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adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved this book. The ending was perfect! You don't get a perfect ending with everything told to you. It doesn't end happily ever after, but that's what I love about Blake Crouch's books! I would have liked a bit more about his wife, Ava, Nadine, and Kara, but other than that perfect! It was a wild ride. I laughed, I cried, and I gasped in surprise. It was just a great book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide, Car accident, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug use, Terminal illness, Torture, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dark Matter and Recursion were both better than this one, but I still enjoyed it. Fast paced, interesting sci fi concepts, balanced with some philosophizing about humanity, but just a bit lacking in character development and the truly mind bending stuff of his other books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
emotional
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
Logan Ramsay is genetically modified without his knowledge or consent, becoming a super strong, intelligent, upgraded human. He and his (also upgraded) sister fight over conflicting views of how to save humanity from self-imposed extinction.
Fast-paced thriller about the benefits and perils of genetically modifying humans. What aspects of our nature are worth upgrading and at what cost?
Lots of lists of gene names!
Fave quote:
"We don't have an intelligence problem. We have a compassion problem. That, more than any other single factor, is what's driving us toward extinction."
Fast-paced thriller about the benefits and perils of genetically modifying humans. What aspects of our nature are worth upgrading and at what cost?
Lots of lists of gene names!
Fave quote:
"We don't have an intelligence problem. We have a compassion problem. That, more than any other single factor, is what's driving us toward extinction."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence
Minor: Vomit
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Suicide, Death of parent
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I felt very nostalgic reading this book. It reminded me a lot of the dame feel as sci-fi movies I watched in the late 90s-early 2000s. I was captured from the start. My only complaint is that it was very wordy at times with scientific jargon. While this helped ground the science side of the story, it bogged down the story for me. But I did like the overall story and I would recommend this book to others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Upgrade by Blake Crouch lived up to my expectations and was a quick, exciting read. My first Crouch novel was back in 2017 when I read Dark Matter, and I remember loving the fast-paced science fiction mood. When I saw the plot for his latest book, I was intrigued… and when I heard from a friend that it held its own against Dark Matter, I knew I’d be buying it.
In Upgrade we meet the protagonist, Logan, in a presumably future world where genetic engineering has gone awry, and the government has put in place restrictive laws. Scientists have been jailed and remain on watch lists, artificial intelligence scans identity in the streets, and the world is recovering from a global famine.
One day Logan wakes with the feeling that he is changing. He can’t put his finger on how or why, but once he starts to understand what’s happening the pace accelerates. As Logan pieces it together, the reader does too, and it’s a battle of morality and survival for humanity.
I’m drawn to science-fiction and particularly enjoy stories that are a degree away from the current reality. This novel has fictional elements that feel both futuristic and incredibly plausible. It begs the question of whether this could be reality and as the story progresses, it pushes moral and scientific questions to the surface for consideration.
The mystery unfolds and solves itself with satisfaction, with minimal loose ends to consider, and the epilogue was my favorite part. If you enjoyed Dark Matter, this is worth the read. This reminds me of a Jason Bourne type plot with an injection (terrible pun… forgive me) of futuristic science fiction.
Content warnings: Violence, Gun violence, Death, Self-harm, Torture, Grief
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Grief
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Grief
adventurous
reflective
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence
Minor: Sexual assault
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
CW: suicide, violence, blood, human experimentation
I don't think I liked this more than Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy, but I DO think it's my fave of his more recent releases. scifi is not a big go-to overall for me, but I am all here for a scifi eco-thriller in Crouch's capable hands!
a lot of the book does essentially center on things like climate change, classism, environmentalism in general, and the downfall of humanity & humans as a species. SO if ANY of those topics turns you off, maybe skip this, or at least be aware ahead of time.
this book absolutely made me cry in a couple spots, laugh a lot, and I had a hard time putting it down to go to work & such. highly recommend, especially if you dig scifi/eco thrillers or crouch in general.
all the stars!
I don't think I liked this more than Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy, but I DO think it's my fave of his more recent releases. scifi is not a big go-to overall for me, but I am all here for a scifi eco-thriller in Crouch's capable hands!
a lot of the book does essentially center on things like climate change, classism, environmentalism in general, and the downfall of humanity & humans as a species. SO if ANY of those topics turns you off, maybe skip this, or at least be aware ahead of time.
this book absolutely made me cry in a couple spots, laugh a lot, and I had a hard time putting it down to go to work & such. highly recommend, especially if you dig scifi/eco thrillers or crouch in general.
all the stars!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicide