The Collective Enforcement Agency, the space cops, are nothing more than security for the Corporations who run everything. The Corporations are run by families who are always looking to gain more wealth and power.
This sounds like the setting for... millions of science fiction novels. Replace the science with magic and it is also the setting for tons of fantasy novels. For a first book the author does a good job, giving it her own touch, her own terms, ideas and tiny twists that make it her own. BUT it still feels like I've read this book before.
Same with the characters. Greedy business leaders, freedom loving zero-gravity humans who believe in free love and free space, corrupt cops, a misguided hacker, a hot-shot young pilots with a bad temper. It's easy to see how the characters will act or react when faced with a problem. When the plot is totally character-driven, this makes it easy to see where things are going, even with the most surprising plot-twists. The ending is nice, but not surprising.
This book is good for young adults OR if you sent it back into time, maybe the early 1980s?
Rating:
Summary: Good story, wrong time.
Review: Space-born workers being treated like slave. The Collective Enforcement Agency, the space cops, are nothing more than security for the Corporations who run everything. The Corporations are run by families who are always looking to gain more wealth and power.
This sounds like the setting for... millions of science fiction novels. Replace the science with magic and it is also the setting for tons of fantasy novels. For a first book the author does a good job, giving it her own touch, her own terms, ideas and tiny twists that make it her own. BUT it still feels like I've read this book before.
Same with the characters. Greedy business leaders, freedom loving zero-gravity humans who believe in free love and free space, corrupt cops, a misguided hacker, a hot-shot young pilots with a bad temper. It's easy to see how the characters will act or react when faced with a problem. When the plot is totally character-driven, this makes it easy to see where things are going, even with the most surprising plot-twists. The ending is nice, but not surprising.
This book is good for young adults OR if you sent it back into time, maybe the early 1980s?
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