Reviews with content warning for Torture - Hat ébredés

Lafferty introduces exciting and unique science fiction concepts to a future Earth and space mission, building tension right from the start with a thriller mystery plot. A skeleton crew with no memories, hidden crimes (even from themselves!), surrounded by blood, bodies, malfunctioning technology, and no way out. It gets somewhat dark in there even before the inevitable lights out scene, but the plot is tight and intricate, creating intrigue even where I had some hint of how things would play out. I was bothered by some scenes where the dialogue came across as contrived, and a couple of continuity errors—a character stands to make breakfast and a moment later stands to make dessert, for example, or where the action begins and ends in different rooms without transition. There were also a few loose ends that didn’t seem intentional, these nagging oversights less forgivable in a mystery plot where it’s not clear until later whether they’re flaws or clues. That said, I like the writing style, plot, pacing, layered histories, and enough of the character development (given that many are assholes).

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pathyatt's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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hillbilly_heroine's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective 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

4.5

A perfectly-paced murder mystery on a spaceship full of clones. I was in the mood for a page-turner and this delivered. It’s the kind of mystery that’s technically possible for the reader to figure out on their own, but challenging enough that I didn’t get it entirely right. It’s also solid sci-fi, thoughtfully exploring themes around ethics and morality in a future where real death is no longer an issue for many people. Lafferty does a great job reimagining what character development might look like when the characters in question are more or less immortal. Finished it in 2 days and enjoyed every second.

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e_flah's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

Six Wakes was a fast-paced, engrossing read that hooked me from the first page. I really loved how it balanced a propulsive plot with great character development. I loved slowly learning more about the crew of the Dormire as they tried to figure out who killed their previous clones.

Sometimes with large ensemble casts, it can be tough to feel like I have a good sense of who all the characters are; this was not at all the case with Six Wakes. With the exception of Paul -- which I think was the point -- I found the crew all lovable and fascinating in their own, complicated ways. The tension between the crew members left lots of room for me to theorize about potential motivations for the crime, which was a ton of fun.

I found the fact that

Spoiler

so much of the events on the Dormire were blamed on Maria's actions in the past, particularly due to the fact that they were under threat of torture, a bit frustrating. It seemed like too clean of a solution to a web of conflict that had otherwise been delightfully messy.

This is the main reason I'm giving Six Wakes 4 stars instead of 5.

On the whole, Six Wakes is a gripping read that does an excellent job balancing an action-packed plot with strong character development.

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3frenchtoast's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.75

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jselliot's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

A one-sentence summary of this book: Six Wakes is a closed circle scifi murder mystery with clones in deep space.

I started reading this book around 11:30am, and finished at around 11pm after breaks for food/chores/etc. It's very compelling, bingeable, even in spite of all the dark concepts that get rained down on you in what is essentially a biopunk future. While I wouldn't have minded just a little more length to the story, it was still ultimately pretty satisfying. Would have liked more information on Sallie, though, and just what she was doing that she felt the need to expel all of the people that she had successfully used for hundreds of years from the atmosphere. That was one question that just never got answered.

That being said, the world building in this book - for being told in flashbacks - is solid. It presents some excellent thoughts regarding moral/political issues in regards to cloning, and how that might be further refined. And once the twists start unfolding halfway in, they just keep coming and the momentum of the story picks up considerably.

5/5, would read again.

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rachelunabridged's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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

4.0

I had a really great time with this book! I loved the combination of sci-fi and mystery. I had no idea that combo was something I needed in my life until I read this.

I felt that the plot was well thought-out and well executed, and I really liked the majority of the characters. Each character had their own distinct personality and flaws. They felt very believable and human to me. I really enjoyed the parts of the book that dug into the backstory of each character too. Often when I'm reading a book that jumps between past and present, I find one timeline more interesting than the other, but I really enjoyed both the past and present sections of this read.

I also really liked the ethical and moral dilemmas brought up throughout the story. I enjoy being able to mull over the contents of my recent read, and I felt like this book gave me a lot to think about. I also felt like it fleshed out the universe of the book a lot; it helped it to feel more lived in.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good murder mystery and would like a strong dose of sci-fi to go with it.

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bookbrig's review against another edition

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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

3.75

I really loved the characters and the clone stuff in this mystery. It's an interesting premise with a great crew, and it made for perfect vacation reading. I think I would like it more if the story stretched a bit longer, because wen the big mystery bits are tied up I was still left wanting more.

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