Reviews with content warning for Pandemic/Epidemic - Sea of Tranquility

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Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

126 reviews

theebster's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Excellent all around. As always, the interconnectedness of the characters was delightful to uncover. The settings were also fantastic, I really enjoyed envisioning the moon colonies and how they changed over time.

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pacifickat's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

*review pending*

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katy_bee's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I really like Emily St John Mandel's writing style, although as I said I'm my review of station 11- I can see it isn't for everyone.
There's an obvious author insert character which I wasn't sure about at first but I came round to it.
The first few chapters meander and you have to wait for it to come together, it did for me and it was beautiful

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ecster's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Loved this book so much. A perfect blend of beautiful, poetic prose and science fiction, with just the right amount of wibbly-wobbly timey wimey mind-boggling time travel mess.

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jamie1498's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Unique story structure and wonderfully written. While some characters intrigued me more than others, it was an engaging read.

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chrispy_mac's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

2.0

This book wants to be Cloud Atlas without understanding what was good about it. It has some almost-good ideas that are underbaked and way too much of the author talking to the audience in a way that should have been a blog post.

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erikabites's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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maeverose's review against another edition

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4.0

This took a long time - about half the book - to grow on me. Up to that point it was very ‘meh’. But then once the stronger sci-fi elements came in I didn’t want to put it down, and the first half became more interesting in hindsight.

I don’t want to say too much, I think it’s better to go into it not knowing much. If you like sci fi stories that involve a mystery but mainly focus on characters, their relationships, and mundane aspects of people’s lives, I would recommend. I found the writing style very easy to read as well, not confusing or difficult as sci-fi books can be for me sometimes, especially with my adhd brain.

The main content warning I would give for this, in the least spoilery way possible: it involves questioning reality. I didn’t personally feel like it was done in a triggering way. It doesn’t dwell on it too much. But if that’s an especially triggering topic for you then that’s something to keep in mind. The spoiler version:

It’s a ‘life is a simulation’ situation. It’s never fully confirmed in the book that this is the case, but it’s strongly suggested.

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katerina_l's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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brekaboujie's review

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emotional 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? No

5.0

First 5 star review which is very exciting!! I have literally just finished this so this might change once I've let it settle in my brain a little more.

I raced through this book, it was very fast paced. I was a bit concerned at the beginning that the structure would put me off, as sometimes jumping from so many perspectives or plot lines can leave me a bit detatched or impatient to get back to my favourite bits, but this wasn't like that at all. There was a constant thread that went through the whole book, which I wasnt expecting as I'd completely forgotten the blurb by the time I'd picked it up. Relevant side note, would definitely recommend jumping straight in without knowing the plot by the way, it was fun.

I also have to admit, I got a violent sense of dread by the time I was half way and the first plot twist came in. Generally the book seemed like just an interesting exploration through time to start but that middle section and the way it pulled everything together was really chilling to me. It gave me Piranesi (by Susanna Clark) vibes - I found that book pretty intense and unsettling at times, and this matched that. It was a really cool take on this kind of storyline.

Only thing to note I guess was that there was loads left out plot wise.

Like, what the hell is actually going on with the Time Institute? I get a real vibe that its run by people who know 100% about the simulation already, or that there is something bizarre going on. Why are they protecting a particular timeline? And there are multiple??? Is this leading up to a Zoey sequel?? (Personally idk if i would vibe with that but there is plenty of space for it). Also what about Dion's special project helping to build the insitute, was that just a throwaway line to connect everything in? There was sinultaneously a feeling of a very fleshed out setting in each of these spaces and also the most SHALLOW description of each.

Each of these things didn't take away from the experience of reading it but it has left me with a lot of just like WHAT IS THIS THOUGH etc.

Overall, found it super pacey, interesting premise, loved the twists (oh my god I haven't even talked about the end i LOVED the end), and a very unique feeling to a book, I've not really read anything like it l!! Which is always exciting.

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