Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

The Marriage Act by John Marrs

13 reviews

april_reads's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The Marriage Act by John Marrs is a fascinating look at where society could be headed if we continue to embrace AI, invasive technology, and the stigmatization of staying unmarried.

Set in a near-future England, self-driving cars are mandatory, DNA determines your perfect soulmate, and the government has elevated the status of marriage to extreme levels. Everything—from taxes and housing to job opportunities—is tied to your marital status, encouraging citizens to wed. But, in true dystopian fashion, the government is always watching. At any moment, officials can decide your marriage is failing, force a divorce, and demote you to a lower social class.

This book really gets you thinking, as the world it imagines doesn’t feel too far off from our own. While a bit long-winded at times, it masterfully blends elements from classic dystopian fiction with fresh, thought-provoking ideas. Definitely worth a read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Classism

boingo85's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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? Yes

2.0

Trauma porn. Made for those who haven’t thought much about the world around them. Writing isn’t bad but the plot is predictable and characters are one sided. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Chronic illness and Dementia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

bluestjuice's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It's hard to be disappointed with a Marrs novel, but when I say I was MAD and a little terrified by the end of this.. lol

I started the marriage act after getting about 50 pages into the Family Experiment and I'm really glad I did. Talk about infuriating though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Gore, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Infertility, Self harm, and Fire/Fire injury

gailcooksandreads's review against another edition

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Dementia, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

3.75

 Finished reading: March 20th 2024

"In the end, it didn’t matter, because she couldn’t rewrite the past. She could only ensure she didn’t repeat her mistakes."

It's no secret that I consider John Marrs to be one of my favorite thriller authors, and I've read and loved the majority of his books. It's true that I tend to enjoy his dystopian/speculative thrillers most though... The Marriage Act is a stand-alone set in the same alternate near future as for example The One and The Passengers. I'm still not sure why I hadn't read it until now considering it was a most anticipated release last year... But since I was approved for the ARC of his newest story set in the same universe, I decided to play catch-up and read The Marriage Act first. It's true that each book can be read as a stand-alone, but there are some references to the previous books that you might not pick up otherwise. I have to say that this author is SO exceptional at creating extremely plausible and basically terrifying alternate futures... And this story is no different. The concept behind The Marriage Act is no less than brilliant, and its premise blew me away. Why not give it the full five stars then? This mostly had to do with the multiple POV structure slowing down the pace considerably, and the POV switches were too frequent as well. It took a little while to successfully keep all the characters apart, although I can't deny that the way the different POVs start connecting is very clever. What also put a minor damper on things was the fact that the majority of the characters are extremely unlikeable and flawed, and this made it hard to start rooting for them. The Marriage Act can get pretty dark and a lot of unpleasant secrets and trigger warning worthy topics are incorporated along the way... Some was used to show just how corrupt and terrifying this alternate future was, but still. There is no denying that the story as a whole will stay with me for quite some time though, and it's another successful speculative thriller that makes you wonder if things could really escalate to that level. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

katies_bibliotherapy's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What's so deeply unsettling about this book is that it's not out of the realm of possibility for a similar society to exist in the real world in the future. We've already seen recently how the government can control our rights and this book takes it one step further with AI intervention. The Audite is akin to Alexa and Echo in the real world, but Audite records the conversations of each of our main characters and their spouses and monitors them for the government. 🤯

Some things didn't age well (i.e. mentions of Twitter, IGTV), but that's a very minor detail and not something that had any kind of effect on my reading experience. Also, I found the pace to slow a bit in the middle, but it did pick up. Marrs is an auto-buy author for me and I'm very excited for his two new thrillers coming out this year! 

Favourite quote: "Don't do as you're told when you know something is morally wrong. Have the strength to stand up for what you believe in. Don't be afraid to confront your enemy or they will continue to rise in the most unexpected ways."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

boop123's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Dementia, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent and Pandemic/Epidemic

emarrbee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Murder

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, and Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Blood, and Death of parent