Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

4 reviews

ababytapir's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• 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

4.5

Like Recursion, Dark Matter is fantastically mind-bending and all too easy to read in a day. It's incredibly violent and thought provoking. If you like your sci fi thrillers tinged with horror, existential dread and romance, this is the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Kidnapping, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Torture, Child death, Abortion, Self harm, War, Violence, Death of parent, Suicide, Car accident, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer, Pregnancy, Rape, and Terminal illness

If you struggle with derealisation, dissociation or depersonalisation, or any sort of identify disorder, this book could potentially be incredibly triggering. Proceed with extreme caution. Violence warning: There is an incredibly detailed description of a gory epidemic/pandemic. There are multiple gory descriptions of dead bodies, murder, and horrific natural disasters. There is a long kidnapping scene. There's multiple instances of stalking.

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

The good:  I enjoyed the UberChat.  I felt that right when that was introduced a different ending could have spawned that turned into a lighthearted rom-com and I like to imagine that.

The bad:  I knew pretty early on that this was not going to be a favorite.  I don't read a lot of thrillers in general but I enjoy sci-fi so I figured I would give it a shot.  I couldn't stand the main character.  And thus, the book was doomed in my eyes.  The pacing was jumpy, and the plot was predictable (as in, I guessed what really happened in the first chapter and the main character didn't figure it out until the ~50% mark).  There was some promise for some thoughtful introspection but the approach was heavy-handed at best.  Some of the descriptions were vivid and others were flat out whacky.

I don't know if I will try another book by the author, but I don't think I was the intended audience for this work so who knows what the future holds.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Torture, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Self harm, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Blake Crouch.... Blake Crouch, man....
I... I have no words. 
This is a mindfuck movie in book form. 
So, I was intrigued at the beginning. Then absolutely in love with the whole middle part. And I hated the last part. Well, hated is maybe a little too strong of a word. Let's say it was already a mind blowing book but then Crouch went one step too far for my taste and it was a little too hard to process for me to fully enjoy that part. I'll give bonus points here though because I really didn't see some of the things coming. And the ending was in fact... good? It made sense for the plot and wrapped things up satisfyingly. Which I was not counting on tbh. 
Despite my personal issues with it, this is an amazing book as a whole. Its a super fast paced Sci-Fi/Thriller with a cool story and cool settings. It's very action packed which I usually don't enjoy, but I guess Blake Crouch books are an exception to this rule now, because I really like his action sequences. Maybe because they are still clear and easy to process/imagine and just fit so well with the story. 
On the other hand it explores some super interesting themes. Who are we, what exactly makes us the individuals we are? Are there decisions we regret and would we change them if we had a chance? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Stalking, Terminal illness, and Violence

colleenward_'s review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

What. The. F❌❌❌.
Okay, I loved this book so much! I’m going through a period in time where the message of this plot really hit home and I appreciated it a lot —> What if you could do your life differently?

Blake Crouch delivers a mind-bending plot which moves the story along and keeps you wondering how everything will play out. 10/10 recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Vomit, Stalking, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Cursing, Drug use, Car accident, Cancer, Animal death, and Abortion