Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Sáu đợt thức tỉnh by Mur Lafferty

17 reviews

cryptofauna's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

it was okay! nothing revolutionary, but it had a cool concept and interesting characters. as always i’m psyched for a sentient ai, and while some of the plot twists were super obvious there were a couple that took me by surprise.
i feel like it took itself a little more seriously than it needed to, especially when considering the philosophical and ethical dilemmas the characters face

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Alcohol, Mental illness, Murder, and Violence

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Medical content, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, and Gore

Minor: Child abuse, Trafficking, and Torture

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Amazing! Fantastic! Fast-paced, character driven, murder mystery in space. SO much fun. But specifically fun I enjoy. It has clones, witty banter, characters with secrets in their past, surprisingly deep ethical discussions. It is a little chaotic and the mystery quickly fades into the background while the characters and their stories become the focus of the book. I wish we had more interactions between the characters themselves, but for me, it was enough to care for them by the end. Even though they do a lot of questionable things. XD It's probably the most problematic and violent found family I've encountered, but what can I do, I still adore this trope. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Confinement, Gore, and Hate crime

rhall19's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Torture and Kidnapping

j_squaredd's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Ableism

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Classism, Death, Violence, Murder, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gore, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Vomit, and Medical trauma

kell_xavi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Lafferty introduces exciting and unique science fiction concepts to a future Earth and space mission, building tension right from the start with a thriller mystery plot. A skeleton crew with no memories, hidden crimes (even from themselves!), surrounded by blood, bodies, malfunctioning technology, and no way out. It gets somewhat dark in there even before the inevitable lights out scene, but the plot is tight and intricate, creating intrigue even where I had some hint of how things would play out. I was bothered by some scenes where the dialogue came across as contrived, and a couple of continuity errors—a character stands to make breakfast and a moment later stands to make dessert, for example, or where the action begins and ends in different rooms without transition. There were also a few loose ends that didn’t seem intentional, these nagging oversights less forgivable in a mystery plot where it’s not clear until later whether they’re flaws or clues. That said, I like the writing style, plot, pacing, layered histories, and enough of the character development (given that many are assholes). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, and Suicide

Moderate: Torture, Vomit, Slavery, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism

pathyatt's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Alcohol, Violence, War, Vomit, Blood, Death, Genocide, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Murder

hillbilly_heroine's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

A perfectly-paced murder mystery on a spaceship full of clones. I was in the mood for a page-turner and this delivered. It’s the kind of mystery that’s technically possible for the reader to figure out on their own, but challenging enough that I didn’t get it entirely right. It’s also solid sci-fi, thoughtfully exploring themes around ethics and morality in a future where real death is no longer an issue for many people. Lafferty does a great job reimagining what character development might look like when the characters in question are more or less immortal. Finished it in 2 days and enjoyed every second. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Vomit

e_flah's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.0

Six Wakes was a fast-paced, engrossing read that hooked me from the first page. I really loved how it balanced a propulsive plot with great character development. I loved slowly learning more about the crew of the Dormire as they tried to figure out who killed their previous clones.

Sometimes with large ensemble casts, it can be tough to feel like I have a good sense of who all the characters are; this was not at all the case with Six Wakes. With the exception of Paul -- which I think was the point -- I found the crew all lovable and fascinating in their own, complicated ways. The tension between the crew members left lots of room for me to theorize about potential motivations for the crime, which was a ton of fun.

I found the fact that

so much of the events on the Dormire were blamed on Maria's actions in the past, particularly due to the fact that they were under threat of torture, a bit frustrating. It seemed like too clean of a solution to a web of conflict that had otherwise been delightfully messy.

This is the main reason I'm giving Six Wakes 4 stars instead of 5.

On the whole, Six Wakes is a gripping read that does an excellent job balancing an action-packed plot with strong character development.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, and Suicide

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, and Torture

discussions of dead bodies + suicidal ideation