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aliciafaithreads 's review for:
The Death I Gave Him
by Em X. Liu
The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu is a queer Hamlet retelling that is a sci-fi thriller. I read a short story by Em X. Liu last month am I was excited to read a full novel by them. I’m also a huge Shakespeare fan so this seemed perfect for me.
I will say as far as retellings go, this is one of the better ones. The way technology is used to allude to the original play was interesting and the characters felt similar enough to the Hamlet characters. This is a book that if I didn’t know going in that it was supposed to be a retelling, I think I would have picked up on it. The story itself was also very compelling. I read this book in two sittings because I wanted to know what happened. Which hasn’t been the case for a lot of books lately.
I think the downfall of this book is just the writing style. Having footnotes in any story is a huge risk because it can take the reader out of the story. I don’t think it was necessary for this story to have them. The prose itself is a bit overwritten. Some of the dialogue felt too Shakespearean even though this takes place in a completely different time.
I do enjoy this author’s ideas for stories and will continue to read more as they come out. This is a very solid 3.5 star for me
Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I will say as far as retellings go, this is one of the better ones. The way technology is used to allude to the original play was interesting and the characters felt similar enough to the Hamlet characters. This is a book that if I didn’t know going in that it was supposed to be a retelling, I think I would have picked up on it. The story itself was also very compelling. I read this book in two sittings because I wanted to know what happened. Which hasn’t been the case for a lot of books lately.
I think the downfall of this book is just the writing style. Having footnotes in any story is a huge risk because it can take the reader out of the story. I don’t think it was necessary for this story to have them. The prose itself is a bit overwritten. Some of the dialogue felt too Shakespearean even though this takes place in a completely different time.
I do enjoy this author’s ideas for stories and will continue to read more as they come out. This is a very solid 3.5 star for me
Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.