Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

6 reviews

efratmaor's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

One of the best sci-fi books I've ever read. Giving social commentary directly to the gut. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Torture

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Ah, I loved the premise. Really, really liked the first half of the book. The ideas, the discussions about humanity and different approaches to prevent its extinction, about actions and consequences and about the possibilities and risks of genetic engineering were super intriguing and fresh. 
Sadly, there was more focus on action scenes in the second half of the book, and although I didn't mind all the science dumping in the beginning, it got very annoying the farther the story progressed. 
It was still a fun and fast-paced reading experience (especially with the help of the audiobook), I just kind of stopped caring along the way and yes, I see the irony in this. XD 
So I liked it for what it was, but there was so much more potential to make this an outstanding story. It lacked emotion and the surprises factor other Blake Crouch books have. It was all very predictable. The epilogue finally delivered what I wished for, just too little too late. I would have loved to see a more nuanced discussion about the topics of the epilogue in the second half of the book alongside the action. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Torture, Violence, Car accident, and Kidnapping

nick13's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

With ease, I can say that this book is the best I've read so far this year. I really liked how deep the author went into the science behind everything and

how they really set up a good moral dilemma that made it, in the end, even feel like the main character wasn't the truest form of a hero, yet, if I were in their shoes, I can see myself doing the same thing.

That alone is worth a good review, but then there is the intriguing worldbuilding on top of it that makes this book impossible for me to not give a five-star review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Torture

strawberrypinch's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Drug use, and Gun violence

Minor: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Dementia, Terminal illness, Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Car accident, Torture, and Suicide

littlehibou7's review

hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The first "meh" reaction for a Crouch novel from me. Maybe it's the sign of the times, or I'm truly becoming jaded, but "average white male briefly becomes even more insufferable before making the right-ish choice" just doesn't have the same appeal it used to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Kidnapping

Minor: Child death

katrinarose's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Dark Matter and Recursion were both better than this one, but I still enjoyed it. Fast paced, interesting sci fi concepts, balanced with some philosophizing about humanity, but just a bit lacking in character development and the truly mind bending stuff of his other books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Murder