Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

16 reviews

huma7891's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

The most beautifully written sci fi book I have ever read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, and Suicide

trashgobby's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, War, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

hybridhavoc's review against another edition

hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a fantastic book. I'm not typically a big fan of politics and diplomacy in stories, but wrapping the whole thing in a murder mystery I think really helped with the onboarding. The most fascinating facet has to be the cultural.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Self harm, and Xenophobia

Minor: Murder, Alcohol, Terminal illness, and Grief

quarkie's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The major themes I took from this book were: an exploration of how cultures may differently define the "self", the feelings associated with accepting or rejecting a colonizing culture (as well as being accepted by or being rejected by that culture), and how quickly alliances and motivations can change based on changing circumstances and relationships.

What I liked: I thought the concepts of imago machines and a poetry-based political system were fascinating. I wanted to keep reading in order to find out more about the world. The characters were all written to be strong and individual.

What I didn't like: I'm not sure if it's because I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I found the plot to be a bit incoherent at times. I couldn't isolate the precise motivations of each character, as they seemed to be changing over time. Some plot points would come up, and then never come up again, or come up at a point where they no longer really matter since the situation had since changed.  Maybe this was on purpose, to reflect the changing political circumstances, but it led to a slightly less-than-satisfying read. The main character kept coming back to two main points (her missing imago machine and her relationship with the Teixcalaani culture) so often that it felt a bit ham-fisted.

Overall, I think it's an interesting concept that could have been executed slightly better. Still a wholly worth-while read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Violence, Terminal illness, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, War, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol

existentialhell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

The horror and humanity of empire, and what loving it can do to its prey. And what the prey can do to the empire. Read it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racism, War, Medical content, Xenophobia, Murder, Death, Violence, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Colonisation

starlitpage's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense fast-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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Medical content, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Self harm, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Abandonment

lakishi's review

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Suicide

theaceofpages's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

I think this is the kind of book you have to reread to get the full impact. Will I reread it though? I'm not sure. There are so many books out there and this is a long one. The world building is very in depth so there's a lot of new terminology and a lot of politics so it's a lot to keep track of. 

Mahit is chosen as the new leader not because she's the perfect candidate, but because she'd the best out if the available options after the previous leader dies under mysterious circumstances. She has, however, always dreamer of visiting the capital and this is even better than she could have hoped for - she has none of the limitations she would have experienced as a visitor. 

I enjoyed meeting the various characters (and the very unique naming system) and seeing the world unfold.  I also loved the various little notices and other snippets of life at the start of each chapter. I always love it when authors include things like this in their books. It makes the world feel bigger and more real (to me at least). I feel like the book does a great job (be it intentionally or not) of criticising our own world and the influences of power and how that interacts with diversity and culture. 

A fair warning. The story starts off slow. It takes a long time for the plot to properly get started. I will admit that I struggled to stay focused at times. While the idea behind this book was great, it could really have done with a little bit of streamlining. I also found the technology a little inconsistent - humanity has spread beyond earth and yet some things seem a little basic given the technology they have. Nothing big, but small little world building details (although the author did describe the book as a trap so maybe it makes sense in a way). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Violence and Medical content

Minor: Self harm

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Police brutality, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Grief, Medical content, War, Xenophobia, Murder, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Self harm, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, and Cursing

ya_katya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm