Reviews with content warning for Rape - Leviathan Wakes

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

28 reviews

mabel_xo's review against another edition

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

There are hardly any women in this book except when presented as objects of desire, victims of violence, or both. The male characters, meanwhile, are difficult to tell apart. All I know is one of them is a space cop with a weird prepccupation with a woman he's never even met. The others are just as eye-rollingly unbearable. I think they were supposed to be cool and masculine but they just came off as doofuses to me.

"'Naomi's a good person,' Amos said. 'I like her, you know? Like my kid sister, only smart and I'd do her if she let me. You know?'"

Actual quote from a character we're supposed to have some kind of affinity for.

"The sheet lay pooled on her lap. The sight of her half nude in the dimly lit room gave him an embarrassingly sudden erection.
Naomi panned her gaze up his body, pausing at his midsection, then at the water glass, and said, 'Is that for me?'
Holden didn't know which thing she was asking about, so he just said, 'Yes.'"

Another gem from this critically-acclaimed work.

Despite the stereotypically male-centric viewpoint, the plot did get slightly interesting once one of the key plot points was revealed. Unfortunately, that happened over halfway through this lengthy book. The worldbuilding also had the potential to lead to something worthwhile being said about class inequality, but that theme ultimately felt underexplored—at least in this first book in the series. I can't say the world and premise are worth suffering through the obnoxious dialogue and character choices. Maybe the TV show is better.

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bookswithbethx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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singalana's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.75

From the back cover of this book: “Praise for the expanse: “The future they way it was supposed to be.” - Wall Street Journal”. Hell, if this is Wall Street Journal’s idea of what the future is supposed to look like, then sign me OUT. Oh boy, where to begin with this one. The main feeling after finishing this book was confusion. Maybe it was too smart for me, or perhaps this is just the prelude to the series. But this book is over 500 pages long, and I felt like I ended up with more questions than I started with.

This is a space warfare sci-fi and a detective story rolled in one. The story follows two characters: Jim Holden, an ice miner who stumbles on a dangerous secret, and detective Miller, who has been tasked with finding a girl and bringing her home. The story takes these characters through all kinds of trouble as they navigate governments, organisations and corporations in order to save humanity.

As you might imagine, this story is extremely action packed, and the stakes are always high. Even so much so that it becomes exhausting at times. The characters feel very flat to me, and so much more could have been done to develop their personalities and made them stand out a bit more. I just read 500 pages of them, and I would struggle to write one sentence about who they are as a person.

The writing was okay. The events were partly confusing but I’m not sure if I can pin that on the writing or if I just don’t understand space warfare enough to be able to follow. The plot and events were confusing, but I’m hoping that more will be revealed after the first book. After this book I’m still interested enough to give the next one a try.

One thing that bothered me about this book was how much there were casual mentions of hookers, brothels and prostitutes. And they all seemed to be women. You’d think that if they wanted to display a gritty hellscape, then there would be at least a variety of prostitutes. The women in this book appeared to be either prostitutes, victims or love interests, especially during the first half of the book. It got slightly better in the second half, perhaps due to the fact that none of the characters had time to think about brothels anymore.

And I read more sentences about the main characters' balls than I would have liked.

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linneak's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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hermitqueen's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

4.5

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xta_07's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

4.75

An epic space opera, with a mysterious big bad.
This is my second time reading, and I think I may have enjoyed it even more than the first time!

I love that even thought this book is about war, politics, and discussion on ethics - it takes it down to the human level. The novel is told from two perspectives, one a person who always trys to do the right thing no matter what the consequences might be. And, another who does what needs to be done no matter what that might make him in the end.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes detective noir stories, morally gray hero’s, or hero’s who always do the right thing, and people who enjoy political thrillers. If you’re a sci-fi fan, you’ll enjoy it even more!

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