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ashleycmms's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I found the concept really interesting and the writing style fun. Usually, I am not one for anything that messes with time and rarely like Groundhog Day style books, but the use of time and time movement in this book was amazing. However, I found both the main characters to be very childish which was weird because towards the end of the book they were knocking on 30 AND still pouting and acting like kids. I understand how a lot of that can be attested to fear of what they were dealing with and also simply just the fact that they were 26/27 with no stable identity because they still did not fully deal with WHO and WHAT they are. But omg.... met things head on for once and maybe youโd know earlier. Still an amazing read so I suggest it. Itโs just not a 5 star book for ME.
Also: tw suicide attempt, suicidal ideation/mentions, murders (including children), and a POC character gets murdered in specific, lots of talk about dismembered body parts
Also: tw suicide attempt, suicidal ideation/mentions, murders (including children), and a POC character gets murdered in specific, lots of talk about dismembered body parts
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence
whatellisreadnext's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
5.0
๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ. ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด'๐ด ๐ด๐ฌ๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.
Roger and Dodger meet as children, but not in an ordinary way. They speak to each other through their minds, but live hundreds of miles away from one another. They're both blissfully unaware, that their lives were being written even before they were born.
Well guess who found a new favourite book? Middlegame is bat shit crazy and I loved every second of it. It's not a small book, coming in at just over 500 pages, and it took me about a week to read, but only because I was enjoying it so much, that I didn't want it to end.
Time travel in books is so hard to get right, but Seanan McGuire absolutely nailed it. The hints at alternate timelines, and the countdown like structure, showing us failed attempts at saving the world, was done so so well.
I loved Rodger and Dodger so much, finally a believable and platonic relationship at the centre of a narrative. Their ups and downs felt so real, and I was rooting for them the whole way through. I read Over The Woodward Wall late last year, which is the fictional children's book featured throughout Middlegame, and I also loved seeing the parallels of Zib and Avery to Rodger and Dodger. It was really clever, and just added another layer to my love for this story.
If you love character driven, timey wimey sci-fi that is super weird, you need this book. I honestly can't pick one fault with it and I'm already looking forward to reading it again ๐
Roger and Dodger meet as children, but not in an ordinary way. They speak to each other through their minds, but live hundreds of miles away from one another. They're both blissfully unaware, that their lives were being written even before they were born.
Well guess who found a new favourite book? Middlegame is bat shit crazy and I loved every second of it. It's not a small book, coming in at just over 500 pages, and it took me about a week to read, but only because I was enjoying it so much, that I didn't want it to end.
Time travel in books is so hard to get right, but Seanan McGuire absolutely nailed it. The hints at alternate timelines, and the countdown like structure, showing us failed attempts at saving the world, was done so so well.
I loved Rodger and Dodger so much, finally a believable and platonic relationship at the centre of a narrative. Their ups and downs felt so real, and I was rooting for them the whole way through. I read Over The Woodward Wall late last year, which is the fictional children's book featured throughout Middlegame, and I also loved seeing the parallels of Zib and Avery to Rodger and Dodger. It was really clever, and just added another layer to my love for this story.
If you love character driven, timey wimey sci-fi that is super weird, you need this book. I honestly can't pick one fault with it and I'm already looking forward to reading it again ๐
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
helmituuli's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Mental illness
abitsybat's review against another edition
dark
slow-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Self harm, Medical content, and Stalking
Minor: Medical content, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
aardwyrm's review against another edition
dark
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
4.0
McGuire really shines in the conceit, and this is probably her most technically complex execution to date. The big, weird idea behind the world is where the book shines. The characters don't stand out much and the plot is remarkably predictable given its non-linear nature, but it's a fun journey, worth reading for every payoff.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Murder, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Self harm
cryptid_crow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-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? Yes
3.0
The book is entirely self referential, but doesn't make that clear until roughly 1/3 of the way through. Once it does, though, the story makes sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
Minor: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use
juph's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Violence
moot's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this books really makes you think about math-as-magic (which was cool). It's a true sibling story with some creepy alchemy thrown in. Wasn't my favorite book but it was tremendously well written.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Violence
chalkletters's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Seanan McGuire had come up on the Reading Glasses podcast, and at previous meetings of book club, as a great writer who packed an emotional punch. Iโve had Every Heart a Doorway on my TBR for ages and, were it not for lockdown, would probably have been leant a copy. Thanks to all of this, I went into Middlegame with relatively high expectations.
Even at the beginning, Middlegameโs plot and structure are pretty complicated. For quite some time I had no idea what was going on, and how all the puzzle pieces related to one another, but in a good way! Iโve had this feeling before, where I donโt know whatโs happening or how it relates but I know Iโm having a great time being carried along for the ride. I recognised it from the first time I read On the Jellicoe Road, which is one of my favourite books by one of my favourite authors.
It helps that the characters are easy to like. I cared about Roger and Dodger from the first passages written from Rogerโs perspective. Seanan McGuire wrote them in such a way that I wanted them to be happy, I wanted them to be together and I wanted to learn more about them all at once. The strength of that desire carried the narrative for the first half of the book.
By the second half, the picture on the box of the jigsaw puzzle is starting to take shape. I found it particularly interesting that it was the villains of the novel who were trying to bring magic back into the world. Thatโs usually the job of the heroes, so it was a neat inversion (though, I have to say, itโs not quite that simple).
Caroline at book club suggested that Middlegame might be a kind of metaphor for the process of writing, which I thought was really interesting. You have to have the right elements, the right building blocks of plot and when it goes wrong, itโs possible you might need to go back a long way to find a small decision you can twist to get the outcome you want. I definitely want to reread the whole book with this in mind and also considering Edwardโs idea that Reed was deliberately created to be a villain who would drive Roger and Dodger in a certain direction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Self harm
Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Violence
Minor: Forced institutionalization
angelareads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, and Mental illness
Minor: Child death, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization