Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen

1 review

novella42's review

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-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

5.0

I blasted through this book in a single day! A word of advice: go into Mike Chen's work looking for "sci-fi with feelings" and let go of expectations around world-building--his specialty is really getting into the relationships of his characters, delving into the impact of sci-fi elements on their lives and hearts, and he does it with such compassion. The emotional resonance of this book practically vibrated off the page. I cried several times in a beautiful catharsis. 

I'm amazed I enjoyed this as much as I did, because I usually get really annoyed with all the "timey-wimey" paradox tropes of most time travel fiction. But this was so grounded in the people, in what it all meant to their human connections, that I didn't really mind. 

I discovered Mike Chen through the Worldbuilding for Masochists podcast, episode 34, The Reluctant Worldbuilder, and hearing Chen describe his writing priorities and strategies for reverse-engineering his worlds may have made this book more enjoyable for me. I can't wait to read more!

BRB, gonna go put all of Mike Chen's books on my library hold list!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Spoiler for three content warnings that aren't in the drop-down list, related to migraines, memories, and age:

A significant part of the book is spent on the POV character struggling with memory loss, regaining his memories, losing them again, finding them again, etc. Much of this is punctuated with chronic pain, headaches, and migraine-like symptoms. I struggle with migraines and memory issues from C-PTSD, and lost a loved one to Alzheimer's, and at first I wasn't sure I could handle these themes. It ended up being okay for me this time, but I wanted to make people aware of it in case those are heavy topics for you. Also, the tag I included for ableism is specifically for ageism.