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figsofpeach's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
missrhinnan's review
- 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
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, and Medical trauma
cady_sass's review
- 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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Dementia, Death of parent, Gun violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, Violence, Abandonment, Car accident, Chronic illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Medical trauma
sarahbliss's review
- 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? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Violence, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide
kathleencoughlin's review
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
However,
If you want to read something about upgraded humans, save yourself some time by skipping this and reading Ted Chiang's short story "Understand."
Graphic: Body horror, Medical trauma, Confinement, and Gun violence
Moderate: Murder, Blood, and Car accident
Minor: Death of parent
reading_between_the_trees'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
1.0
I liked the message at the end about compassion, but other than that, I felt that the plot was mostly just violence, unnecessarily going really in-depth into science jargon that wasn’t explained well, and descriptions of guns. Made it very not engaging. I also didn’t love that all the non-men characters in the book were either not trusted enough to be involved or ended up betraying humanity in selfish and manipulative ways.
My biggest discomfort with the book was the mental/physical upgrade. Even though the message of the book is that intelligence isn’t what’s going to save us, we spent a tremendous amount of the book reading what felt like a fantasy of all the super smart and athletic things the main character did. On top of that, the mental traits paralleled autistic and ADHD traits (lack of sensory gating, studying people to understand their social cues, processing things quickly, not being able to slow down conversation and not interrupt people), so the conclusion that he couldn’t be part of his family and was lacking what made him human felt SUPER ableist.
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Medical trauma, Medical content, Torture, and War
Moderate: Vomit
kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Suicide, Child death, and Death of parent
sylvestra's review
- 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
4.25
Graphic: Medical trauma
whatjasread's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
- it wasn't bad, conceptually it was actually very interesting, but it definitely needed editing
- lots of introspection and not a lot of plot progression, plus the final 10% felt like a drag that i just wanted to get over with to the point where I skimmed it mostly
- a weird case of it needing to be shorter but also needing to be longer - cut the repetitive waffle, add more insight that isn't introspective
- thought provoking at times, but definitely one that you have to really think about, not really a book you can 'get lost in'
- confusing at times with the enhancements that worked in some scenarios but not in others
- i have only read one blake crouch (dark matter) but this doesn't come close to it, i'm afraid
TWs: vomiting, hospitalisation, explosion, violence, gunshot wounds, gun violence, death of father (past, suicide), death of mother, death of brother (past, leukemia), death of sister (murder), strained family relationships, murder, torture, needles, blood, gore, scarring, drug use, smoking, alcohol consumption, animal abuse/testing
Thank you to bookbreak and the author for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Gun violence, Death, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Blood, Torture, and Gore
Minor: Vomit, Cancer, Alcohol, Car accident, War, Drug use, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Child death, and Grief