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legs_n_chins's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
5.0
I’m honestly blown away. This book is absolutely stunning and I definitely will be thinking about it for possibly the rest of time. It’s so good I want to eat it. Everything about it really ticked so many boxes for me, I truly can’t get over it.
I think this is the sort of sci-fi that I do enjoy. It’s very much still grounded in the familiar of what we know, but spooled out in predicting the potential future of our world. I like what Liu had in mind and I love how she took concepts we already have and updated them to fit her view of the world a couple decades into the future. I particularly love how she then included small elements in the footnotes to take us just a step further into the future beyond the events of the books and show a more expansive view of how technology and science has continued to develop. It’s hard to articulate the difference I feel with other sci-fi media I’ve consumed, but this really worked for me.
The style was so fascinating and utterly arresting. Structuring the story as a series of pieces from multiple sources put together as a retelling of the events was so incredibly creative. I love the choices Liu made for which sort of source she wanted to use for which parts, choosing where to add in a lot of depth of emotion and where to leave it in a very objective perspective. It was haunting sometimes when the perspective suddenly was just objective dialogue without any indication even of body language or tone of voice. Everything was so carefully chosen and placed within the narrative and I’m obsessed with it. Plus, Liu’s prose is gorgeous. The way she describes physical feelings and the metaphors she uses that connect to this visceral body and bone sort of theme that she’s woven throughout. It’s so beautiful and impactful. Some of my favorite lines were those metaphors of viscera. Additionally, just the way Liu wrote those POVs. How Felicia's all came from a self reflective look at the events, Hayden's were all written in present tense, the inhuman artificial intelligence perspective of Horatio's. She really managed all of those writing styles so well and made them flow together in a way that seemed so effortless. It was never jarring going between POVs.
I’ve personally only seen Hamlet performed once and I haven’t actually read the play through in one go myself, so I’m not extremely well versed in the story, but I do know enough of it to see the contours of what Liu was building as I went along. Of course I knew the ending going in, and I think it was incredibly effective for Liu to write the book with the assumption that the readers knew. It really aided in the immersion of the story, bringing us in as if we already knew exactly what happened in the labs. Moreover, because the starting point was a presumed familiarity with the bare bones of the play, it really lent itself to how the events unfolded. The knowledge of what would happen next of what it was all building toward really added to the experience for me. Like, even if I didn’t remember details of the play, I still knew enough to realize with a sinking dread how Liu had decided to work in the mother, and I still knew enough to recognize how each of Hayden’s decisions was driving him further into the tragedy. The major point of a tragedy is the knowledge that the hero is doomed from the start and Liu manipulates that so well to add to the tense, anxious atmosphere. Which was further aided by making it this closed parlor mystery setting. SO smart! Tightening the timeline to a single night and forcing us into this one claustrophobic building to really add to the emotions already present in the story itself. It was so well done, made the emotions stand out that much more and feel that much more real. To the point that I was sobbing by the ending chapters. I love it.
My biggest thing, though, is 100% a personal thing. A trope I am totally obsessed with. The whole one character inside another character’s head? Oh my god I could eat that shit up with a SPOON I tell you. And Liu really did everything I love in this case. The sensory details, the possessive feelings, the possession!! I was going absolutely out of my mind in certain sections, like waving my arms and screaming into pillows out of my mind. And she also did a fantastic job of showing both sides of the connection, as well. How each party felt when sharing the mind and body. With the added element of Horatio being inhuman and the details of how he processed physicality and human emotion. I’m so, so, so into that shit and Liu did it so, so, so perfectly for me. This book just had it ALL for me.
I think this is the sort of sci-fi that I do enjoy. It’s very much still grounded in the familiar of what we know, but spooled out in predicting the potential future of our world. I like what Liu had in mind and I love how she took concepts we already have and updated them to fit her view of the world a couple decades into the future. I particularly love how she then included small elements in the footnotes to take us just a step further into the future beyond the events of the books and show a more expansive view of how technology and science has continued to develop. It’s hard to articulate the difference I feel with other sci-fi media I’ve consumed, but this really worked for me.
The style was so fascinating and utterly arresting. Structuring the story as a series of pieces from multiple sources put together as a retelling of the events was so incredibly creative. I love the choices Liu made for which sort of source she wanted to use for which parts, choosing where to add in a lot of depth of emotion and where to leave it in a very objective perspective. It was haunting sometimes when the perspective suddenly was just objective dialogue without any indication even of body language or tone of voice. Everything was so carefully chosen and placed within the narrative and I’m obsessed with it. Plus, Liu’s prose is gorgeous. The way she describes physical feelings and the metaphors she uses that connect to this visceral body and bone sort of theme that she’s woven throughout. It’s so beautiful and impactful. Some of my favorite lines were those metaphors of viscera. Additionally, just the way Liu wrote those POVs. How Felicia's all came from a self reflective look at the events, Hayden's were all written in present tense, the inhuman artificial intelligence perspective of Horatio's. She really managed all of those writing styles so well and made them flow together in a way that seemed so effortless. It was never jarring going between POVs.
I’ve personally only seen Hamlet performed once and I haven’t actually read the play through in one go myself, so I’m not extremely well versed in the story, but I do know enough of it to see the contours of what Liu was building as I went along. Of course I knew the ending going in, and I think it was incredibly effective for Liu to write the book with the assumption that the readers knew. It really aided in the immersion of the story, bringing us in as if we already knew exactly what happened in the labs. Moreover, because the starting point was a presumed familiarity with the bare bones of the play, it really lent itself to how the events unfolded. The knowledge of what would happen next of what it was all building toward really added to the experience for me. Like, even if I didn’t remember details of the play, I still knew enough to realize with a sinking dread how Liu had decided to work in the mother, and I still knew enough to recognize how each of Hayden’s decisions was driving him further into the tragedy. The major point of a tragedy is the knowledge that the hero is doomed from the start and Liu manipulates that so well to add to the tense, anxious atmosphere. Which was further aided by making it this closed parlor mystery setting. SO smart! Tightening the timeline to a single night and forcing us into this one claustrophobic building to really add to the emotions already present in the story itself. It was so well done, made the emotions stand out that much more and feel that much more real. To the point that I was sobbing by the ending chapters. I love it.
My biggest thing, though, is 100% a personal thing. A trope I am totally obsessed with. The whole one character inside another character’s head? Oh my god I could eat that shit up with a SPOON I tell you. And Liu really did everything I love in this case. The sensory details, the possessive feelings, the possession!! I was going absolutely out of my mind in certain sections, like waving my arms and screaming into pillows out of my mind. And she also did a fantastic job of showing both sides of the connection, as well. How each party felt when sharing the mind and body. With the added element of Horatio being inhuman and the details of how he processed physicality and human emotion. I’m so, so, so into that shit and Liu did it so, so, so perfectly for me. This book just had it ALL for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Death, Confinement, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, and Blood
hazel_oat's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
Moderate: Violence, Gun violence, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Body horror
Minor: Medical content, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship
nithya_natalya's review
dark
mysterious
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
5.0
I was looking for something moody and brooding and angsty, and this fit that need perfectly. I have always been a fan of how angsty Hamlet is, and Liu's interpretation was spot on. I loved the way they played up his obsession with death. At first, I was not at all into the footnotes and the premise that this story is being compiled by a researcher in some distant future. But it eventually really grew on me. The footnotes eerily hinted at an incredibly sinister future, but in such a nonchalant, clinical way. Placing this family drama within the broader context of scientific advancements related to immortality and AI was very cool. And the fact that this was set only 20-ish years in the future actually felt believable. I feel like we are not far off from neuromapping, and inserting AI right into our brains. ALSO the AI sex scenes were incredible. The idea that AI inside your brain is using its control of your brain to make you feel certain things, or controlling the environment around you to get an embodied response. SO COOL AND INTERESTING.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Murder, Body horror, Death, Medical content, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexual content
ellis7e3ad's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, Mental illness, Death of parent, Violence, and Murder
cassie7e's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
One of my best reads for 2024 so far! The plot is not at all straightforward and consisntely kept the tension. The main characters felt complex and believeable and I loved the AI getting POVs. I also loved the format of the story being told through snippets of interviews, articles, and playbacks of the system recordings.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Murder, Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Body horror, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Gore, and Death of parent
kravold's review
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Murder
bibliomania_express's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Violence, Confinement, Murder, Self harm, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, and Body horror
justkyliep's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
5.0
To be honest, my expectations when I read the words "Hamlet retelling" are very low. I've seen a lot of bad Shakespeare in my time in theatre, and a lot of terrible attempts to modernize it. The Death I Gave Him is NOT bad Shakespeare. (It's not bad sci-fi, either!) It is possibly the smartest and most interesting Shakespeare I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Liu's choices of when and how to deviate from canon were masterfully chosen—keeping the tone and soul of the original piece, but expanding and exploring characters in beautiful new ways. It mostly took me so long to get through, because I kept having to put the book down to go pace around my room.
I really enjoyed the way this novel handled Horatio and Felicia (Ophelia). The ways they effect Hamlet's mental state and their own increased agency really added new life to the story. These characters are fan favorites, and a lot of adaptations have tried to increase their presence in the text... but I found that Liu is one of the first to be truly successful in a way that matches many of the themes of the original text. In particular, Felicia (and her father's) position within the lab (and in comparison to Hamlet's scholarly history) draws out a fantastic dynamic and discussion. It really was fun to get to know these characters all over again in this form. I very much look forward to more from this author.
I really enjoyed the way this novel handled Horatio and Felicia (Ophelia). The ways they effect Hamlet's mental state and their own increased agency really added new life to the story. These characters are fan favorites, and a lot of adaptations have tried to increase their presence in the text... but I found that Liu is one of the first to be truly successful in a way that matches many of the themes of the original text. In particular, Felicia (and her father's) position within the lab (and in comparison to Hamlet's scholarly history) draws out a fantastic dynamic and discussion. It really was fun to get to know these characters all over again in this form. I very much look forward to more from this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, and Death
theknitpick's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
This book made me mad. It's too long, it's boring, and I think it's a poor treatment of suicide/depression. Additionally, I think it's a total mis-read/interpretation of Hamlet in its reinterpretation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Suicide attempt, and Violence
anntharai's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Jfc I don't even know where to start. All I can say is that I'll be thinking about this book - against my will - for probably years.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts