I do not understand why I enjoyed The Mimicking of Known Succeses. The plot hinges on information you are not presented with until near the point at which that information becomes the solution. The main romance feels forced, not organic, and the mystery itself is short and leaves many flapping loose ends. But I really did enjoy this quite a bit, and intend to buy the next one in the series. I think my enjoyment comes from two places — the characters and the world.
The book is a sci-fi murder mystery set on what I assume is Jupiter, though that is never made clear. It could be a Jupiter like world in another solar system, though that is unlikely for spoiler-ly reasons I will not go into here. The world Malka Older builds is unusual, believable, and very slow paced for reasons tied directly to the environment. It is wonderful place, one of the best in recent sci-fi in my opinion. Older bakes so many little details into her sparse prose (the way she describes the porters, for example, tells us an enormous amount about the world’s politics, economics, social structures, and communication networks in a handful of words.) that I never tired of learning more about the place, and wished I could have spent more time there.
Of course, if the characters weren’t also enjoyable to be with, then the journey itself would have likely not been so much fun. And the characters are great to ride along with. They have fully-fleshed out histories that Older has obviously thought about but does not stop to explain to us. The main characters are fascinating and distinct and the side characters have believable motivations whose actions are driven by those motivations and not plot needs. One of the main characters is obviosu neuro-divergent in some way, but is neither defend by that trait nor has that neuro-divergency papered over or made to be a super-power. As someone with neuro-divergent family members, I very much appreciate Older letting that character just be a person.
There you have it: I am recommending a book whose mystery I find underwhelming and whose romance rather rote. But the world building, the sure-handed prose, and the enjoyable characters make the book well worth your time.