Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

32 reviews

lilacs_book_bower's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is really interesting, and I definitely recommend it, but I don't want to read it ever again.  This is the weirdest locked room mystery, queer Hamlet re-telling that will ever exist.  Hayden's (Hamlet) father has been murdered and now the lab that the main characters are in has been locked down while Hamlet tries to avenge his father.  There are a lot of clever bits and allusions, and I definitely like that the Ophelia character has more of a personality, but she still feels lacking and her story still revolves around Hayden/Hamlet.  I am not sure how I feel about the Horatio character.  He is AI now and really in Hayden's head.  I don't want to say more due to spoilers, but I like the idea of Horatio and what happens, but I am not sure I buy into the execution. 
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laurareads87's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

The Death I Gave Him caught my attention immediately: a queer locked room Hamlet? Yes! It did not disappoint. The structure - the story told through a combination of essays, pager transcripts, camera footage, letters, and some fictional insertions - is brilliant and effective. The writing is beautiful and the tension is at times unbearable. While there won't be too much 'surprise' in the plot elements for any reader familiar with Hamlet, Liu's book is a novel exploration of the themes of the play - an ambitious work. Highly recommend.

Content warnings: anything you'd expect from a Hamlet reimagination - death, murder, blood, minor gore / injury detail, suicidal thinking, grief
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bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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afanofmilk's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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le_mur's review against another edition

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

3.0

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anntharai's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Jfc I don't even know where to start. All I can say is that I'll be thinking about this book - against my will - for probably years. 
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sarasreading's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 stars. It would have been 4 stars as I was really invested for most of the book. Especially considering I already knew the plot. Then towards the end it took some weird turns I wasn't super on board with, and it ended up dragging on for a while. But it was mostly enjoyable! 
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aileron's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-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

4.0

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coatpocketcreature's review against another edition

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

4.75

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azrah786's review against another edition

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3.25

 [This review can also be found on my BLOG]

**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

CW: violence, blood, injury, gore, body horror, self-harm, death, murder, death of parent, medical content, suicidal ideation, confinement, mild sexual content
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The Death I Gave Him is a sci-fied retelling of Hamlet with queer rep and an accompanying locked-room type mystery thriller storyline.

I’m going to straight up admit that this book wasn’t exactly my cup of tea but I did somewhat enjoy it. I know there will be a lot of people who will love it though, especially if you’re someone who loves anything with dark academia vibes.

It is told in an unconventional format – a compilation of interview excerpts, security footage transcripts and recordings and multi POV accounts (including that of an AI) to make up a non-fiction, thesis type recount of the events that transpired which I though was an interesting approach and one that easily keeps you engaged with the story.

However, there was then an aspect of predictability to it all which took the edge off of the mystery/thriller vibe you would expect from something penned as a locked-room narrative. Albeit this is a retelling so some predictability is expected, but as someone who hasn’t read Hamlet and knows only a handful of details from the play, I also felt like I was not able to fully appreciate all the nuances to the original and I think that added to why I didn’t fully enjoy it.

That being said I did really like the sci-fi elements as the science and technology that has been created in this world was pretty interesting and what Liu did fantastically was give us complex and messy characters that fit perfectly to that Shakespearean melodrama you’d expect.

The characters and their dynamics in a way made me think of those from Schwab’s Villains series and in that sense give the story a dark academia aura which is why I’d recommend this books to anyone who is a fan of that particular sub-genre.
Final Rating – 3.25/5 Stars 
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