Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Plotters by Un-su Kim

13 reviews

blackferrum's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

Actual rating: 4,5

The Plotters sering seliweran di timeline, entah di media sosial atau lokapasar. Premis dan sinopsisnya menarik; seorang pembunuh bayaran bernama Reseng membeberkan operasinya. Singkat, jelas, dan padat. Sukses mancing rasa penasaran lalu dapat kesempatan baca gratis (thanks to Rakata), tuntaslah semua rasa penasarannya.

Narasi yang dibawakan nggak terlalu muluk. Memang, kesannya banyak metafora dan agak bling-bling, tapi sama sekali nggak menyulitkan pembaca buat paham artinya. Reseng yang dibesarkan di perpustakaan punya ilmu yang luas. Keterampilannya sebagai pembunuh bayaran yang punya nama nggak muncul hanya karena dia adalah tokoh utama. 

Seperti yang kusebut di awal, Reseng membeberkan operasinya. Dari permintaan yang masuk, lalu berlanjut ke si perencana, si makelar, berakhir di eksekutor. Reseng sendiri sebagai eksekutor. Sebelum menjalankan misi, sudah ada tas dari si perencana yang isinya alat dan bahan untuk membunuh sasaran.

Yang paling bikin merinding adalah si pembunuh bayaran atau bahkan kontraktornya bisa aja jadi korban. Kalau memang sudah waktunya disingkirkan. Mungkin karena dulu banyak menonoton drama Korea bergenre thriller, suasana dan motif yang ada di buku ini nggak lagi asing buatku. Siklus si pemburu yang ganti diburu juga rasanya sudah jadi semacam hal lumrah. Tapi, meski merasa siklus ini biasa dalam bisnis semacam ini, tetap ikut frustrasi dengan usaha Reseng mencari apa dan kenapa ekornya diburu.

Novel ini dari ilustrasi sampul dan mood cerita yang dibangun sukses membuat nuansa "gelap"-nya terasa pekat. Dunia bawah dan bisnis "menyingkirkan" semacam ini memang nggak common dibahas.

Bintangnya nggak bisa penuh karena ending-nya entah kenapa kurang nendang bagiku. Walaupun, kalau diangkat jadi film (kalau series malah ragu ending-nya nggak diubah) ending begini kayak biasa banget. After effect-nya memang ... hampa.

Terus, ini TMI, TP jadi progres Roro Jonggrang-ku selama jadi pembaca fiksi aktif. Maksudku, halaman di buku ini nggak kurang dari 200 dan selesai dengan waktu kurang dari 24 jam itu prestasi banget. Pokoknya, thanks to Rakata!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, and Trafficking

tungstenmouse's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I found this very intense. Sometimes it was like watching a movie. My only issues were that it was occasionally slow and unfortunately extremely violent. If you like action and thrillers I highly recommend this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Murder, Medical content, Cursing, Violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Gun violence, Grief, and Death

Minor: Stalking and Cannibalism

marlenemo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Car accident, Medical content, and Domestic abuse

mlewis's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, Car accident, Gun violence, Stalking, and Suicide

livvyofthevalley's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This was a fun read, but it never really felt like it was going anywhere. Maybe some of the impact got lost in translation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Alcohol, Gun violence, Murder, Alcoholism, Cursing, Violence, Classism, Death, and Addiction

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Body horror, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and War

angela_iseli's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, Child death, and Violence

_fallinglight_'s review

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Murder, Stalking, and Violence

lindsloveslit's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

2.75

"Ace of Spades" got me started on a thrillers kick which is something I thought I'd never say! That, along with #mansemarch, #koreadathon, and #koreanmarch lead me to pick this up. 

"The Plotters" written by Un-su Kim is about Reseng, who is raised by Old Raccoon in a library in Korea.  There, he teaches Reseng to become an assassin where he carries out plotters instructions to kill people. Eventually, after disobeying orders, he finds himself in trouble and on a hit list. The ending felt bizarre, and overall it was very different from what I expected; more violent/gorey and less fantasy/tense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, and Murder

midnightshow's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Murder, Sexism, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Child death

novi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I love this. This is a book for me!! It kinda reminds me of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, which is one of my favorites. And the first few chapters reminded me of Dive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, which is also one of my favortie books ever. This book is funny, charismatic, and dark. It's filled with interesting characters and stories that are sad (not in a VERY depressing way) but very interesting to follow. I'm in love with the characters and I want to know more about them. I want more. And for a book that is fille with "villains", all of them, ALL of them, are so likable.

My only complain is that the ending was not satisfying. At all. I guess we have to think for ourselves and interpret it in our own way why that was the ending, why the people did what they did, and how would the situation continue. It felt so unfinished!!! I need at least 1 more chapter. I also want to know more about old fox and hanja. Ugh a sequel or a prequel would be nice.

Oh also the concept of "the plotters" feels too organized for me. Too tidy. The fact that there are people that just plan things. How do they know if their plan will work if we've never seen them on the field? But I know nothing about this world so I don't know how accurate this book is, but the author has a lot of knowledge about the world of killing people (some are very specific and it made me very very suspicious), so *shrugs*.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Murder

Minor: Car accident