Reviews with content warning for Murder - Dark Matter

A real page-turner, but not for me. Flat characters, too much violence, not enough thoughtful exploration of the mechanics of THE BOX or the philosophies for living a good life. Might be a good TV series but wouldn’t recommend.

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jaykay421's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

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chickelope's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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linzvee's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No

2.0

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keiraonyxraven's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5 stars

Dark Matter is a gripping sci-fi thriller filled with scientific theories, unexpected dangers and emotional turmoil. The Novel follows our main character, Jason, after he is abducted by a masked stranger and his ordinary cosy life is suddenly snatched away. Jason would do anything to return to his beloved wife, Daniela, and son, Charlie, but now they are worlds apart and separated by an infinite number of choices.

I adored this novel. It had me on the edge of my seat, gasping in shock and even in tears from the sheer emotion of Jason’s situation. I was simply gripped from the beginning, from the perfect blend of thriller, action and heart this novel contained. Not only did Crouch create an interesting and compelling story, they also managed to portray the hopelessness and agony of losing a loved one and the lengths humans would go to be reunited with the people they care about most. It’s not easy to get a reader to truly care about fictional characters but I really related to Jason and felt genuine sympathy and heartbreak for his character. For all this, I have nothing but praise for this novel and the author.

Overall this was a fantastic read and I would highly recommend this novel to any readers with even a passing interest in science fiction, thrillers or the horror of true infinity.

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aroace_ants's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.0

Little bit bland, the speculative science was a bit too ‘explain it to a four year old”. I think most readers know occam’s razor and Schrödinger’s cat and don’t need it overly explained. His revelations were a a bit blatant rather than eased into and explored.
Fun speculative science fiction but seems like it needed to be a book rather than a a draft that managed to get published.

Also where are the women?

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keaganbailey's review against another edition

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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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