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brittneyn125's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Police brutality
Moderate: Gore, Murder, and Grief
Minor: Cursing, Car accident, Kidnapping, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
schnaucl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
And think about how people get to know each other. They talk about the things they're interested in, like entertainment. But under these rules you've eliminated that shared cultural understanding.
And that's before you get to no one being able to leave town (no matter how idyllic eventually people are going to want a change of scenery) and the nights where you're suddenly forced to brutally murder someone you probably know personally. And since there are multiple reintegration attempts, how are you supposed to remember if the conversation you had with someone was the current integration attempt or a prior one?
I absolutely believe that telling people everyone they know is dead and they can't go back to their prior life because it's been over for more than a thousand years would cause an unsustainable high number of suicides. I have a hard time believing that this sustained cognitive dissonance plus forced participation in murder wouldn't also result in high rates of suicide or people isolating themselves as much as possible (which I'm assuming would also be considered a failed integration).
At least with the knowledge that you're trying to save humanity there might be a common thing to bind the community together. Here, the only thing binding them together is forced murder and the collective agreement to pretend everything is fine and normal when it's clearly not.
I feel like your best bet would be to select for deep intellectual incuriosity, which doesn't bode well for keeping humanity going long term. That said, I'm not sure the genetic diversity would be enough for that anyway.
And how does the economy work? There's hotel, which I would think can only have guests that are new integrations, which won't have any money... although I thought there was another guest mentioned.
I get that there are literally tons of food stored, but presumably you'd want the community to be self sustaining at some point but I don't think farmers are mentioned. Who maintains the power for the town? How is it maintained? That takes specialized knowledge and some kind of industrial structure. What happens when power lines are damaged?
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Car accident, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, and Confinement
Minor: Death of parent and Infidelity
lukemorganartist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Torture, Gaslighting, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Gun violence, Emotional abuse, and Grief
Minor: Car accident
mlthomas234's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Gaslighting, Death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Drug use, Murder, and Car accident
adragoninspace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Car accident
chris_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Police brutality, Violence, Confinement, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Gore, Murder, Torture, Trafficking, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood, Xenophobia, War, Infidelity, and Car accident
__codex's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: War, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Confinement
Moderate: War, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Medical content, Torture, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse
Minor: Car accident
lawmixitup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Torture, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Blood, Gore, Death, Violence, and Confinement
Minor: Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Animal death, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, and Mental illness
vexatiousbird's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The bad: There is not a single interesting character to be found here - all flat plot devices with no depth. The protagonist is not likable but he’s not an antihero, he’s just entitled and oblivious, eg., getting furious at the front desk for not giving him a hotel room when he has no way to pay for it. There are a lot of cheap tricks to keep the excitement going, and a lot of it doesn’t even make sense in the broader plot. There is some excessive violence which seems unnecessary/nonsensical when we ultimately see the full picture. Honestly a lot of things make less sense after the big reveal, not more sense.
I dropped another of this author’s books partway through, and I thought it was just that specific plot and those characters, but it’s clear now that the problem is the author. I won’t be reading anything more by him, and now that the big mystery in this book is solved, I have no interest in continuing the series either.
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Murder, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Medical trauma
dayanitha's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Car accident, Kidnapping, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, and Infidelity