Reviews with content warning for Murder - Small Game

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Small Game by Blair Braverman

16 reviews

maggies's review

adventurous challenging mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Back when I still used Twitter, Blair Braverman was one of my follows, and I loved her threads about dog sledding and the outdoors. She's an incredible storyteller, and Small Game, her first novel, really lived up to that for me. While I would never participate in a show of this kind and I'm not outdoorsy by any stretch (I always say I'd prefer to go first in an apocalypse), I was captivated by Mara and the other "survivors" and their creativity and problem-solving. In an episode of You're Wrong About, Blair said—paraphrasing here—that nature doesn't feel any animosity towards us and that's comforting to her. After reading this book, I can absolutely see what she means. I wouldn't quite call this a thriller, but it was very thrilling just the same.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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raybudbury's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful 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

4.0

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ecn's review

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2.75

BORING. If you like into the wild but want a more boring version where you don’t care or know anything about the characters, then maybe you’ll like this? The only reason I didn’t DNF was for a desperate hope that it could get crazy at the end (it did not). It felt more like an ode to surviving and the wilderness than an actual survival thriller. There were so many missed opportunities to expand the story and give the reader insight into what’s happening.

I don’t know what the point of this story is

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lovedubbles's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Blair does a beautiful job writing the suspense and fear of the woods. It’s not a book of jump-scares, but a tighter and tighter bow of tension.

the ending absolutely fucks with you. After all the tension build up it’s not aliens, it’s not a pandemic. It’s just people and their capacity for tremendous harm. That is, in some ways, more frightening than some big supernatural event. We don’t get a grand happy ending either just - they lived.

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sleibz's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? Yes

4.0

A really enjoyable quick read story. A good recommendation for anyone that loves the hatchet as a kid, but now prefer more women and queer people in their stories.

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rachaelmaris's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

It was a lot darker than I thought it would be but it was a very compelling read. I heard about this book on the You're Wrong About podcast, when the author was a guest talking about the Uruguayan plane crash in 1972.

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zombiezami's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.25

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hedytf's review against another edition

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dark fast-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

3.0

I'm so conflicted about this book.

I loved it until the end: I wanted to hear about what Mara brushed aside as unimportant.

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bookmaddie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

A fun, easy read about a reality show gone wrong that will have you turning pages until you reach the end. I wouldn't say it's super thrilling, but the desire to survive propels the story forward as food dwindles, weather changes, and minds begin to unravel. The survival/nature knowledge was really interesting to read about, and I won't be climbing trees anytime soon. I do think the characterization of the crew felt a bit shallow and almost like stock characters, but it was easy to get past since the real focus was on the core group of survivors.

This is an approachable story about humanity and community, and how far one might go to win, and then, to survive. I'm not sure it will be that memorable, but if you're looking for a fun, pacy read, this one is it. A tad bit gory, fyi!

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