Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

167 reviews

nikrib's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

How this managed to have such positive reviews and a tv adaptation is beyond me. Hopefully this narrative translates better on screen than it did for however many pages of misogynist and overplayed chaotic multiverse drama readers trudge through to get to the (happy?) ending. The characters are all flat, insufferable and static. The female characters essentially have no role other than debuting every time this author needs to sprinkle misogyny into the narrative and painfully attempt to intertwine family values (or lack thereof). The protagonist is said to be incredibly smart but hates his life. Then multiverse jump to now he wants his old life back. Then multiverse jump again to he’s banging his wife (but also not his wife)? What is the true overall moral here? No, I didn’t “miss it” or fail to “recognize it”, there just isn’t a decent moral written here. The descriptive language is atrocious and I sincerely hope the author’s other books aren’t also written in this fashion. From the very first chapter readers can already tell this book is written by a “man’s man”. ..Yeehaw.. There seems to be a consensus amongst the positive reviews that readers who enjoyed this book just like multiverse concepts, sci-fi, and so on. Well, sure, but does that really hold on its own? There’s plenty of books and media that deliver on multiverse concepts. This wasn’t it. I almost DNF a few times when the narrative was excruciatingly slow and counterintuitive, but I pressed on due to my wife and I wanting to watch the tv show adaptation (it had a decent commercial!). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

ldpaige's review against another edition

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

3.5

This book had me bingeing 150 pages in one setting. I think this reminded me how much I love a good action book from Blake Crouch. The thesis of the whole work landed well for me and the book was just good. It took you on a ride and that's the kind of book I like! The ideas of

the multi-world moment had me thinking and was something fresh and different from what I normally read.

There were elements that did have me rolling my eyes and somehow, the story got tied in a nice little bow. I actually would have liked a darker ending. That's just me though.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed Dark Matter and would suggest it to someone who wants a book that they cannot put down!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Violence, Stalking, and Pandemic/Epidemic

goldsbuc's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

Very interesting plot. With peace and love, this book was very obviously written by a man ifkyk. 

I loved the explorations of the other worlds and wish we could have seen more unusual environments. The way the author wrote about women and sex was annoying, from a female perspective. The women in this story are not very well developed and are disappointing. The ending felt rushed and was predictable. Beginning and middle were strongest plot points imo.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

doshido's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

aas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

princess_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

_david_'s review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

2.0

Oof to me, every part of this book missed its mark. In general I found everything in the book a bit over the top. 

First of all, Jason is supposed to be a genius. Yet it takes him ages to even think of the theory which can be figured out as a reader very quickly. If you've figured it out before Jason, there's not much joy in reading the story until he has figured it out too. You're just waiting and turning the pages until he does and you can finally continue. The way he acts is so hard to relate to. It's very hard to imagine the situations he encounters so it's hard to emphasize with his choices. However, at least after it all goes wrong once you'd think he change his behaviour right? 

Secondly, I'd like to discuss the science behind it. To me, it's very noticable that what we're reading has been written by an author who wanted to tell a story and then looked up the physic theories which would fit it best. The logic is not consistent and some of it almost works like magic. Yet the characters in the book use big words and existing theories to clarify the science behind it all. This is a very personal ick, I've barely ever encountered a piece of media that manages to do this well. The only ways I have seen this be pulled off, is to make up your own very clear very consitent rules or just pretend it's magic and do not explain it beyond what is necessary. 

My favourite part of the book beyond the very first chapter, in which Jason only talks about his family night and life choices, are the final few chapters. Yet I wish they pushed a little further. Let Jason be a little more selfish or a little more existential. I've read another review which points out a major flaw related to the inconsistent physics which did ruin these last chapters for me as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Police brutality, Car accident, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Pregnancy

melaschnie's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Abortion, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

anni_swanilda's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death and Sexual content

jodie_mathers's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Terminal illness, and Pandemic/Epidemic