Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by mmilla
The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu
2.0
Honestly, I wish I hadn’t read Hamlet before this, because the comparison doesn’t do this story any favors. It feels like the author didn't understand properly what makes the original work so great - or wilfully chose to ignore it, deciding that they could do better. The decision to make Ophelia/Felicia the main character is interesting (and if there's something to improve upon the original, it would be Ophelia) but that takes the spotlight away from the most interesting character without giving enough back.
Would I have liked it more if I hadn't read Hamlet just before? Maybe - but I would argue that if you're even distantly aware of Hamlet you probably know 1) who killed Hamlet's father and 2) it's a tragedy and what happens in the end. Just the fact that the perpetrator is probably common knowledge, takes the mystery out of this "locked room mystery" and we're just following less interesting characters with unclear motivations trying to solve it leaves this reader mostly bored, and I struggled to finish.
Spoiler
One of my least favorite things about tragedy retellings are when the author decides to go for a happy ending.Would I have liked it more if I hadn't read Hamlet just before? Maybe - but I would argue that if you're even distantly aware of Hamlet you probably know 1) who killed Hamlet's father and 2) it's a tragedy and what happens in the end