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Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Yours for the Taking by Gabrielle Korn

23 reviews

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really struggled with the narration in the book, but the stories of the individual characters and their choices were compelling for me. Lots of parallels to our current world; good food for thought. 

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slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Sorry, this book left more questions than answers and not in a good way.
My issue is mostly about the books take on logistics of a climate change-ravaged world. It took everything in me to be able to suspend disbelief over and over while reading along. 

How could a glorified bubble protect people indefinitely from rising ocean levels??

 How could sending a manned shuttle from space to earth and back EVERY WEEK to get “fresh produce” be at all efficient??? if there are freaking spas and luxury amenities on the space station, they couldn’t add a few hydroponics bays????????? If there is practically no society anymore outside the bubbles, how are they maintaining a launch site to get back to the space station?

Somehow freaking Xanax is a magical drug that can target specific memories to erase? There’s a whole scene where the character  slowly loses just the memories the leaders want her to lose. At first I thought there was like a complicated psychological system, but they just use a vent to somehow waft Xanax into everyone’s room? WHAT

And biggest of all, the ending. Finally, all the women in power in the NYC bubble realize they shouldn’t be drugging thousands of women and children, and I’m pretty sure they specifically imply they don’t want to drug them anymore because that takes away the woman’s ability to choose and consent. But then, the head doctor of the bubble helped two woman sneak out to the surface and never ask any of the other women and children if they want to leave their fucked up lies-filled bubble??? So they take away their ability to choose and consent AGAIN and that fact is just brushed aside like it’s no big issue?
And then the two escapees WELDED THE ONLY EXIT SHUT SO NO ONE WILL EVER BE ABLE TO LEAVE AGAIN????????? I can’t.


This book definitely kept my mind working, trying to fill the numerous gaping plot holes.

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dark reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Heavy-handed and hastily wrapped up, but generally enjoyable 

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medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

I enjoyed the book in general, and many of the characters were interesting. A fun thought experiment for exploring gender, hierarchy, and control. Ultimately though it feels like there are gaps in the worldbuilding
like only a single person dying Inside in 22 years
, and the fallout of the ending meant that things did feel somewhat rushed and unrealistic
for example, the rest of the staff just going along with Olympia being leader after having just been shown to be hostile to her and her ideas.

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dark reflective sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Milquetoast, heavy handed dystopian critique of cis, white, capitalist feminism. I could see what the author was trying to do but it just felt simplistic and at some points silly.

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