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micareads123's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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
5.0
seasonedreadings's review
I thought I was going to finish and give it a humble 3 stars, but I soon realized that I was dreading picking this book up each day.
This was very disappointing, and ultimately a tragedy of unrealized potential. Before I get into my critiques, I will say that I liked Larson's writing style. It's very easy to read (maybe too easy because if I wasn't totally focused on the book my mind would wander) and the chapters are short (like 2 pages on average), so you can make a lot of progress in an evening. The world-building and the politics are easy to grasp so I think this could've been a passable movie (Aaron Paul is my fancast for Yorick). Unfortunately, the execution on the plot falls short in a lot of places. I can honestly say I was only TRULY interested during two moments in 300 pages.
My biggest gripe is that Ymir didn't deliver on the fraught brother vs. brother dynamics that I was promised. And that was my whole reason for being there! When Yorick and his brother Thello reunited after 20 years of radio silence....nothing happens. There's no angst, no tension, no yelling, no trying one way or the other to either repair their relationship or destroy it so they could both be free from this holding pattern. Even though Thello ruined his face (and possibly his life), Yorick is so full of loathing for himself and everything around him that hate obviously isn't all that he feels for his brother. There's hate, shame, grasping for a relationship with the only person in the world who loved him, loss, wonder at how it all could've gone so wrong all mixed up together, and that does come through — through vibes only, I might add, because Yorick is so busy substance abusing and repressing that we don't get to unpack it in any real way. It would've been delicious if we had!
Thello, on the other hand, is indifferent to his brother. I can't even really say if he was hateful. Grown up Thello is in his automaton era (part of this could be due to the fact that's he's tapped in with the grendel and being the leader of this revolution or whatever) but he was giving serial killer and he acts like Yorick is just any man who walked in off the street. You see your brother for the first time in 20 years after you blew half his head off, and you have NOTHING to say? You don't wanna explain yourself or justify your actions? You don't wanna rage at him for leaving? You don't wanna have a villain's monologue where you explain how you've gotten here and it's all his fault somehow? NOTHING????? It fell criminally flat and while I was reading I realized that I didn't necessarily trust Larson to fix his error in the next 100 pages so I was like...why am I here?
1 of the 2 interesting moments in the book is when Thello reveals he's going to use Yorick in his rebellion and makes him ingest an explosive that'll kill him in three days to ensure his compliance. So Yorick decides that he's gonna stick by the company and find someway to ruin his plan SOLELY to get back at Thello, and he's even gonna get Thello tortured and imprisoned. And I was like "THAT'S WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!!!!!" FINALLY some family drama in this house. But then other things happen and by pg. 300 we find out that Yorick shot himself in the head not Thello, and so now he's gonna go break his brother out of company prison and get the grendel and "save the day." And I'm like...........ok. That didn't feel like the right ending for these two either. The right ending to me felt like a Shakespearean tragedy where everybody dies, and Larson very well could've served that but I couldn't bring myself to stick around to find out.
My second biggest gripe is that in addition to not developing the biggest draw of the book, the characters aren't engaging. I am no stranger to the sad-horrible-miserable-man trope (and some of my fave characters fall into this category) so it's not like I expected to fall in love with Yorick, but you've gotta give me something to make me care and Larson didn't it. It felt like he was so focused on making the most despondent character imaginable that he forgot to do anything else. I had no hope that Yorick was going to "reform," he certainly wasn't going to live happily ever after, and I doubted that anything meaningful was going to happen with the brother so, again....why am I here?
I think if Larson had spent less time on trying to make the world as bleak and cold and unforgiving as possible and put more effort into the character work I think we could've had something really interesting on our hands.
This was very disappointing, and ultimately a tragedy of unrealized potential. Before I get into my critiques, I will say that I liked Larson's writing style. It's very easy to read (maybe too easy because if I wasn't totally focused on the book my mind would wander) and the chapters are short (like 2 pages on average), so you can make a lot of progress in an evening. The world-building and the politics are easy to grasp so I think this could've been a passable movie (Aaron Paul is my fancast for Yorick). Unfortunately, the execution on the plot falls short in a lot of places. I can honestly say I was only TRULY interested during two moments in 300 pages.
My biggest gripe is that Ymir didn't deliver on the fraught brother vs. brother dynamics that I was promised. And that was my whole reason for being there! When Yorick and his brother Thello reunited after 20 years of radio silence....nothing happens. There's no angst, no tension, no yelling, no trying one way or the other to either repair their relationship or destroy it so they could both be free from this holding pattern. Even though Thello ruined his face (and possibly his life), Yorick is so full of loathing for himself and everything around him that hate obviously isn't all that he feels for his brother. There's hate, shame, grasping for a relationship with the only person in the world who loved him, loss, wonder at how it all could've gone so wrong all mixed up together, and that does come through — through vibes only, I might add, because Yorick is so busy substance abusing and repressing that we don't get to unpack it in any real way. It would've been delicious if we had!
Thello, on the other hand, is indifferent to his brother. I can't even really say if he was hateful. Grown up Thello is in his automaton era (part of this could be due to the fact that's he's tapped in with the grendel and being the leader of this revolution or whatever) but he was giving serial killer and he acts like Yorick is just any man who walked in off the street. You see your brother for the first time in 20 years after you blew half his head off, and you have NOTHING to say? You don't wanna explain yourself or justify your actions? You don't wanna rage at him for leaving? You don't wanna have a villain's monologue where you explain how you've gotten here and it's all his fault somehow? NOTHING????? It fell criminally flat and while I was reading I realized that I didn't necessarily trust Larson to fix his error in the next 100 pages so I was like...why am I here?
My second biggest gripe is that in addition to not developing the biggest draw of the book, the characters aren't engaging. I am no stranger to the sad-horrible-miserable-man trope (and some of my fave characters fall into this category) so it's not like I expected to fall in love with Yorick, but you've gotta give me something to make me care and Larson didn't it. It felt like he was so focused on making the most despondent character imaginable that he forgot to do anything else. I had no hope that Yorick was going to "reform," he certainly wasn't going to live happily ever after, and I doubted that anything meaningful was going to happen with the brother so, again....why am I here?
I think if Larson had spent less time on trying to make the world as bleak and cold and unforgiving as possible and put more effort into the character work I think we could've had something really interesting on our hands.
iyhao's review
dark
emotional
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
dosymedia's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Body horror, and Gore
booksmithscientist's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
chantaal's review
4.0
It's really hard to put my thoughts together on this one because it's such an odd, dark sci-fi novel.
Ymir is one of those novels that delights me and makes me wonder how some authors create worlds like this. Worlds that are wildly fun to learn about, and allow me to suspend all disbelief and just roll along with whatever I'm given. Rich Larson comes up with a lot of fun sci-fi ideas on this far flung planet Ymir, from ruling corporations to alien robot monsters to the body horror of being de-bodied as punishment.
Yorick as a main character is...well, Yorick is a fucking mess. The man is beyond a mess. He's the mess that a mess makes when it's being its messiest. He's got trauma and drinks and does drugs and lives with so much emotional pain that he almost craves physical pain as he's processing the trauma that being back on Ymir brings him. He's hard to swallow, but Rich Larson's writing puts you so squarely in Yorick's mind, frames the entire story so completely through Yorick, that there is no novel without him and everything he's going through.
I think the thing that really docked a star for me here was the pacing, though I think I understand why the pacing is the way that it is. As I've said, this book is SO thoroughly about Yorick that it slows down when he slows down, and speeds up to almost manic pacing when he's going through action scenes. It made me feel off kilter, and at times the slower scenes were very morose and maudlin and I wanted to be out and past them and back to the greater storyline. Except the plot is Yorick, Yorick is the plot and you don't get a second away from him. The book is masterful at that, I have to say.
I would NOT recommend this to anyone coming here for a straight Beowulf retelling; while that has provided the basis for some theme work, it's not a one to one retelling and the world is so wildly different that I understood this without having read Beowulf. I just know the basic story plot beats and this doesn't follow them beyond hunting a grendel.
I'd instead recommend this to sci-fi fans who want something new and interesting and can handle super dark themes. Like, SUPER dark. There is no light in this book, but it IS good.
Overall, this was a really good, immersive sci-fi novel.
Ymir is one of those novels that delights me and makes me wonder how some authors create worlds like this. Worlds that are wildly fun to learn about, and allow me to suspend all disbelief and just roll along with whatever I'm given. Rich Larson comes up with a lot of fun sci-fi ideas on this far flung planet Ymir, from ruling corporations to alien robot monsters to the body horror of being de-bodied as punishment.
Yorick as a main character is...well, Yorick is a fucking mess. The man is beyond a mess. He's the mess that a mess makes when it's being its messiest. He's got trauma and drinks and does drugs and lives with so much emotional pain that he almost craves physical pain as he's processing the trauma that being back on Ymir brings him. He's hard to swallow, but Rich Larson's writing puts you so squarely in Yorick's mind, frames the entire story so completely through Yorick, that there is no novel without him and everything he's going through.
I think the thing that really docked a star for me here was the pacing, though I think I understand why the pacing is the way that it is. As I've said, this book is SO thoroughly about Yorick that it slows down when he slows down, and speeds up to almost manic pacing when he's going through action scenes. It made me feel off kilter, and at times the slower scenes were very morose and maudlin and I wanted to be out and past them and back to the greater storyline. Except the plot is Yorick, Yorick is the plot and you don't get a second away from him. The book is masterful at that, I have to say.
I would NOT recommend this to anyone coming here for a straight Beowulf retelling; while that has provided the basis for some theme work, it's not a one to one retelling and the world is so wildly different that I understood this without having read Beowulf. I just know the basic story plot beats and this doesn't follow them beyond hunting a grendel.
I'd instead recommend this to sci-fi fans who want something new and interesting and can handle super dark themes. Like, SUPER dark. There is no light in this book, but it IS good.
Overall, this was a really good, immersive sci-fi novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Drug use, Body horror, Gun violence, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts
franklywrites's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
This was an unusual read for me, so I'm not going to give it a rating, and I'm probably not going to say a great deal because other people will have said it better. It was a very well-fleshed-out world with interesting (and rather bitter) characters. The main character unfurled as a bit of a personality mystery throughout. I liked the way it went at the end, but I do find it difficult to collect my thoughts on it as a whole.
yuyine's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
3.75
Ymir est un roman à l’ambiance poisseuse de sang et de misère qui transpire la violence et la douleur. Roman cyberpunk à la Alterned Carbon, il se fait aussi critique sociale en toile de fond dans une intrigue de guerre fratricide où l’humanité se cache sous une couche de désespoir. C’était surprenant, perturbant et glauque, mais je l’ai dévoré sans peine par des chapitres s’enchaînant à un rythme soutenu.
Critique complète sur yuyine.be (https://yuyine.be/review/book/ymir)!
Critique complète sur yuyine.be (https://yuyine.be/review/book/ymir)!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Gore, Alcohol, Violence, and Addiction
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Domestic abuse
livlaughloathe's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
“I contain multitudes,“ Yorick says. “and most of them are shitbags.”
Gritty, dark cyberpunk novel with an at times wretched main character this is IT
Gritty, dark cyberpunk novel with an at times wretched main character this is IT
ellierichards90's review
3.0
I haven't read Beowulf so can't comment on how Ymir compares with it, but you don't need to have read it to understand this book.
The setting and concepts were unique and interesting, and there was a healthy balance of worldbuilding and character development.
Much like the frigid world of Ymir, the writing felt very cold and clinical to me at times, and it lacked an emotional punch which is why I haven't given it a higher rating.
The setting and concepts were unique and interesting, and there was a healthy balance of worldbuilding and character development.
Much like the frigid world of Ymir, the writing felt very cold and clinical to me at times, and it lacked an emotional punch which is why I haven't given it a higher rating.