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A review by rigbees
The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The trouble with retellings is that the retelling is constantly in the shadow of its source material. Trying to match the wonderful stagings of Hamlet that I've seen is such a hard standard to meet! And for a debut? That''s gutsy.
The Death I Gave Him mostly succeeds. It knew how to manipulate the dramatic irony of the events to great effect. This was a very good way to approach it, given that it's based on source material the typical reader would be familiar with! Where it fell really feels like the ending to me - it tries to build on the tragedy of Hamlet and I think felt deflationary. The book had written itself into a corner where it had to engage, however, since it had introduced sci-fi elements that weren't in the original
In general, I would recommend this as a good take on Hamlet. I'll likely revisit it as I work on my own retellings, since it gives me some ideas of how to work around the limitations of that type of storytelling.
The Death I Gave Him mostly succeeds. It knew how to manipulate the dramatic irony of the events to great effect. This was a very good way to approach it, given that it's based on source material the typical reader would be familiar with! Where it fell really feels like the ending to me - it tries to build on the tragedy of Hamlet and I think felt deflationary. The book had written itself into a corner where it had to engage, however, since it had introduced sci-fi elements that weren't in the original
In general, I would recommend this as a good take on Hamlet. I'll likely revisit it as I work on my own retellings, since it gives me some ideas of how to work around the limitations of that type of storytelling.