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perkyanda's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book is weird as fuck and immediately upon finishing it I flipped back to the beginning to start again with added context. Not sure I’ll read all the way through a second time but I definitely recommend rereading at least the beginning! It’s such a weird little thing, an object itself as much as a novel, really, because of the unconventional way it’s told and the very limited way that information is given. It was engaging and off putting snd interesting and I just loved that I got to read something that really shook up my typical experience.
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, and Medical content
savvylit's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
4.0
The Employees is bizarre and spare, leaving so much to the reader's imagination. What details Ravn did choose to include are just enough to clearly depict a distinct capitalist hellscape. At the beginning of the novel, there is an almost-frustrating amount of ambiguity. Readers are only provided with as much context as each brief report provides. This structure eventually reveals the toxic and isolating workplace environment aboard the mysterious Six Thousand Ship. Human workers and their humanoid colleagues toil endlessly. Their employer seems to refuse to empathize with any and all non-work feelings or impulses. Eventually, this comes to ruin the efficiency of the project as the employees develop a sense of solidarity among themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, Violence, and Murder
scops_xyz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Body horror, and Murder
booitsnathalie's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
A frustratingly vague but often haunting epistolary short story. I wasn't anticipating it to hew so closely to videogame emails and SCP entries, but I'll give it credit for being thematically richer than most of the shockbait horror it structurally parallels.
Ideas about the bodies of dehumanized (in more ways than one) workers in a future capitalist state are woven in without the didactic brutality so much contemporary scifi relies on. Characters cannot see outside the demands of the company anymore than readers can materialize the absent interviewer. Both are invisible absolutes, acknowledged but dismissed because who has time when you're working 12 hour shifts (to say nothing or the cosmic horror leaking from this cargo...).
I felt rather listless by the end of this. Even with the introduction of an honest to god plot in the third act it retains the abstract, nonlinear structure (it was not surprising to learn the author is primarily a poet). Certain passages were striking enough to overcome the otherwise formless collage of interviews, but I am glad it was only a scarce 125 pages.
Ideas about the bodies of dehumanized (in more ways than one) workers in a future capitalist state are woven in without the didactic brutality so much contemporary scifi relies on. Characters cannot see outside the demands of the company anymore than readers can materialize the absent interviewer. Both are invisible absolutes, acknowledged but dismissed because who has time when you're working 12 hour shifts (to say nothing or the cosmic horror leaking from this cargo...).
I felt rather listless by the end of this. Even with the introduction of an honest to god plot in the third act it retains the abstract, nonlinear structure (it was not surprising to learn the author is primarily a poet). Certain passages were striking enough to overcome the otherwise formless collage of interviews, but I am glad it was only a scarce 125 pages.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Very perplexing book that more than anything made me hate working & despair that I often judge myself on how productive I am there
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: Murder
jae0141's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Blood
evelphysicist's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book is a little unusual and requires a lot of thinking around the text to fit the story together.
In some ways this worked okay as it’s a short book and the cryptic nature allows readers to draw their own conclusion, however I think the story would have been improved with just slightly more fleshing out.
In some ways this worked okay as it’s a short book and the cryptic nature allows readers to draw their own conclusion, however I think the story would have been improved with just slightly more fleshing out.
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder and Violence
meaghanelizabook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Body horror, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death
Minor: Murder
seulgireads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder, Body horror, and Death
blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Employees is told in a series of interview notes from the crew of a ship exploring a planet across the deep of space. Because of that, the reader is never given a full picture of the events nor a completely linear timeline. That being said, the interviews give enough information to grasp the big ideas and to explore the idea of work, coworkers, and their relationship with the rest of who we are as people. It is an interesting way of exploring these themes, and the execution is successful. The alien objects add a layer of intrigue and mystery; a bizarreness that stretches the imagination. It is a fun, strange ride that is unlike a lot of what I have read before.
Content Warnings
Minor: Murder