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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
THE DEATH I GAVE HIM is a locked room retelling of Hamlet; and more, with changes to character that come into their own with echoes of the play, while always asserting a wholly new voice, and setting the reader up for thrilling story apart from its inspiration. Felicia is active, and doesn't hold back. The tension and chemistry between Horatio and Hayden is just a joy to read. Hopefully without giving anything away, some of their encounters reminded me of the elegance of RED SCHOLAR'S WAKE. I especially loved that the Sisyphus formula is itself a metaphor for the grief and death that haunts this work. How do we regenerate, make ourselves whole again from what we have left? Such a great read on so many counts.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a solid addition to the inspired-by-Hamlet canon (which I am reading many of now). The spin of genre and setting is very creative, and I appreciate how Lui holds Hamlet as inspiration and moves plot and characters to new places.
One of the blurbs says the book is ambitious, and I would agree. I enjoyed the book, but I say so o relooking some clunky aspects of the it. The book feels like an unedited debut novel with loads of potential, but like it wasn’t challenged to expand and re-examine itself at all before publishing.
One of the blurbs says the book is ambitious, and I would agree. I enjoyed the book, but I say so o relooking some clunky aspects of the it. The book feels like an unedited debut novel with loads of potential, but like it wasn’t challenged to expand and re-examine itself at all before publishing.
The relationships: the Felicia and Hayden relationship has a few flashbacks that give us dimension to the characters interactions. Being a closed box, these were necessary to give some context to the characters. It felt like a miss not to delve into the the parental relationships of Hayden’s more. And I don’t believe the format limits this. We get these flashbacks from Felicia’s narrative (for Hayden and her dad), but there could have been another kind of record that gave us these for the Linchfields, imo the letters were more plot-driven than character driven. The dialogue: It needed a bit of reduction, and a little more conciseness and point. The dialogue did not elevate the characters as much as they should have. Sense of place: Elsinore could have been setup stronger. Being that we jump into story straightaway, we are missing more about the building which is a character itself. I fetI needed a bit more background into how the building was designed and why to make sense of some things, like the hidden labs.
3) it’s always nice when Ophelia makes her own decisions and li es at the end!
Worth the read, is probably more enjoyable if Hamlet is fresh in your mind.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
Great shit. I love what Liu does with Hamlet and its characters. I particularly love what they do with Ophelia, very inspired. There's some overly flowery stuff in the prose but it mostly passes my smell test and it also passes my exacting robotfucking standards. Excited to see what Liu does next.
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A sci-fi Hamlet retelling with the intrigue of a locked room murder and a very curious AI named Horatio.
Everything about the book gives me the greatest joy. Everything flows smoothly, it’s presentation is cohesive and Hayden, despite his inner turmoil and conflicts, is successfully written as a character you can deeply empathize with. A murder leads the characters to the pondering and wondering on the theme of grief, love, depression, mortality and existential crisis. All the characters are given proper amount of space to be explored without dragging the the progression of the plot. The story is fast paced and characters expressed themselves in dialogue that flows naturally while balancing their inner turmoil and struggles perfectly, giving the characters; mainly, Hayden and Felicia, depths and dimensions. I also liked that the book is presented in the form of a research project made by a student who is interested in the events. It keeps me locked in, for the lack of a better word to describe it.
I like the book immensely so there’s not much else to say. Highly recommended.
Everything about the book gives me the greatest joy. Everything flows smoothly, it’s presentation is cohesive and Hayden, despite his inner turmoil and conflicts, is successfully written as a character you can deeply empathize with. A murder leads the characters to the pondering and wondering on the theme of grief, love, depression, mortality and existential crisis. All the characters are given proper amount of space to be explored without dragging the the progression of the plot. The story is fast paced and characters expressed themselves in dialogue that flows naturally while balancing their inner turmoil and struggles perfectly, giving the characters; mainly, Hayden and Felicia, depths and dimensions. I also liked that the book is presented in the form of a research project made by a student who is interested in the events. It keeps me locked in, for the lack of a better word to describe it.
I like the book immensely so there’s not much else to say. Highly recommended.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
The writing just didn't do it for me. The romance seemed clunky and the pacing was off. I had to speed read parts of it because it was just the characters going back and forth and back and forth. The Horatio/Hayden scenes could have been well done but felt weirdly placed in the story in my opinion.
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not an ARC review! This was absolutely fantastic to me. It was sold to me as a queer sci-fi hamlet retelling, but what really drew me in was the way this story was told; through interviews, recordings, essays and more. I loved the way it build tension; making use of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the labs.
This one is *weird*, and I loved every weird second as we follow:
- Hayden, who has been researching ways to immortality
- Horatio, the lab’s Operating System/AI, who has a (very intimate) neurological link with Hayden
- and Felicia, Hayden’s ex-girlfriend (it’s complicated)
As they try and survive the lab’s lockdown, with likely a murderer in their midst, and Hayden’s father’s dying wish: to be avenged.
This won’t be for everyone, but it’s one of my top books this year!
This one is *weird*, and I loved every weird second as we follow:
- Hayden, who has been researching ways to immortality
- Horatio, the lab’s Operating System/AI, who has a (very intimate) neurological link with Hayden
- and Felicia, Hayden’s ex-girlfriend (it’s complicated)
As they try and survive the lab’s lockdown, with likely a murderer in their midst, and Hayden’s father’s dying wish: to be avenged.
This won’t be for everyone, but it’s one of my top books this year!