Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

78 reviews

micaelamariem's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book was mind-blowing. I’ve always been interested in string theory on a very basic level and that’s what this book plays around with. What if there’s a version of us for every decision we make? What if there is an infinity of universes out there? I loved the thrill of watching the character grapple with this. The characters were multifaceted. And there’s a word limit on here now so I guess that’s it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

calliebuczkowski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

tyras_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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

4.0

I really liked the book, fast paced and entertaining even if the science felt like nonsense at times.

It’s mostly sci-fi but the overall theme of the book is like “choose love” but also “life is full of choices and we have to be okay with ours”.  

*spoilers ahead*

The ending was too open ended to be enjoyable to me. Knowing the elements of the box (and the rules that the book set up), I don’t trust that they are just safe at the end. Charlie came back around to be such a central part of the ending when he barely felt like a character throughout the book so that didn’t feel realistic either. I think it would have been more poetic for Daniela to have chosen the world. Ryan should have been a bigger part of the story too. 

The book was actually pretty violent and weirdly sexual at times- or like too focused on it. I thought it was interesting that Daniela could only tell Jason1 was the real one by having sex with him. 

Crouch kinda wrote himself into a hole with the Jason’s outthinking themselves because if they’re the same then why wouldn’t all the Jason’s have come to that same conclusion? but I’m choosing to believe that jason1 was so fundamentally attached to his world that he was the only one who could think that way to outsmart the others. 

Some of the plot points weren’t explained away well enough like letting all the other Jason’s get to v1 world was too easy and I didn’t track how that happened. And the ending was like “and they all lived happily ever after”. Yes, there was a bunch of murder at the end but we don’t get to see the new world they walk into? After all that build up, the payoff didn’t feel as sweet. 

I liked it, I recommend but much of the science and prose was quickly skipped over so I could stay with the plot. Overall, pretty good read and very creative.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual content

michael_richter's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

amsswim's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This is science fiction I would recommend to everyone. Great read. Makes you reflect on everything you have done in your life as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Car accident

kirtreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This is the kind of book that is really going to sit with me for a while. I had no idea what this book was really about going into it apart from everyone saying it was a great novel so I really did not anticipate the wild ride that I got. I was never quite sure where it was going and what was happening, so it was a great summer read. 

This book was a lot of fun, and I thought that all the actual science parts were well explained but I never felt too bogged down with information. I thought that Jason was compelling enough to really care about what happens. This book did have a little bit of a perfect white man saviour issue, but it never got obnoxious and I actually think that it thematically helped the novel. Sometimes this really drives me nuts but it didn't become a big issue for me. The two women in the novel are not over the top emotional and total idiots so it has some saving grace. 

I am still mulling over the ending and I am not 100% sold on loving the ending but I think that it was the only way that it all could have ended. This book leaves you with a lot of big questions not only about the story but also philosophically and I am not sure if I love the way that he wrapped up these large ideas. 

My only other complaint is that the pacing dragged a little in the middle. By the nature of the story it was very cyclical but I could have done with a few less cycles. Overall though, I think its a great read if you are looking for something pretty action packed and relatively fast paced outside of the normal thriller genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

marayzex's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug use, and Blood

Moderate: Cursing, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence and Pandemic/Epidemic

lorenmarie7's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

shayshays055's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

angorarabbit's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Clarketech:  A working Schrodinger’s Cat Box. 

 

Bloophole:  Where was the money coming from, and why was it always barely enough? 

 

TLDR: A good thriller for those who are not thriller readers, but not much substance. 

 

The plot was interesting and the story well written. Jason was an fully rounded character. Other characters not so much. Female characters in particular seem to only follow the male character’s wishes. I was mostly satisfied with the ending, though Amanda seemed to get short shrift. 

 

The rest of this review is skirting spoiler territory and nerd ranting. 

 

The many worlds interpretation (MWI) is essential for the plot. However the book seems to theorise that the point that a world becomes real is when a human makes a choice This interpretation makes for exciting reading, but no logical sense. 

 

MWI states that ALL possible outcomes of quantum measurements are physically realised in some world. So there would be endless worlds where Janson, Daniela, Charlie, their apartment, Chicago, etc. are all exactly the same. Assuming that a Schrodinger’s Cat Box could be made, and that human desires could direct it Jason should have popped out in endless realities where everything he knew and loved was exactly the same. How would he know which Daniela and Charlie were his? 

 

This kept niggling at my brain the whole time, so rather disrupted my enjoyment of a story of a man desperately regaining what he loved and of another man’s attempt to change the consequences of his choices. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cursing and Abortion

There is on page IV drug injections.