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summertimereads's review
adventurous
mysterious
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
Really amazing book. A new favourite for sure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Violence
Minor: Child abuse
bright_eyed_and_bookish's review
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
I loved the sibling dynamic in this story. I was cheering for Roger and Dodger the whole time as they discovered their abilities and struggled with their relationship with each other. I sometimes struggle with Seanan Mcguire’s writing style and understanding the details she includes, but I have to say, she created an amazing atmosphere and mange’s to be a little humorous at times too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Death
Moderate: Death of parent and Violence
Minor: Gore
jayisreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
3.25
For a limited time, Tordotcom made Middlegame downloadable for free, which was nice. I admit I have a tendency to jump at any opportunity to get a free book, even if I don’t know the premise of it. It was absolutely the case with this book, ahaha.
That said, I think I enjoyed this book? It’s hard to tell because, admittedly, I didn’t fully follow what was happening at times. I think there were two reasons for this. One is that there’s a lot of fascinating worldbuilding, but there was a little too much happening. The other related reason is because of the point-of-view that McGuire decided to write in, which was limited third-person primarily from the perspectives of Roger and Dodger. I don’t mind reading books that don’t have an omniscient perspective, but I think it would have helped for this book because, goodness, Roger and Dodger simply have no idea what’s happening for most this book. In other words, the reader has to deal with this as well, and that can get really frustrating. As a result, the story got messier.
On a more positive note, though, I was fascinated by this idea of math and language being the foundation of the world (in a way). I also really enjoyed how McGuire explored the relationship between Roger and Dodger. It was such a unique dynamic that felt very real. Lastly, McGuire writes beautifully with multisensory descriptions that added so much to the book.
I could have missed something that resulted in my confusion, but I may look into the sequel. I’m admittedly curious to know what more McGuire can do with the worldbuilding she has done. Plus, it might make more sense since I have some footing from this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Child death
booksteastories's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Murder and Violence
Minor: Vomit
rebeccaxpaige's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
reflective
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Cursing, and Self harm
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide attempt
milliemudd's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Violence, Death, Gore, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Physical abuse
bitterseason's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
archaicgambit's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
I loved this book. I think it's so wild that Seanan Mcguire went and wrote the up-and-under books and I can't wait to read them. As a fan of the Wayward Children series, it was fascinating to see different themes and motifs that McGuire loves pop up in different ways-- frankensteins, portal fantasies, mad scientists and vicious girls.
I love a character-centric fantasy with heavy slice of life elements and Roger and Dodger's relationship as siblings was handled beautifully. I also liked their growth of their respective halves of the doctrine-- I saw people critiquing that handling way too harshly as I was wrapping up the book.
I was surprised by the amount of Oz references growing and honestly loved the subtly twisted elements of that. Oz hangs high in american portal fantasy and it was such a great way to pay a tribute and critique and address the elephant in the room.
The one thing I will say is this book is surprisingly less diverse than her other works. I guess we can presume some of the mad scientists were racist, but I was surprised all the doctrine children were white.
I love a character-centric fantasy with heavy slice of life elements and Roger and Dodger's relationship as siblings was handled beautifully. I also liked their growth of their respective halves of the doctrine-- I saw people critiquing that handling way too harshly as I was wrapping up the book.
I was surprised by the amount of Oz references growing and honestly loved the subtly twisted elements of that. Oz hangs high in american portal fantasy and it was such a great way to pay a tribute and critique and address the elephant in the room.
The one thing I will say is this book is surprisingly less diverse than her other works. I guess we can presume some of the mad scientists were racist, but I was surprised all the doctrine children were white.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Murder, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence
alexhaydon's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Body horror, and Blood
rasa's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
5.0
I don't think I can write a proper review of this book without spending at least 5 pages. I read this book for a month, this is the only book I read in September. But I kept thinking about it for the entire month, almost every waking hour and part of the reason it took so long was because I didn't want to let go and at the same time, the real life stuff was SO REAL and I kept feeling like all of it is happening to me too, and all of the emotional range is very, very rough, deep and entangled. There was so much mystery, fantasy, fairytale elements and all of them made sense to me. Like this is how the world should be, this is why emotions are difficult some times. There is a chance that I will judge my future friendships on what others think about this book. It is very niche, not everyone will like it. but for me - it was so much more than perfect. Roger and Dodger and their relationship is soo precious. I have never read a book like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Abandonment and Violence