Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

9 reviews

akswhy'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

3.5

A good sci-fi novel, but a bit of a drag as a thriller. The last third was weakest. A little misogynistic at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Misogyny, Car accident, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

manders_panda's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Sexual content, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

abbiechron's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Stalking, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Abortion, and Pregnancy

_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

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.5

I really liked the premise of the book, some in interesting ideas, but didn't love the execution.

I didn't think the characterization was great

Wished Jason felt more developed/ more science-y. He felt very dude-bro to me. Didn't like that he didn't feel guilty about Jason 2's Daniella dying. Wished Daniella was more developed, I didn't feel like I knew her at all. Really didn't appreciate that the only other female character, Amanda, was seemingly just chucked in with Jason so that he'd have someone to freak out with/ talk to during his adventure and was not fleshed out as a real character. Like she just gave up her entire world for a colleague?

. 
The main character felt like he was making really stupid decisions a lot of the time which took me out of the book a bit because it made me think about why tf he wasn't doing something else

like him continuing to go into a quarantined world, him and Amanda not trying to find more ampoules - like they can go into any world, so they could've definitely found some more go bags with more ampoules ? Why didn't they ever try to find the friend that made the secret ingredient?

The writing felt a bit clunky sometimes, felt like it was written more to be a screenplay for tv show or movie

like when Jason goes into his other self's house and it just goes on and on repeatedly "like this is different in my house"

. But this did make the novel easy to visualize.

Pacing was a bit inconsistent, felt like it wrapped up too quickly given how much build up there was.
A bit too predictable. 

I was hoping the romance plotline was going to be more engaging/ interesting and felt disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Rape and Abortion

ababytapir's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

Like Recursion, Dark Matter is fantastically mind-bending and all too easy to read in a day. It's incredibly violent and thought provoking. If you like your sci fi thrillers tinged with horror, existential dread and romance, this is the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Cancer, Rape, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

If you struggle with derealisation, dissociation or depersonalisation, or any sort of identify disorder, this book could potentially be incredibly triggering. Proceed with extreme caution. Violence warning: There is an incredibly detailed description of a gory epidemic/pandemic. There are multiple gory descriptions of dead bodies, murder, and horrific natural disasters. There is a long kidnapping scene. There's multiple instances of stalking.

meat_muffin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

lindseyrenee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

Incredible 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking and Murder

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

m_hates_reading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Literally incredible I cannot describe how amazing it is the way it combines theoretical physics with thriller

won’t give any spoilers but the last few chapters are VERY intense and I was reading the ending through tears with several people on the bus staring at me 

I forget how much I love books where the MC is actually a GOOD person who you’re attached to- Jason is very lovable and someone you really care about and are rooting for, even in his darkest moments.

A beautiful story about love and family, with a healthy amount of murder and intense action.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, and Drug use

Minor: Child death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis