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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
Así se pierde la guerra del tiempo by Max Gladstone, Amal El-Mohtar
243 reviews
alyssaakdefusco's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
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
2.75
I like the concept of this book. Unfortunately it felt like I was dropped into a crazy time bending sci Fi universe that I never understood. I think the point of the book is the relationship that develops between the two characters - the letter writing device is clever for this - but the rest of it was very confusing and the language was too flowery for me. It was a fast read, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder
cicizzy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
„I can hide in words so long as I scatter them through my body; to read your letters is to gather flowers from within myself, pluck a blossom here, a fern there, arrange and rearrange them in ways to suit a sunny room.“
This book just feels like pure art. I loved reading the story even though the writing style could also be challenging at times. The story itself is very mysterious and doesn’t really answer any questions. You just have to go with the flow. But it didn’t bother me at all, it just created a mysterious atmosphere that gave the words even more opportunity to shine.
This will be a story I can reread and always find discover new with each read.
This book just feels like pure art. I loved reading the story even though the writing style could also be challenging at times. The story itself is very mysterious and doesn’t really answer any questions. You just have to go with the flow. But it didn’t bother me at all, it just created a mysterious atmosphere that gave the words even more opportunity to shine.
This will be a story I can reread and always find discover new with each read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, and War
Minor: Confinement, Death, Torture, and Stalking
gotnoculture's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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: Body horror and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Blood, and War
Minor: Gore, Murder, and Pregnancy
asafekindofhigh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
fkshg8465's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This was a mind bender. Had to throw out everything I knew and thought I knew about how time and space work and accept everything happening as plausible and fictionally factual. Also had to stop trying to make the narrative make sense on any level. It was the only way I could enjoy it, and I did enjoy it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War
embersbooknook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was a fucking masterpiece - I am nearly speechless. I thought I would read this book in a day, maybe two when I picked it up last weekend.
However, I found myself savoring it in bits and pieces this week.
Would I have read it so slowly had I not been so busy/tired? No. 😂
But it really allowed the book to sink in.
The prose and writing is so gorgeous and lush - poetic even. I used so many tabs marking beautiful passages.
Watching this love story unfold across time and space was a privilege to witness, and the twist at the end was so deliciously unexpected.
I would recommend this book to anyone - it is a wonderful adventure, and a moving love story. Mohtar and Gladstone masterfully wove an epic of ages - I only wish there was more to read!
Red and Blue were truly like dance partners, drawing us in and out of a tale that just leaves you savoring what is and also hungry for more.
Truly a breathtaking book - read it and thank me later!😉🤗
However, I found myself savoring it in bits and pieces this week.
Would I have read it so slowly had I not been so busy/tired? No. 😂
But it really allowed the book to sink in.
The prose and writing is so gorgeous and lush - poetic even. I used so many tabs marking beautiful passages.
Watching this love story unfold across time and space was a privilege to witness, and the twist at the end was so deliciously unexpected.
I would recommend this book to anyone - it is a wonderful adventure, and a moving love story. Mohtar and Gladstone masterfully wove an epic of ages - I only wish there was more to read!
Red and Blue were truly like dance partners, drawing us in and out of a tale that just leaves you savoring what is and also hungry for more.
Truly a breathtaking book - read it and thank me later!😉🤗
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Self harm, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
The stuff mentioned is brief and not overly graphic. But it is there, so just including it - I didn’t find the book difficult to stomach, and I am a very sensitive reader.james1star's review against another edition
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I think I bought into the hype of this book and it really did not deliver. I barely read anything sci-fi/fantasy or the like and I feel you need to be a little be versed in this style to get on board with this one. The story basically follows two protagonist (Red and Blue) who are the top agents of their respective factions competing in a time war. They start sending each other messages, going from friends to sometime more. This romance and connection is by far the best part, it’s sweet and over the course of the novella I did get on board. However, this is heavily overshadowed by how confusing it is and made me feel, it’s really hard to know what is both actually going on and why. The way the messages are sent/received are truly mind boggling leaving me in a daze at times - this was also really repetitive as it follows the structure: mc gets message which is destroyed, someone comes along and consumes it, we (as readers) get to read the letter, goes to next mc and so on. I only really found some footing on page 118 but as the book came towards the end I was baffled again, it’s really frustrating and made me feel very stupid at multiple points too. I also think the way communication is somewhat explored is done okay, similarly the two characters are portrayed as female (what that actually are I haven’t a clue) so this inclusion of a sapphic love was good. Nevertheless, I think the world building and descriptions of place and message sharing takes away some of the page count that could’ve been used to explore the character’s personality and depth more to actually make me get invested in their plight.
The writing is nice, it’s poetic at times and overall you know pleasant to read but the actual content doesn’t add up. I feel there’s potential and I could possibly gain more on a reread but I doubt I’d put myself though that again. I wouldn’t recommend it really at all by how annoying it was but I do know many many people absolutely love it so yh… maybe I just missed something? I really wished I had DNFd it.
Two quotes that I did enjoy:
‘Your letter, the sting, the beauty of it. Those forevers you promise. Neptune. I want to meet you in every place I ever loved.’
‘I love you. I'll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You'll never see, but you will know. I'll be all the poets, I'll kill them all and take each one's place in turn, and every time love's written in all the strands it will be to you. But never again like this.’
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Death and Murder
annamercado19's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Definitely one I look forward to rereading, to discovering new strands in how it all braids and unbraids. So incredibly captivating. I'm amazed at how I have been torn apart and put back together and both feel so encompassing at the same time.
At first, it was hard to follow the leaps through time. It felt scattered. But I think that's part of why the authors chose that, to make the letters be not just our focus, but the characters' as well. That was what wove them together. That is what felt most real to them and what they clung to.
I will likely update this review upon reread.
At first, it was hard to follow the leaps through time. It felt scattered. But I think that's part of why the authors chose that, to make the letters be not just our focus, but the characters' as well. That was what wove them together. That is what felt most real to them and what they clung to.
I will likely update this review upon reread.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Death, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
peppypenguin's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Beautiful writing and storytelling. It feels like a fever dream: you have a sense of the key concepts and how the characters and their relationship are developing. I could not, for my life, visualize the time-traveling and how it worked. That’s okay because the mechanics of the time traveling for each character and their factions serve more as a way to distinguish how they move about space and time and interact with the universe. It also forced me to take my time and digest the words on the page, and in turn the story.
This is great as a novella. Because there is so much poetic prose it helps to have the story told in fewer pages, making it move a bit faster.
The letters between the characters are very well planned. You get a sense of their voices, understand their worlds, and watch their relationship bloom. They feel so real, and have so much depth, and seeing how they fall for each other and leave messages across time, as well as how their paths cross throughout the story is fantastically done.
As a lover of science fiction, this hit the right spot. The time traveling and manipulation of events as it’s done by each side was really interesting! The two sides of the war (the different futures fighting to win) are really unique and so vastly different. I love how they are explained just enough to have real depth and thought put into them.
Red and Blue are wonderful characters. You never learn their real names, but that’s the point. They are opposite sides of the same coin, and to see how they start as pure enemies but eventually come together is beautiful. The genre and unique world of the book is used as a tool, masterfully so, to tell their story.
Lovers of romance and/or science fiction should give this a go.
This is great as a novella. Because there is so much poetic prose it helps to have the story told in fewer pages, making it move a bit faster.
The letters between the characters are very well planned. You get a sense of their voices, understand their worlds, and watch their relationship bloom. They feel so real, and have so much depth, and seeing how they fall for each other and leave messages across time, as well as how their paths cross throughout the story is fantastically done.
As a lover of science fiction, this hit the right spot. The time traveling and manipulation of events as it’s done by each side was really interesting! The two sides of the war (the different futures fighting to win) are really unique and so vastly different. I love how they are explained just enough to have real depth and thought put into them.
Red and Blue are wonderful characters. You never learn their real names, but that’s the point. They are opposite sides of the same coin, and to see how they start as pure enemies but eventually come together is beautiful. The genre and unique world of the book is used as a tool, masterfully so, to tell their story.
Lovers of romance and/or science fiction should give this a go.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Torture
mikathereviewer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This was one of my most anticipated books for this month and I am so disappointed.
The following will only be a rant about the book. Nothing good I found except that we got an explanation that "Steganography is hidden writing." and that the ending was interesting.
As always; I respect opinions from others and therefore expect the same to be done to me. If you liked the book, so be it. I don't have anything against your opinion or rating to this book.
First of all the letter beginnings are so weird and cringe sometimes. Especially these references. When I understood it right the 'Dearest Blue-da-ba-dee,' is a reference of this one annoying frog song and we also get other cringe-worthy references like 'Dearest 0000FF' (colour hexcode, you all can't legit call this cute or romantic) and of course our so 'cool' flex with languages 'My dear Miskowaanzhe' which is Anishinaabemowin 'cause of course the author totally speaks that language and didn't translate this on full purpose to sound so 'cool'.
The whole writing was always the same, no matter which character wrote the letter and therefore it was sometimes hard to distinguish the two. Both therefore seemed also flat and we only get trauma dumping in the most inappropriate ways. They both also wrote almost since the beginning like they knew eachother since ages and not like strangers that form a bond over time, which made it unrealistic for me to belive that they later on fell in love.
The writing style was also unbearable to me. It was often poetically written but in either cringe or way to melodramatic ways.
Examples
1. ‘Have you ever had a hunger that whetted itself on what you fed it, sharpened so keen and bright that it might split you open, break a new thing out?
Sometimes I think that’s what I have instead of friends.’
2. ‘I have been birds and branches. I have been bees and wolves. I have been ether flooding the void between stars, tangling their breath into networks of song. I have been fish and plankton and humus, and all these have been me.’
3. ‘I want to be a body for you.
I want to chase you, find you, I want to be eluded and teased and adored; I want to be defeated and victorious—I want you to cut me, sharpen me.’
I also never understood or rather we never got told what kind of creatures they both are. Even though it's science fiction, we barely get any of it. And we get almost no other explanations like how certain things worked like the ways with the MRI machine and stuff as that was their way of sending letter without being caught.
If the writing style would have been different and we would have got more explanations of things I might would have enjoyed the book more. But the whole book felt like a sketch that wasn't supposed to be published yet.
Wasn't for me, but perhaps someone else would like this story and its characters.
July 17, 2024
The following will only be a rant about the book. Nothing good I found except that we got an explanation that "Steganography is hidden writing." and that the ending was interesting.
As always; I respect opinions from others and therefore expect the same to be done to me. If you liked the book, so be it. I don't have anything against your opinion or rating to this book.
First of all the letter beginnings are so weird and cringe sometimes. Especially these references. When I understood it right the 'Dearest Blue-da-ba-dee,' is a reference of this one annoying frog song and we also get other cringe-worthy references like 'Dearest 0000FF' (colour hexcode, you all can't legit call this cute or romantic) and of course our so 'cool' flex with languages 'My dear Miskowaanzhe' which is Anishinaabemowin 'cause of course the author totally speaks that language and didn't translate this on full purpose to sound so 'cool'.
The whole writing was always the same, no matter which character wrote the letter and therefore it was sometimes hard to distinguish the two. Both therefore seemed also flat and we only get trauma dumping in the most inappropriate ways. They both also wrote almost since the beginning like they knew eachother since ages and not like strangers that form a bond over time, which made it unrealistic for me to belive that they later on fell in love.
The writing style was also unbearable to me. It was often poetically written but in either cringe or way to melodramatic ways.
Examples
1. ‘Have you ever had a hunger that whetted itself on what you fed it, sharpened so keen and bright that it might split you open, break a new thing out?
Sometimes I think that’s what I have instead of friends.’
2. ‘I have been birds and branches. I have been bees and wolves. I have been ether flooding the void between stars, tangling their breath into networks of song. I have been fish and plankton and humus, and all these have been me.’
3. ‘I want to be a body for you.
I want to chase you, find you, I want to be eluded and teased and adored; I want to be defeated and victorious—I want you to cut me, sharpen me.’
I also never understood or rather we never got told what kind of creatures they both are. Even though it's science fiction, we barely get any of it. And we get almost no other explanations like how certain things worked like the ways with the MRI machine and stuff as that was their way of sending letter without being caught.
If the writing style would have been different and we would have got more explanations of things I might would have enjoyed the book more. But the whole book felt like a sketch that wasn't supposed to be published yet.
Wasn't for me, but perhaps someone else would like this story and its characters.
July 17, 2024
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and War
Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment