Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Anthem

Very good story and warning. Very short, I finished it in 2 days. (About 90 pages of story) The author did a great job of giving so much detail in so few pages.

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monjure's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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jeremie's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

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

1.25

Hey, at least it’s not Atlas Shrugged!

I knew going into Anthem that I wasn’t going to necessarily agree with what Ayn Rand had to say. What I was hoping for at the very least was a well-thought out story that could put me in a certain individualistic mindset so that when our protagonist comes to his philosophical revelation at the end, I can go “Yeah, I can see why someone in this situation would come to this conclusion.” It fails to do this. The quality of the storytelling does not at all make up for its strange moral compass. It simply cannot be compared to other classics that were written around the time of its publication.

There are some things that I liked (keep in mind that I am very easily pleased so these might bore you rather than interest you)

I liked the whole switch from ‘We’ to ‘I’ at the end. It was predictable, but well done.

It was short and I finished it in an afternoon, so while I didn’t like it all that much, I don’t feel like I wasted a big amount of my time. Though it hardly feels proper to commend a book for being short.

Here are some things I didn’t like: The usage of Capital Letters to make some Very Boring Concept sound Very Ominous definitely got annoying after a while. There’s a lot of repetition, especially the phrase “save…” (something I thought was intentional at first but upon reading further I do think it was just an oversight)

Gaea has no personality outside of Prometheus. She doesn’t even get to choose her own name. The protagonist choosing the name “Prometheus” also made my eyes roll into the back of the skull. Mary Shelley did it long before Ayn Rand and with much more subtlety.

You should read it anyway. But you won’t have fun.

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maurits's review against another edition

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dark hopeful medium-paced

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

1.5

This dystopia feels unreal, in the sense that there is no risk of such a society ever becoming real. It is plain anti-communist strawman propaganda.
That said, it does have some interesting themes.

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