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kadtide's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-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
2.0
It's trying to be And Then There Were None, pretty explicitly, and I think it does an okay job of that. But I didn't really like it. The twist makes sense (although the epilogue didn't and that annoyed me). It was hard to care about any of the characters because they didn't have a ton of depth, and it felt like a lot of the book was just not having the information to know what was going on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Child death, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Ableism, Alcohol, Dementia, and Panic attacks/disorders
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
When nine people get a list of names in the mail, and one of them ends up dead, they're all at risk. But why are they on the list?
I saw the twist at the very end of the book coming, but not who the killer was or exactly why he was killing people.
The killer's life's not fair, woe is me, I'm a rich cis het white guy routine was annoying and I didn't feel bad for him. I mean people die and sometimes it's someone's fault and sometimes it's not, but retribution on the people isn't what we need.
Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars
For this big of an author, I think they should have gotten different narrators for each person, even if it's told in the 3rd person.
Extra ratings: Fluff -NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful -NA Horror -NA Inspiration -NA Love aka Romance- 1/5 Mystery -3/5 Predictability -2.5/5 Spice-0.5/5 Suspense -5/5 Tear- 2/5 Thrill - 4/5 Humor-0/5
I saw the twist at the very end of the book coming, but not who the killer was or exactly why he was killing people.
The killer's life's not fair, woe is me, I'm a rich cis het white guy routine was annoying and I didn't feel bad for him. I mean people die and sometimes it's someone's fault and sometimes it's not, but retribution on the people isn't what we need.
Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars
For this big of an author, I think they should have gotten different narrators for each person, even if it's told in the 3rd person.
Extra ratings: Fluff -NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful -NA Horror -NA Inspiration -NA Love aka Romance- 1/5 Mystery -3/5 Predictability -2.5/5 Spice-0.5/5 Suspense -5/5 Tear- 2/5 Thrill - 4/5 Humor-0/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Death, Gun violence, Alcohol, Child death, and Drug use
Moderate: Dementia, Racism, Stalking, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual content
wrestleacademic's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gun violence, and Child death
Minor: Suicide, Homophobia, and Racism
Drowningmirandaleighbee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Racism, and Racial slurs
Mention of N word and R wordtypedtruths's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
1.25 ★
i'm offended on agatha christie's behalf
▷ Representation: Arthur (mc) is gay; Sam (mc) is Jamaican; Jessica (mc) is mixed race, Vietnamese & Black (adopted by a white family with limited knowledge of her heritage).
Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph
i'm offended on agatha christie's behalf
▷ Representation: Arthur (mc) is gay; Sam (mc) is Jamaican; Jessica (mc) is mixed race, Vietnamese & Black (adopted by a white family with limited knowledge of her heritage).
Blog • Trigger Warning Database • StoryGraph
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Murder, Infidelity, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Misogyny, Stalking, Grief, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Car accident, Sexual assault, Racism, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
➸ Trigger warnings for misogyny, racism mentioned, ableism (r slur, on-page), sexual assault mentioned (groping), child abuse and neglect recounted including a mention of child sexual assault, spousal abandonment, abusive relationship (scs), cheating, sex work (on-page), familial estrangement mentioned, alcohol consumption (on-page), alcohol abuse (implied), recreational drug use (on-page), chronic leg injury, grief and loss depiction, death of a girlfriend from oxycontin overdose mentioned, death of a husband and a pet dog in a car accident recounted, death of a sister from drowning recounted, murder by drowning, murder by gun violence, murder by poisoning, stalking, and animal dead body mentioned (seagull).minbyrnes's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
In terms of story, I don’t think it was as bad as people make it out to be. But I’m not that big of a mystery/thriller reader so I can’t really tell the difference between a good and bad one. I thought it was a fun enough read. I agree that And Then There Were None did it better though.
What I really didn’t like was the use of the n-word (with a hard R too!) I had to look it up and the author and narrator are white. It made me really uncomfortable hearing the words being said. I know that the characters who say the word are black but why did the author even include that? There was absolutely NO reason in my opinion? The character didn’t even play a big role in the story? His sole role was to bring up Agatha Christie’s book and make the connection between this novel and And Then There Were None, like, “haha, see what I did there?” I see and I hate it.
I didn’t really mind the motive. I’ve never understood killers so them having a stupid/silly motive clocks to me. And I actually liked the Jack/Johnathan bit. Minus the part where he talks about Alison in the letter. That was gross.
Also, I was HAPPY when one of the characters died so I had that going for me.
I didn’t understand why Jessica survived was included. I guess it was supposed to be a twist that the readers could try and guess since they never mentioned her death in the news or whatever but besides that I didn’t get the significance.
Idk overall it was ok but I hate when racist language is included. Especially if there was NO REASON TO.
What I really didn’t like was the use of the n-word (with a hard R too!) I had to look it up and the author and narrator are white. It made me really uncomfortable hearing the words being said. I know that the characters who say the word are black but why did the author even include that? There was absolutely NO reason in my opinion? The character didn’t even play a big role in the story? His sole role was to bring up Agatha Christie’s book and make the connection between this novel and And Then There Were None, like, “haha, see what I did there?” I see and I hate it.
I didn’t really mind the motive. I’ve never understood killers so them having a stupid/silly motive clocks to me. And I actually liked
Also, I was HAPPY when one of the characters died so I had that going for me.
I didn’t understand why
Idk overall it was ok but I hate when racist language is included. Especially if there was NO REASON TO.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Murder and Child death
Minor: Homophobia and Racism
I don’t know how to tag this but just… disgusting character inner monologues? It’s far from the worst that’s out there but I was glad that person diedj_squaredd's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The plot was interesting enough, but the ending was lackluster. The big reveal was a little nonsensical. The characters weren’t terribly compelling, and there were some really weird bits when it came to characters of color. For example, although it wasn’t relevant to the story or to establishing his character, there were multiple pages recounting how the only black character in the book had only experienced racism once after moving to Maine. It was just weird. The prose was mostly fine, but there were multiple chapters that felt like filler, as if the publisher said the word count wasn’t long enough and Swanson just needed to pad it out. I probably won’t pick up another book from him.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, Racism, Homophobia, and Sexual violence
bookishflaneur's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Nine Lives is a tense and thrilling murder novel which kept me guessing to the last minute. As with “Rules for Perfect Murders”, I found the build up and climax incredibly well written and something I never could have guessed. The characters were very much flawed, but as a reader I was still able to feel for their situation. Personally, I preferred RFPM, however the concept for this book is still very good and very well executed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
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