Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Far from the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson

7 reviews

wordsareworlds's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

I was so invested in this book for the first 50%, and then it felt like it went off the rails. Thompson packed so many different ideas into the book that most didn't end up having any room to breathe let alone shine. The resolution felt divorced from what had actually happened in the rest of the book, which left me feeling unsatisfied and a little bit cheated of the story the first half promised.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Gore, Colonisation, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, and Genocide

Minor: Cannibalism

antarcticsloth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Racism, Excrement, and Racial slurs

billyjepma's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I struggled to get into this at first and found myself bristling at how little the story prepared me for its version of space travel, alien worlds, and technology. On one hand, I admired the in media res approach, but on the other, I felt like it kept me at arm’s length from the characters and the mystery they find themselves in. And then, right around the halfway point, something in me or the book clicked into place, and I tore through the remaining 150+ pages in one sitting. All those wrinkles I initially saw as obstacles unfolded and played out in immensely satisfying, exciting ways. I still think that the first half is a little rough, and there are areas I found to be slightly underbaked, but I can’t argue with the results. Once things got going, I was all in and then some.

The very concept of a single-location murder mystery in a spaceship is enough of a hook to get me. If you’re willing to be patient, Thompson’s storytelling delivers on and exceeds the expectations of that initial conceit. I love the themes stitched into the plot, appreciate how they exist analogously to the story, and pay off in simultaneously rewarding and frustrating ways. Which is a good thing in my book because the themes Thompson introduces are too big and, in some ways, too abstract to have a proper resolution. I appreciate that he lets his characters (and, by extension, his reader) sit in that vaguely uncomfortable space. Take away the headiness, though, and you still have a simmering thriller that feels like the twisted love child of Seven, The Martian, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, with some tasteful hints of a Hercule Poirot caper mixed in for good measure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, Cursing, and Medical content

Minor: Child death, Colonisation, Classism, Racial slurs, and Cannibalism

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

sarah984's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I really enjoyed this one. It's a sort of a combination of space thriller and detective story with a bit of a supernatural element. There are some great action scenes, and while the characters aren't super developed, they feel unique and do the job. The romance is pretty bland though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Gore

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, and Violence

Minor: Excrement, Sexual content, War, and Fatphobia

bookishbutch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Colonisation, Cursing, and Racial slurs

laurareads87's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I enjoyed Thompson’s Rosewater so was happy to read his forthcoming Far From the Light of Heaven. I was definitely intrigued by the premise – a locked-room murder mystery on a spaceship. I love a lot about this novel: the diverse cast of characters thrown together by circumstance and forced to find ways to work together, the truly innovative technological and alien elements, the creation of a universe with compelling cultural and political dimensions that feel entirely believable, and a well-paced plot that kept me interested throughout. The inclusion of multiple points of view is highly effective here, as are the ways that Thompson tackles political and environmental dynamics in the universe he’s created. This is a standalone novel, but I do hope that Thompson returns to this universe in a future work.
Thank you to Orbit + NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Content warnings: cannibalism, violence, gore/blood, some racism + sexism 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Colonisation, Racism, and Sexism