Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Shift by Hugh Howey

16 reviews

bookscatcoffee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I loved this sequel!  It’s so rare for an author to explain the origins of the dystopian world, and to have that be the entire sequel was masterful!

“All it took was for a lot of seemingly decent people to put the wrong person in power, and then pay for their innocent choice.”  It did take me awhile because the subject matter is grim, but I truly appreciate the craftsmanship!  Definitely worth reading!  5 stars

Sequel to Wool, dystopian sci fi

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

sbox's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It was great to get the backstory but I think it all ran a bit long. Generally a bit depressing. One line that stuck with me was “She was pretty in an uncomplicated way” lmao what a description — I don’t think women characters were the stars in this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Suicide, and War

Minor: Excrement

mzy42'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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

maddie_can_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved the first novel in the series and felt like I couldn't put it down. I still enjoyed this novel but it did not feel as gripping as the first one did.

After about the 40% mark, I felt like it started to drag, get a bit convoluted, confusing, over-explained (but also some parts not explained enough). I feel like it's better to leave some mystery if the explanation is confusing/ murky/ not great. I think the difference between Shift and Wool might be because the first novel was originally a collection of several novellas combined? I think Shift would have benefited from being a lot shorter/ tighter. Shift just didn't fit together as nicely as Wool did. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what Dust does to wrap things up. 

The Jimmy/ Solo parts really reminded me of the Jimmy/Snowman character from Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, but going into this detail about Jimmy made me wonder why Jimmy wasn't completely unhinged in the first novel when he met Juliette. He has been all by himself for 30 years. 

I enjoyed the Donald/ Troy reveal but while interesting it wasn't surprising. 

I wish the love between Donald and his wife had been more detailed/ believable because it didn't seem to make sense why Donald was so upset at loosing her (enough to kill) when it seemed like he was almost about to cheat on her at the beginning. I feel like I didn't understand why Donald was angry enough to kill, especially like the only ally/ person he liked from the before times. This was disappointing because I thought the depiction of romance in the first novel was pretty good. 

I also wished we had seen more of the impact that murdering had on Donald and Jimmy. Especially Donald because he seemed so blase about it! 

Also wished the Mission plotline had connected more? While I absolutely loved seeing the twist of them being reset, it felt like it should've connected more? Also did not get how they were reset. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Excrement, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

emamazee's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Suicide

lpdx's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

rhgrimes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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 and Violence

Moderate: Murder and War

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

sophieamreacher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Slow at times but intriguing, upsetting, and thought provoking. It will be interesting to see where book 3 goes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

serenhybrid's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I was disappointed by this after the strong start of Wool and think it suffers from "middle book syndrome". The political machinations and world building are excellent, as they were in Wool, but there are too few characters for such a long book, and sorely lacking in female characters. 

A large part of the book focuses on a character and story we knew a lot about from Wool, and that I didn't need to know any more about. Cutting that entire section would have made for a much better and easier read, rather than slogging through decades of grief. 

The time span of the book is hard to comprehend but generally well managed, although I did a lot of checking back to Wool when I had forgotten character names and Silo numbers. You don't want too much of a gap before reading Shift after Wool! 

Shift has definitely got me excited for the third book, Dust, and I'm still so invested in the characters and plot. How on earth will this end?!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual assault

jessy4550's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Police brutality, and Pandemic/Epidemic