Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Sphere

The plot and premise of the book is great and he knows how to write some great suspense and fear of an unknown creature(s). Really well written to evoke anxiety of the situation and I really did enjoy the book up to the 3/4 mark that I would still recommend it.

Near the end when things start to be revealed, it falters and then the sexism throughout the book becomes much more clear. He really could have done the entire book, premise, suspense, and resolution without the blatant sexism, subbing in any other problem a character could have had, or even a male character in that role. Not to mention the racism toward the only black character and his aggression because of it.

For a more clear context on the female characters with as few detailed plot spoilers as possible: The whole support team is made of women (which is noted as being a group that would be less likely to be a successful, cohesive team as they are all the same gender.) They are all competent but by the end all brutally or mysteriously die. The only woman on the main team of scientists is described as more masculine in build and it is a major plot point that she feels inferior to men, nearly killing everyone and herself because of it. She makes the perception of herself more feminine, tries to seduce the main character, and is implied to have kept the power they were given at the end of the book because she is still conventionally attractive to the main character. While the black man in the main team is a less egregious bad character it's really only because there wasn't a team of black men murdered by the mystery creature as he is still a caricature of an aggressive black man. Both the women (of various races) and the black man are all experts in their field but that is all undermined by the incredibly bad characterization at the end, leading to their deaths or the cause of everyone else's death.
Gross vibes by the end.

Content Warnings

woweewhoa's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! The character dynamics are really good and I liked how they interacted with each other. That is to say however that the last part of the book is the weakest part, partially due to the way

Beth and Harry are handled and how the two end up interacting. I think in a worse/weaker book, the way they are handled would've grated on me too much. Especially with how Beth is handled toward the end which did feel like a disservice to her as a whole.

Despite that though its a fun read if you like scifi with horror!

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booksnbakes's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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