brittknee52's review
- 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
Graphic: Death and Car accident
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Pedophilia
eeefann125's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Car accident, Chronic illness, Islamophobia, Cancer, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Addiction, and Misogyny
madanxiety's review
5.0
Aside from pace, I am also always a huge fan of ensembles, which is part of what initially sustained my attention. I was like damn, how many hostages are there? Lol.
More to the content of the novel, I liked how each character was flawed in a very human way, and yet the protagonist (who, despite all the other characters, I'd say is Libby) was still always someone you could route for. This was a skillful balance to maintain.
I also have a soft spot for anti-establishment narratives lol. As one of the characters states at some point, the real villains turn out to be people, not AI.
Spoiler
Going back to Alex, while I'm under the spoilers cut, I do feel somewhat vindicated for never trusting "Jude" after hearing from his perspective early in the book. I'm impressed with that subtle characterization. There was something stalkerish and frenzied about his way of speaking. I mean, the biggest red flag was def him getting a semi in the middle of a hostage situation lol. I took that as revealing something stunted or disturbed about him, anyway. Still, as the book went on, I started to think I'd been reading too much into it, given that Libby stayed willing to save Jude over the others. Such a hopeless romantic move for an otherwise fairly logical character.My only critique of the book is how characters of color are treated. I will say more under the cut, but ofc it will include major spoilers.
Spoiler
There was one minor detail toward the end that rubbed me the wrong way. When Alex revealed that his company's work had been given to "the Indians," I thought that was a bit... stereotypical? Why could this Indian company not have been given a name? Why must the entire (enormous) population of India be to blame and not just the company that chose to use stolen work and ultimately spark a global privacy & transportation crisis? Again, I recognize that this was an incredible small detail, coming from the antagonist no less, but at the same time, we are meant to sympathize with Alex somewhat, right? Like, we're meant to agree that that initial situation that led to the rise of level 5 vehicles was fucked and unethical. I just take these tiny details as significant considering popular sentiments regarding immigrants in the UK, to say nothing of their unique historical relationship with India.I might've written this off as simply revealing Alex's own biases and flaws, but POC in this book are pretty much all murdered or painted as villains. It seems like the narrative of the book leans sympathetic toward POC, with only unlikeable characters being outright racist, the POC still die unjust deaths. It's like, I get that the novel is meant to be representative of the ugly parts of reality, including the disproportionate victimization of POC, but idk if that's enough justification for using characters of color as mere plot devices or backstory, not when that's the plight of ALL of them.
Anyway, I think the book is an interesting exploration of how AI could be weaponized by both powerful people and vigilantes. It's a cautionary tale about being too trusting of technology with regard to the collection and sharing of private data.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Car accident, Grief, Murder, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, and Infidelity
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Pregnancy
Minor: Cancer and Infertility
littlelibraryonsunset's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Car accident, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Classism, Suicide, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Violence
relyu39's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Car accident, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Pedophilia and Stalking
Minor: Pregnancy
chityty's review against another edition
- 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? No
4.75
If Black Mirror were a book that kind of reads like a play….you’d have ‘The Passengers’.
From the get go we had an interesting premise that continued to unfold in later upon layer of social commentary making the reader face many of the issues that we are already starting to see arise in our use of AI.
Character names were difficult at times as there was a large cast who some were not frequently returned to. Had to keep going back to find the differences in some Passengers but that’s more of a me issue as John did a great job of giving them all distinct issues and backgrounds.
All in all an amazing read and now wanting to pick up more John Marrs.
It did at times take on a preachy tone but clearly the author has an opinion and this book was an opportunity to explore that theme. Only reason for the not perfect 5.
Moderate: Murder, Pedophilia, Xenophobia, Suicide, and Trafficking
amorales107's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Xenophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, and Suicide
alexcribbs's review against another edition
Spoiler
Can’t do that! I planted a bomb! Can’t do that either! I planted another bomb! Oh that? That’s just A BOMB! Ugh so boringGraphic: Car accident, Child death, and Death
Minor: Car accident and Xenophobia
xwritingstoriesx's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Car accident, Child abuse, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Stalking
Minor: Self harm, Classism, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Pregnancy, Cancer, Gaslighting, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
taleofabibliophile's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Car accident, Murder, Violence, Confinement, Infidelity, Sexism, Misogyny, Blood, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Hate crime, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Infertility, Cancer, Medical content, Alcohol, Gore, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: War, Homophobia, Ableism, Slavery, Dementia, Trafficking, Vomit, and Gun violence