Reviews with content warning for Death - Dark Matter

Reviews tagging 'Death'

itsjustgrumpy's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Great, spooky read for those winter months. Learned a lot about life in arctic conditions, and was pleasantly surprised by the queer representation.

Only thing that let it down was the pacing being incredibly slow until the last 30 pages, but I feel this was intentional to reflect how the main character was experiencing the perpetual twilight of months without sun.

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ak97x's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Beautiful, haunting, terrifying. Leaves you guessing and thinking beyond the last pages.

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tanilian's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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czoltak's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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e_r_q's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"I couldn't see its eyes, but I sensed them. Until that moment, I've never felt like prey... I stared at it, and felt death staring back."

Dark Matter: A Ghost Story is a very spooky and captivating horror novel. Through the diary-entry format, and the beautifully desolate Artic setting, Michelle Paver masterfully exploits innate primal terrors, specifically the fear of the dark.

Jack, the protagonist, is haunted by the past, both figuratively and literally. Figuratively, he is haunted by a history of loneliness, misfortune, a lower social class and also his repressed homosexuality. But literally, he is haunted by something awful from the past, that lurks in the darkness of Gruhuken. Dark Matter is a surprisingly thematically rich novel; despite some things being a bit too over-explained for my liking, Paver leaves just enough ambiguity and mystery to ensure this book will remain lingering in my head.

Early on, some of the dialogue could feel a bit clunky, which I think was mainly down to Paver only writing children's books before this. But as the novel progressed, I was progressively taken aback by the intense power of Paver's simple, but undeniably atmospheric, intricate and mesmerising descriptions. Paver paces the novel perfectly, crafting some memorably tense sequences. Forgive my use of this idiom, but it's a real page turner! I loved the climax and how it was built up to, although I was weirdly hoping it would end on a much darker note than it did. Regardless, Dark Matter: A Ghost Story is magnificent. I can't wait to see Francis Lee's film adaptation of it.

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