Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Regional Office is Under Attack!

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales

3 reviews

readerette's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Weird, pretty original, irreverently funny, and way too long. Lots of time skipping and POV shifting, so if that's not your thing, beware. The excessive length comes from how drawn-out the attack is as well as from lots of things that seem only partially related to the main story.

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sunbathingturtle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

What! A! Book!

Female assassins! Spunky characters! Conflicting accounts! Mystery! World building that doesn’t interrupt the plot! Really, what more could you ask for?

I almost abandoned the book in the first chapter because of the hyperbolic teenage narration, but sticking it out was more than worth it.

The only reason this is not 5 stars is because

the ending disappointed me. Was it realistic? Sure. But if it had to end like that, then I wanted more about the character’s motivations, specifically Emma’s motivations. Plus, I thought it was nonsensical that Wendy and the mercenaries tortured Sarah. Why would they waste valuable time in a coup to do that, when there was no information to steal? That seemed completely implausible to me. Unless Sarah imagined it? Which also seems doubtful. That entire little bit seemed like a plot hole to me.

Also, if you’re not okay with unanswered questions in your books, this one might frustrate you (conflicting accounts and unreliable narration abound). You also have to be onboard with superpowers and interdimensional evil and robots and the like. But if you do like that stuff, you’ll love this! I see some reviews complaining that the depiction of women by a male author veered on caricature. I can see where they’re coming from, but I think that was simply the style of the book irrespective of gender. Characters were riffs on common archetypes (rebellious teen, Type A revenge-seeker, universally loved boy-next-door) but they went deep. They never felt one-note to me. Campy? Sure. Over-the-top? Of course! The same way a well-loved pop culture supervillain might be. They were characters that could weather many canon arcs (should that ever be required of them). I did not find them trite or hastily-fastened.

Also, the audiobook narration was 10/10. Highly recommend.

This book scratched so many thematic itches. The prose was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Simply a delight.

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octopus_farmer's review

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I surprisingly did not expect the book to expand beyond the attack on the regional office. It was nice if really, really meditative - don’t try to read it all in one day, though you’ll want to. I really liked Sarah and Rose and I’m still kinda mad

they didn’t ditch the office altogether and live together somehow

. I also liked the horror of

Sarah’s arm growing her new body but the awful experience of losing that arm to begin with was gutting. Good writing, I guess. Just unexpected.

It kinda felt like a satire or unraveling of magical girl animes or chosen one narratives, with the emphasis on only recruiting girls, and I’m not sure what to think of how the book handled the topic. Rose’s rage was the best part of that, as well as the awful explanation of the Oracles’ origins.

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