Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

6 reviews

glitterdeww's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Well, wasn't this a surprising little delight of a story! Relatable, intriguing, and very funny, I can absolutely see why The Murderbot Diaries series has become such a hit. The story blends quick-paced action with a sarcastic and jaded narrator in the voice of Murderbot. It brushes up against hard sci-fi in all the right places, but does so with humor and a conversational tone that makes it really accessible. There is quite a bit of needed exposition since so much is packed into this novella, but it never feels overbearing. This would be a great intro into sci-fi for anyone that may feel intimidated by how dense the genre can be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

eener's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

One of my all time favorite series

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Gun violence, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Blood, Violence, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Classism, and Emotional abuse

walkie_check's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Classism, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, and Xenophobia

mads_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization

spooderman's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Gore, Violence, Death, Body horror, Slavery, and Blood

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, and Kidnapping

Minor: Xenophobia, Ableism, and Forced institutionalization

maeverose's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

My possible adhd made it really difficult to focus while reading this. It took me a while to get through because I had to re read things over and over for them to stick. I’m pretty sure that was just a me thing and not a problem with the book.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Literally halfway into the first chapter I already loved Murderbot, and grew to love it even more as the story went on. I related to it’s social discomfort a lot lol (Lot’s of parallels to autism, I felt like). I liked the humor, I actually laughed out loud several times. I really liked the worldbuilding and the way things were subtly explained to the reader without feeling like they were being explained. I liked the human characters (especially Mensah) but I feel like the only character that was fully fleshed out was Murderbot. It is a novella so of course with that many characters not all of them are gonna get the same amount of focus but I do wish they were a little more developed. Maybe if there had been a smaller cast of characters that would’ve been better. I liked the mystery at first but was a little unsatisfied with it in the end. 

I’m still going to go check out the second book from my library right away.

My feelings about the mystery reveal (major spoilers):

I didn’t love the reveal that GrayCris was just killing people because they found something that was super valuable. I kinda hoped it would’ve been something more interesting, that feels so.. boring? I also don’t know that I buy anyone going that far for money, especially because neither DeltFall nor PreservationAux knew about the remnants when they were killed/pursued, so it wasn’t like they were a current threat to GrayCris’s future fortune. I think it would’ve been cool if it took more of a horror approach and had aliens coming after them or something lol. But this isn’t marketed as horror so obviously I can’t really be mad it didn’t go that route.. and to be fair the humor would’ve felt out of place then... apparently I don’t know what I want

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Mass/school shootings

Minor: Blood, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, and Slavery

There is some implied gore, but never any super explicit descriptions. I really don’t like gore and never at any point was grossed out but if you’re super sensitive to that kind of thing I’d still be cautious.