Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

21 reviews

krissysbooked's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-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

4.0

 I consider myself a bit of a fantasy/sci-fi fan and read Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy after becoming obsessed with the TV show when it came out in 2015.

Upgrade is a little different and feels like an eerily possible scenario, in a world where peoples genes can be edited and the outcomes aren’t always amazing or safe.

Don’t be put off by the sci-fi tag if this isn’t normally your thing, because Crouch has an uncanny way of making the science accessible and explaining it alongside the story so that no one gets left behind.

Great action, great future speculation of the dangers of gene editing, and another great story from Blake Crouch. Excuse me whilst I go and work my way through his back catalogue…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Medical content

oddpilot97's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

If you have ADHD, you might have thought "man, what if I could just focus all this mental energy into something awesome?" This book definitely taps into that daydream.

I gotta say, the whole concept had me hooked from the start. The first half of the book was seriously captivating. The whole concept of human enhancement is fascinating, and Crouch does a great job of building suspense as Logan figures out what's happening to him. It's like a high-octane thriller with a healthy dose of "what if?" that really resonated with me.

However, here's the thing.  Maybe it's because the mystery gets solved a little too early, but the middle of the book fizzled for me.  It felt like the real meat of the story was over halfway through, and I struggled to keep the momentum going.

Also, can we talk about the whole build-up about the mother maybe being out there, then BAM! She killed herself. Seriously?  That was such a gut punch.  It felt like a huge letdown, especially because  the mother seemed like a fascinating character.  We barely got to scratch the surface of her story,  and all the questions surrounding her just went unanswered.

Honestly, it felt like a missed opportunity. There was so much potential there to explore her perspective, her role in the whole situation. It's a shame they just shut the door on that entirely.

Overall, if you're looking for a mind-bending sci-fi adventure that'll tickle your ADHD curiosity, this is a good pick.  Just be prepared for the possibility of needing a double-shot espresso to power through the second half.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Violence, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Torture

Minor: Animal death and Child death

hybridhavoc's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This was a decent read. Of Blake Crouch's works that I've read so far, this one reads the most like it was written for film. I think a film adaptation would be pretty straightforward. Probably wouldn't be an entirely bad movie.

With that said, there's not much new ground covered here really. Nothing about this is offensive I don't think.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Gun violence, Murder, and Death of parent

Minor: Car accident, Confinement, Violence, and Grief

ababytapir's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, Dementia, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Body horror, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, War, and Terminal illness

figsofpeach's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

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

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Medical content

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

maregred's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Violence

lindsayerin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Blood, and Medical content

efratmaor's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

One of the best sci-fi books I've ever read. Giving social commentary directly to the gut. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Torture

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Ah, I loved the premise. Really, really liked the first half of the book. The ideas, the discussions about humanity and different approaches to prevent its extinction, about actions and consequences and about the possibilities and risks of genetic engineering were super intriguing and fresh. 
Sadly, there was more focus on action scenes in the second half of the book, and although I didn't mind all the science dumping in the beginning, it got very annoying the farther the story progressed. 
It was still a fun and fast-paced reading experience (especially with the help of the audiobook), I just kind of stopped caring along the way and yes, I see the irony in this. XD 
So I liked it for what it was, but there was so much more potential to make this an outstanding story. It lacked emotion and the surprises factor other Blake Crouch books have. It was all very predictable. The epilogue finally delivered what I wished for, just too little too late. I would have loved to see a more nuanced discussion about the topics of the epilogue in the second half of the book alongside the action. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Torture, Violence, Car accident, and Kidnapping