Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Das Ministerium für die Zukunft by Kim Stanley Robinson

14 reviews

mjsharif's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This is an absolutely fantastic book. A must-read for anyone experiencing eco-anxiety or climate dread, or has ever thought meaningfully about the climate crisis. Chillingly realistic and often times it felt like journalism (by intention, I'm sure). But also, resolutely hopeful in the way that the best people of humanity are. It has galvanized me to get back to any semblance of activism I can while existing in this exploitative economy that's not built for me. Join CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY today and help advocate for carbon pricing: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, War, Cancer, and Death

gunnarvon's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

This book is a great, albeit challenging, read.  Getting through the first chapter can be challenging given your anxiety around climate disaster, but it is ultimately hopeful regarding our species ability to solve this problem.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in cli-fi, climate science, or our future on this planet.  I especially recommend the audiobook, which has a variety of voice actors lending themselves to the multitude of voices present in this books unconventional structure.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Terminal illness

kathleendayle's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

I debated how to rate this book. It opens with a truly horrifying scene — and this part was gripping, but large portions of the book are also dense, dry, droning, almost too  realistic in the political and economic sense, outlining the cascading sociopolitical effects of climate disaster. But for that, it does give a very good picture of what we’re up against with the climate crisis, and how much collaboration is needed across the globe to preserve our planet for the next generations. I found it pretty depressing, an all-too-realistic dystopian nightmare for the first three quarters of the book. And then, a redeeming turn. The last quarter of the book is actually really hopeful. In the end, we win. It makes the suffering bearable. Highly recommend if you’re curious about how climate change might impact us all if we don’t get out sh** together and act to stop it now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Terminal illness and Violence

Minor: Cancer

nicycle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

laurenipsum's review against another edition

Read the first chapter. It's a very graphic description of people suffering and dying from climate change. Very intense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Xenophobia, Child death, Classism, Body horror, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Colonisation, Confinement, Gore, and Medical trauma

redbee9's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders

random19379's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, War, Classism, Genocide, Grief, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Murder

Minor: Racial slurs

brittni_in_ink's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

There was a lot I loved about the book. It's a definite call to action about climate change, and there are some fascinating ideas about how we can go about combatting it and preventing the worst outcomes. For example, pumping meltwater from under glaciers to the surface to slow their movement and prevent them from contributing to rising sea levels.

The first chapter is so devastating, and really sets the tone for the rest of the book. Robinson did a wonderful job of introducing a few key characters to follow throughout the story. And even later in the book, there were these beautiful personal moments, like Frank encountering a mountain goat in the wild. 

But ultimately, the book was about the big picture. The amount of research that went into it was clearly impressive. For that reason, I'm a little ashamed to say I skimmed some chapters. Not because they were bad, but because there was only so much discussion about currency and banks I could handle.

The book wasn't entirely my cup of tea, but there were parts that I really liked. So three stars: good, but not something I would read again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Death

Minor: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Animal death, and Child death

johnclough's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

Lots of interesting and well researched ideas explored here, but I'm not convinced on how well it all hangs together as a novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Violence and Mental illness

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

5.0

First off, I want to say that I really liked this book. I would definitely recommend it. I think it gets across a lot of the challenges and high stakes of climate change in a nuanced way. I like the mix of personal stories and bigger-picture processes.

At first, I was worried it would be too dark--not that it was unrealistic, but it was bringing back all my climate anxiety/despair, and I thought it might all be very hard to read. But by the end (or even by halfway through, really), I flipped to wondering if the book is too optimistic. Even given all the challenges, all the "too little too late"--

even given that a decent amount of the change was caused by terrorism!

I still feel like some things worked out too well and too easily. But maybe I should just be more hopeful, I don't know. I'll definitely be thinking about this book a lot, and recommending it to anyone who brings up anything even remotely related.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Slavery

Moderate: Murder, Police brutality, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Xenophobia, Classism, and Colonisation

Minor: Sexism, Death of parent, Drug use, Alcohol, War, Child death, Animal death, Fatphobia, and Racism

PTSD, natural disasters, environmental terrorism