Reviews with content warning for Death - Dark Matter

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

182 reviews

keaganbailey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.0

The book starts off well, but by the end of chapter 1 you know exactly what's going on until near the last third. The plot until over 60% of the way through is straight forward, the main character doesn't even realize what happened to them until about 40%. This is frustrating as the reader as you're sitting around waiting for the book to catch up to where you know it's going.

The main character is one dimensional and does not change at all throughout the book, interestingly this ties into the plot and is excusable. What isn't excusable is that all other characters in the book are also one dimensional, the son could be replaced with a cardboard cutout the wife carries around and the story would not change dramatically. There are also several characters at the end of the story that the author explicitly tells the reader that they have "changed" but goes into no detail about this and does not explore the concept beyond the surface observation that their motivation has changed because the plot demands it.

As much as it pains me to say it, the show Rick & Morty has explored many of the concepts in this book and dulled the wonder of interacting yourself in a multiverse. But if you have not watched the show this book may be a 4 or 5 star for you.

If you enjoy the dilemma at the end of the book you will also really enjoy the game SOMA which came out in 2015, it goes on sale for $5 often.

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kal517's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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estellegodard's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

it was a fast paced and entertaining book but beyond that it really wasn’t anything special. I was expecting something a lot more airtight and intense. while there were interesting facets to this, there were many moments that felt repetitive and the science felt flimsy. I also found it weak that we never get any closer on amanda’s arc.
I picked up this book because it was pitched to me as being similar to “project hail mary”. this novel doesn’t stack up in the slightest to weir’s book. but, this book was exactly the sort of easy and quick read I needed at the moment. I just wish it had a bit more substance.

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refractionsofray's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? No

4.5

My first si fi book, I really enjoyed it.

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rebeltheflow's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective 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

3.75

⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m struggling if this is 3 or 4 stars leaning. Maybe 3.75.

The concept and plot is excellent: 5 stars. The writing style and execution is okay: 3 stars. The characters are ver poorly written: 1 star.

Plot: There’s a lot of twists but some were predictable (at least from the standpoint that I as a reader figured it all out before the protagonist did (and he’s supposed to be a genius scientist)). I really like the themes, questions and philosophy this sci-fi proposes. What defines you? Regret and doubt and the path not taken. The first 100 pages are a bit slow but the next 240 pages are fast! Like really really fast in both plot and writing style.

Writing Style: Everything is short and punchy which successfully makes a fast page turner. Each sentence is like 5-10 words. Each paragraph is only 1 - 3 sentences. Some paragraphs only 5 words…..and I really liked that for the narrated part of the book. It reads like a movie. I liked that a lot of the details were up to me to decide & I think this writing approach allows readers to feel immersed in the action without being interrupted by over descriptive scenery or adverbs. But the dialogue is written in the same style which makes the characters appear really boring, flat, and uncompelling. Which takes me to my next point.

Characters: Everyone is so one directional. Characters come and go without proper send-offs which created to many unfinished subplots in my opinion. Each character talks in only 3 word replies, reading it honestly felt like trying to flirt with a really dry texter. My biggest issue is that this book is supposed to be a romance between a genius scientist & his artistic wife, but there was no love for each other except for their horniness.

Spoilers:

What happened to Amanda? Is there hundreds of her now too? She was a major character and then suddenly forgotten. The reveal of their being hundreds of Jasons back at his home world was awesome (probably my favorite moment of the book) but the fight between them all was just: the Jason that is the most horny shall win (essentially). Jason was so horny in fact that his motive is being angry at Jason2 having sex with his wife when it should be him. Charlie, his son, is practically forgotten for 90% of the book. Also Jason is so horny he cheats on Daniela with another version of her & tries to justify it. Also he’s so horny he comes very close to cheating on Daniel’s with Amanda ….but then he conveniently never tells his wife that.

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vivisms_82's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Clever sci-fi thriller with a dash of spousal romance :) It started off blazing but lost quite a bit of steam and got a little convoluted but overall was good enough to keep me turning the page.

Explores themes of regret, what ifs, is the grass greener on the path not travelled?, identity, ego and what makes a life meaningful and fulfilling.

The only issue I had was the way

all the Jasons' seem to view/treat Daniela like she was a piece of meat that they could manipulate, muck about and be dishonest with in order to suit their own needs and the choices they made = choices they made without her say (the end being the exception when she is finally included). It was all THEIR road not travelled they were exploring. They also all tricked her and slept with her - even the "good Jason", before telling her the truth. Made my skin crawl. Actually all the Jason's were varying degrees of icky to me. Still, I don't have to like the main character to appreciate an otherwise good and thought provoking story.

The narrator is fine but not my fave and ended up borrowing the book from my library instead.

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abbiechron's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book WRECKED me. Incredible.

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mj_86's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

5.0

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samgyupsal's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Interesting take on the multiverse concept. I do wish there was an epilogue of some sort as the ending was too abrupt, especially with the multiverse factor.

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dani794's review against another edition

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3.5

spiderman meme: the book

i thought it was an interesting premise

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