Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

160 reviews

washingmachineoverlord's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

A beautiful, mesmerizing, story of hope at the end of the world. A novel that goes beyond a simple post apocalyptic story and becomes a study on the meaning of art, humanity, love, and how these things are all intertwined.
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goodfriendguy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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chersonese's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

  I really enjoyed this book, and it's made me realise that i'm much more a fan of multiple POVs in fiction that I first thought. It's something that you don't see too often, it's tricky to get a sprawling cast of characters right, easier to focus on one POV and do it well. In fact it's been said, somewhere by someone, that the optimal range of characters in any given scene that a person can keep track of is around seven. This book not only writes each different POV well, it shows you the ways in which you can play with a cast in scenes and expands on them in all the best ways.

  Calling this a post-apocalyptic novel is going to mislead people, because while yes that is true I think it gives reader's certain expectations and leads them looking for an overarching plot, an obstacle to defeat, a villain. The book has those elements but they're not the main focus, this is a character-driven book, and subsequently the characters are driving you, the reader, to keep turning the page. I found myself several times going to a new chapter, seeing who's POV it was and being excited to hear more from a character we hadn't touched on in a few chapters. And I will admit I found myself wanting more of the characters, but (and I want to stress this) not because I feel they were not fleshed out in the writing, I wanted more of these characters because of how fleshed out they were.
  I'm not normally in the business of writing long reviews, so i'll leave it with this. This book is about people, if you don't enjoy hearing about their everyday struggles, their seemingly generic highs and lows, their lives. If what you want is a fantastical adventure this book may leave you wanting, but I hope you'll read it anyway.
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podanotherjessi's review against another edition

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

3.75

I liked it! I think the story itself is told in this really neat way where it avoids a lot of (imo) more interesting narrative, or at least more typical pandemic/post apocalyptic stories - like the actual fall of civilization, or how society started to revive - and the result is this kind of negative space image that I really like. The pandemic itself is done in a way that settles into the uncanny valley. It's got a lot of elements of how that played out in real life, but it's just a little off in a way that makes it more extreme but not quite believable, but in a way that I found enjoyable if off-putting.
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nikelback's review against another edition

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

4.0

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pipercurda's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

poignantly eerie after having lived through an actual pandemic. i could read a series of ten more of these. some of the best as-you-go world-building i’ve read in a while. devoured in 36 hours. 
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erlenzi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Unfortunately I saw the HBO limited series first, and actually prefer their adaptation.
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georgiarowe's review against another edition

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reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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lindsaylhunter's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

4.0

I don't think I'll ever not enjoy what this author puts out there. She has an uncanny ability to write heartwarming stories that circle back again and again to stay with you.
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sandysmith's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

So hard to decide where to start with the review of this one, published in 2014, the book explores a dystopia world of those who survive a flu that kills 99.6% of the population within 3/4 hours of contracting the virus. So within 20 years young people are unable to know a time when there was electricity, mobile phones, air travel the internet, cars and so forth and how different people react to this change. The book does hop around different times and different characters, of which there are many, my favourites being Kirsten a child actress, who was 8 when the flu hit. There is a travelling symphony that she d part of, which goes from town to town, in a circuit, giving shows of music with their orchestra or plays, including Shakespeare. On their wagons is the slogan, "Survival is inefficient." From Star Trek Voyager. For me, parts of the book were slow, and I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first, although it was a bit of a disappointing ending. But boy, does this book make you think and appreciate all of the things we have. I'm just glad I read this now and not when the global pandemic was at its peak. Interesting, thought-provoking, and well written.
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