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frogfixture's review
Only after I finished reading this did I realized this was published by Quirk Books. I hate it like something I can't look away from, the way I weirdly read Jonathan Strange and Mr Morrell three times. I don't know why. I might hate-read this again at some point too, to pull out the existential quotes I had to highlight. I can't give this a single number and I can't reduce the experience of reading it down to a single dimension except one: I finished it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Gore, Death, and Grief
joshuatdavis_'s review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
If someone knew when you will die, would you want them to tell you?
Dare to Know is dark and compelling horror story of a world where the discovery the death particle now means anyone can learn the date of their demise. We follow our downtrodden narrator as they reminisce about their now soulless, corporate life calculating and selling death dates using advanced mathematics. But what happens when he breaks the taboo and calculates the date of his own death?
Frankly, it is difficult to write about this book without giving too much away, or to convey the twisting, existential dread that engulfs this entire novel. The subject is dark, sometimes creepy, but there is something that keeps pulling you through, begging you to read more.
I found this book so compelling I read it in two sittings, struggling to tare myself away from the page. If you can handle a darker, more mysterious exploration of life and death, you will not be able to put this book down.
Dare to Know is dark and compelling horror story of a world where the discovery the death particle now means anyone can learn the date of their demise. We follow our downtrodden narrator as they reminisce about their now soulless, corporate life calculating and selling death dates using advanced mathematics. But what happens when he breaks the taboo and calculates the date of his own death?
Frankly, it is difficult to write about this book without giving too much away, or to convey the twisting, existential dread that engulfs this entire novel. The subject is dark, sometimes creepy, but there is something that keeps pulling you through, begging you to read more.
I found this book so compelling I read it in two sittings, struggling to tare myself away from the page. If you can handle a darker, more mysterious exploration of life and death, you will not be able to put this book down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
skudiklier's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Holy shit this book was wild. Just...the most mind-bending thing I have ever read, full stop.
I thought I knew what this book would be like; I read the summary, and the "letter to the reader" at the beginning was, in my opinion at the time of reading it, too detailed and spoilery. I thought it gave away exactly where the book was going.
I could not have been more wrong.
This book takes you on a journey for a while. It feels dark and weird, sure, but it also feels relatively expected. I took notes about how it felt aggressively white, and I rolled my eyes at some of the male-centric pieces I disliked.
But I don't even know how to talk about this book without giving it away...it's like one of those things where the premise is built on a twist, so you can't tell people why they should read/watch it, but you just reassure them "trust me, it gets better."
I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend this to anyone; it kind of fucked me up. It ended, and I was reeling, and then the eARC I got just went on with white pages for a while. There wasn't anything at the end to bring me back into the real world, no note from the author, nothing. I just was stuck having had this experience that no one could possibly understand or relate to.
What I will say is that this book made me think, and is still making me think. Kennedy is also amazing at referencing earlier small parts of the text that you nearly could have missed; all the little details we learn about the narrator's life, every small strange thing or tangent off to the side, it all comes back in the end. And it doesn't feel forced, even though it doesn't feel natural either—how could it, given how strange the ending is.
This book is a masterpiece, and unlike anything I've ever read. I don't know if I can forget it, even though part of me wishes I could.
Thank you to Netgalley and Quirk Books for the chance to review this ARC.
I thought I knew what this book would be like; I read the summary, and the "letter to the reader" at the beginning was, in my opinion at the time of reading it, too detailed and spoilery. I thought it gave away exactly where the book was going.
I could not have been more wrong.
This book takes you on a journey for a while. It feels dark and weird, sure, but it also feels relatively expected. I took notes about how it felt aggressively white, and I rolled my eyes at some of the male-centric pieces I disliked.
But I don't even know how to talk about this book without giving it away...it's like one of those things where the premise is built on a twist, so you can't tell people why they should read/watch it, but you just reassure them "trust me, it gets better."
I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend this to anyone; it kind of fucked me up. It ended, and I was reeling, and then the eARC I got just went on with white pages for a while. There wasn't anything at the end to bring me back into the real world, no note from the author, nothing. I just was stuck having had this experience that no one could possibly understand or relate to.
What I will say is that this book made me think, and is still making me think. Kennedy is also amazing at referencing earlier small parts of the text that you nearly could have missed; all the little details we learn about the narrator's life, every small strange thing or tangent off to the side, it all comes back in the end. And it doesn't feel forced, even though it doesn't feel natural either—how could it, given how strange the ending is.
This book is a masterpiece, and unlike anything I've ever read. I don't know if I can forget it, even though part of me wishes I could.
Thank you to Netgalley and Quirk Books for the chance to review this ARC.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual content
Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Racism
homophobia: f slur
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