Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Recursion by Blake Crouch

58 reviews

acidicorchid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I don't even know where to starteith this. The beginning was good, immediately hooked me in, and I can't lie and say Blake Crouch's writing style isn't one I find super appealing. It's snappy in parts, descriptive in others, and always manages to draw me into the action. His takes on sci-fi concepts (time travel in this case) are super interesting because there's always a twist to them I'm not used to seeing.

This book, despite its more gripping start and final part, did struggle to hold my focus towards the middle (not uncommon for me with his books. They're good, they're  interesting, but something about getting from point a to point b is just not hitting with me). By the third part, though, I was back in. When I tell you some of these moments were jaw-dropping.... 

I also like how well balanced the dual POV is between the main characters. It's hard to pull off well, but for the most part the author makes it look almost easy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide

Moderate: Gun violence

chasen's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Terminal illness, War, Dementia, Death, Addiction, Gore, Drug abuse, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Suicide, and Gun violence

lavinia_speaks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Death, Child death, Car accident, Torture, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

yaslanna's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Violence, and Dementia

Moderate: Mass/school shootings

ababytapir's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

This book got me excited about reading again. It was part sci-fi thriller, part mad-time travel paradoxical brain-fuck, part horror, part romance, part philosophical musing on the human condition, and I loved EVERY second of it. It's a book I couldn't put down. A book I immediately recommended to everyone I know who loves sci fi and thrillers. It's one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read. I literally only took off a quarter star because it's a little too nice to police, and the romance was a touch too heterosexual for my tastes, but that's just based on my own personal politics. It's a book I'm immensely glad I read. I spent the days after reading it just going "wow. What? Wow." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Body horror, War, Violence, Gun violence, Torture, Murder, Death, Child death, Grief, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Suicide, and Gore

This is a very violent book and there's some pretty graphic descriptions of mass violent acts like being right inside a nuclear war and terrorist attack. The book opens on a suicide and the story is often driven by the main character's deaths and suicides.

leegray's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Murder, Terminal illness, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Car accident, Drug use, Alcohol, Grief, Suicide attempt, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

schnaucl's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective 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

4.25

I enjoyed it. 

It has an interesting twist on time travel and the love story is lovely, even if it's also tragic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Violence, War, Death, Dementia, Alcohol, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Grief, Alcoholism, and Medical content

kathywoo10's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Dementia, Death, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Confinement

dunecello's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

Thrilling and thought-provoking exploration into the philosophies surrounding what memory is, what time is, and who we are if not for our memory.
I did my dissertation in neuroscience on the cellular basis of learning, and was impressed by Crouch's convincing job of describing experiments that would be on the cutting edge of this field. As for the rest of the science in this novel, suspending disbelief is required, but is certainly worth it. Keeping track of what was going on was a good brain exercise and it paid off in spades as the story became more and more complex and the stakes became incredibly high. When things got crazy, I found myself flying through the pages in excitement.
This novel reads like an action movie, and I'd love to see it on the big screen. Anyone who enjoyed PKD's We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (Total Recall) and/or Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life (Arrival) should surely check this one out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Gun violence, Dementia, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

kristinj1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I feel like this book just chased the idea even further than upgrade did, by the same author. They had a idea, and they kept impacting it and impacting it and impacting it. They went through truly every possible thing that could happen as a result of this new information. And it was terrifying. I feel like I was pretty connected to the main character, barry. Especially because he was a parent and had experienced the death of his child. And a divorce. The book was terrifying and fascinating. And also maybe totally expected, given that I feel like this technology would absolutely be used by governments to get ahead.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Suicide, Gun violence, Violence, Child death, Dementia, War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Car accident

Minor: Dementia