Reviews

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

birbboi's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.75

crownoflaurel's review

challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

fedak's review

5.0

My first of McGuire’s extensive catalog and easily my favorite out of the 2020 Hugo nominees (And despite the Hugo nod, this was much more gothic horror than science fiction)
Reminded me a lot of vintage Stephen King (particularly in her writing of the child characters and her habit of throwing out foreshadowing asides at the end of chapters)

And it is always nice to see a time travel/parallel universe narrative that doesn't implode on itself.

My only (minor) gripe was that the two protagonists were supposed to separately be the literal embodiments of mathematical logic and verbal communication.
And the speech patterns of the two weren’t really as reflective of that as one would have expected- particularly the math genius.

misfitmoxie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

raeswainpage's review

I really wanted to finish this. I got about halfway through the audiobook and realized that I really didn't want to spend time on it anymore. Just not for me.

grummy_mania's review

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

corners_of_cozy's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

issianne's review against another edition

3.0

It’s hard to rate this book since I still have no idea how I feel about it. I thought it was so well-crafted, intriguing (for most parts), and deep-thinking. But it also did something I’ve found I don’t like in novels: a timeline of people meeting again and again after years being skipped. It just feels hollow to me, and I’d much rather focus on one span of time. It’s needed in this story—I just realized I don’t like it. The novel and its concepts go mostly unexplained during through the entire book. And then when things are explained, THEY AREN’T.

hdelfino's review

5.0

Favorite story of all times. Very well written, and beautiful ending. Kept me reading non stop and never got slow or boring. Will miss Dodger and Roger.

qwelling4's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0