Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

15 reviews

isi__1's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

2.25

This novel felt extremely ambitious. The plot spans many years, there‘s a ton of different named characters, a lot of them fairly relevant to the bigger picture, and all of it is told by an omniscient narrator. Thus, the reader always knows what every character in any scene is feeling and/or thinking at any point in time. 
The focus of the story constantly switches between different sides of the war and also between more important characters and very minor characters.  

The best way to describe this book is that it feels like reading a textbook about this important historical event: This battle happened at this place, then these characters met and had a discussion about this topic, then this other battle took place, then this person died, then another battle took place,…you get the gist. 
I saw someone else describe this as “outlining a whole epic series“ which is a rather apt description, in my opinion. 

Because the narration felt so clinical and impersonal, I had a hard time getting attached to the characters. In the same way you wouldn‘t really get attached to the characters in a history textbook. I‘ve heard that the sequel is a bit more character-driven. That‘s why I really want to try it. If it doesn‘t manage to pull me in, though, I‘m just gonna have to accept that this series might not be for me. 

It very well is a case of this book just not working for me personally. I would still recommend checking it out if it sounds interesting, because it could be a new favorite for someone else. 
The writer is certainly skilled and the book feels well-thought-out. The concept is definitely quite intriguing, but the execution simply didn‘t work for me. 
I don‘t dislike this book, but I also don‘t care about it at all. It unfortunately left me with this feeling of apathy. Not necessarily what I‘m looking for when I‘m reading a book for entertainment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Infidelity, Murder, Violence, Suicide, and Misogyny

Minor: Pregnancy

blacksphinx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Misogyny, Infidelity, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, War, Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Drug use, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Minor: Infertility, Cannibalism, Excrement, and Colonisation

There is lots of talk of forcing women into sexual slavery. Eye injuries.

paperbacktiger's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Murder, Misogyny, Animal death, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Rape

kendal_reads's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, War, Murder, Colonisation, and Death

macliffe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A really good book overall. I felt immersed in the world and very attached to some of the characters. The reason I marked it down was just because sometimes the world building was just a little too vast for me. The were so many locations and they’d get conquered by this person or that person so it was really hard to keep track of (I didn’t have access to a map which did not help. I would suggest reading the physical book of this and not listening to it on audio like I did just so it’s easier to keep things straight). I couldn’t tell a lot of the side characters apart from each other. I had other little nitpicks which bumped it down to a 3.5 for me, but I did always enjoy it overall. It did a great job of immersing me every time I picked it up again and I always wanted to keep reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Misogyny, Torture, Infertility, Sexism, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Suicide, War, Murder, Gore, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content and Child abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty, Blood, and Pregnancy

nquinlan's review

adventurous hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Murder, Suicide, Violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Torture, Animal death, Sexual violence, Rape, and Infidelity

Minor: Trafficking, Infertility, and Death of parent

sabrinz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed this book - even if it took me ages to finish. It was more circumstances that kept me from reading more than me not wanting to.
For everyone wanting to read this, this book is best suited when you have time to read for longer periods of time. If you read it chapter by chapter with even some days between chapters, you might lose some of the connections that are woven in the different chapters and that tie the different characters together.

It's a brilliant book about friendship and how things are perceived, but also how you go about doing things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, War, and Violence

mandkips's review

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Grief, and Infidelity

cerilouisereads's review

adventurous tense slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

griffinthief's review

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Murder, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, and War

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Death, and Death of parent