Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

8 reviews

_david_'s review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Oof to me, every part of this book missed its mark. In general I found everything in the book a bit over the top. 

First of all, Jason is supposed to be a genius. Yet it takes him ages to even think of the theory which can be figured out as a reader very quickly. If you've figured it out before Jason, there's not much joy in reading the story until he has figured it out too. You're just waiting and turning the pages until he does and you can finally continue. The way he acts is so hard to relate to. It's very hard to imagine the situations he encounters so it's hard to emphasize with his choices. However, at least after it all goes wrong once you'd think he change his behaviour right? 

Secondly, I'd like to discuss the science behind it. To me, it's very noticable that what we're reading has been written by an author who wanted to tell a story and then looked up the physic theories which would fit it best. The logic is not consistent and some of it almost works like magic. Yet the characters in the book use big words and existing theories to clarify the science behind it all. This is a very personal ick, I've barely ever encountered a piece of media that manages to do this well. The only ways I have seen this be pulled off, is to make up your own very clear very consitent rules or just pretend it's magic and do not explain it beyond what is necessary. 

My favourite part of the book beyond the very first chapter, in which Jason only talks about his family night and life choices, are the final few chapters. Yet I wish they pushed a little further. Let Jason be a little more selfish or a little more existential. I've read another review which points out a major flaw related to the inconsistent physics which did ruin these last chapters for me as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Blood, Physical abuse, Gore, Violence, Murder, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Grief, Kidnapping, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Abortion, Car accident, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Alcohol, Animal death, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Self harm, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I really liked the premise of the book, some in interesting ideas, but didn't love the execution.

I didn't think the characterization was great

Wished Jason felt more developed/ more science-y. He felt very dude-bro to me. Didn't like that he didn't feel guilty about Jason 2's Daniella dying. Wished Daniella was more developed, I didn't feel like I knew her at all. Really didn't appreciate that the only other female character, Amanda, was seemingly just chucked in with Jason so that he'd have someone to freak out with/ talk to during his adventure and was not fleshed out as a real character. Like she just gave up her entire world for a colleague?

. 
The main character felt like he was making really stupid decisions a lot of the time which took me out of the book a bit because it made me think about why tf he wasn't doing something else

like him continuing to go into a quarantined world, him and Amanda not trying to find more ampoules - like they can go into any world, so they could've definitely found some more go bags with more ampoules ? Why didn't they ever try to find the friend that made the secret ingredient?

The writing felt a bit clunky sometimes, felt like it was written more to be a screenplay for tv show or movie

like when Jason goes into his other self's house and it just goes on and on repeatedly "like this is different in my house"

. But this did make the novel easy to visualize.

Pacing was a bit inconsistent, felt like it wrapped up too quickly given how much build up there was.
A bit too predictable. 

I was hoping the romance plotline was going to be more engaging/ interesting and felt disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Torture, Alcohol, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Abortion and Rape

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.

karbolak's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Very strong beginning. It was absolutely fantastic. Unfortunately, the farther towards the end, the worse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Murder, Medical content, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Child death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, and Grief

louisallama's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

ottercorg's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Looking for an introduction to the sci-fi genre, an Internet list pointed me to this one. 

I enjoyed the main characters and plot, felt that Crouch told the story well. The reason I've avoided sci-fi for so long is that my brain is not good at comprehending the science part. But this book made it palatable and mostly easy to understand - which made me enjoy it even more! Only a few times did risk going over my head. 

Overall, an interesting tale that kept me invested, and not just because I had nothing better to do. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Kidnapping, Blood, Gun violence, Death of parent, Gore, and Stalking

lindseyrenee's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

Incredible 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic friendship

kikicochrane's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Sexual content, and Physical abuse

Minor: Pregnancy