Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Whalefall

I WHIZZED through this audiobook - despite some heavy handed passages I was captivated by the concept and found myself double checking all the science. Maybe time for Cannery Row soon…

Content Warnings

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Ah yes, the classic story of dad has son, dad and son have bad relationship, dad kills himself, son gets swallowed by whale. Ya just hate to see it.

Content Warnings

restoller's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Definitely worth a re-read.

Content Warnings

billyjepma's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This took me on a ride, but not the one that either it or I expected. While the science behind the premise is in-depth and appropriately unsettling—the detailed anatomy and gore made this a tricky one to listen to while cooking dinner, tbh—and the actual problem-solving involved in Jay's attempts at survival is quite good, there's not enough here to sustain a novel. I'm not usually one to complain about "padding," but this book suffers from an excess of repetitive emotional beats and jarring flashbacks that feel tacked onto what could've and should've been a leaner novella.

It didn't take long for me to feel that padding, either. The flashbacks are haphazardly placed and often defuse the tension created by the gnarly survival narrative. They also lack the emotional depth required to enrich the story, which makes the flashbacks and dramatic scaffolding they're trying for feel tacked on at best. The symbolism and metaphors Krause draws aren't bad, but they're overwrought to the point of exhaustion. If the connections weren't repeatedly spelled out in exacting detail, I might've been more able and willing to get on board. But you don't get points for beating me over the head with a metaphor, regardless of how effective it might or might not be, especially when the goal of the metaphor is as frustrating as the tired trope of "maybe my abusive parent wasn't all bad, after all."

Let's talk about the abusive parent angle, too, because I have beef. My patience for a "redemption" arc is very thin when it comes to this brand of parent-child relationship, so this book had an uphill struggle right out of the gate. But when your protagonist's father is as cruel as Mitt, you've already lost me. Krause's attempts at making him sympathetic are admirable, and some of them even struck a nerve, but Mitt is too vile a character for me to want to care about. I don't even like Jay as a protagonist, either! He's more shallow than not, and, as much as I hate to say it, he comes off as whiny. It doesn't help that the audiobook's narrator plays up Jay's youth, emphasizing the more annoying aspects of the characterization. There's little depth in the characters, either; all their backstory and drama are so predictable and one-note that they end up feeling more performative than anything.

The book isn't all bad, and I really wanted to like it, too, which is why it became increasingly frustrating to realize that I just didn't.

Content Warnings

aposthuma's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What an INSANE book. As promised, it's 127 Hours meets the Martian meets Jonah from the Bible. This is possibly the goriest, grossest book I've ever read, but I could not put it down.

Content Warnings

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This book was dark and haunting and harrowing. I am certain it is going to stick to my ribs for a long time.

This book is about fathers and sons and family and grief. It is about love and loss and guilt and growth. It is about death and the desperate urgency to survive horrifying situations. It is about the ocean and the almost alien life inside it. It is about horrors both natural and man-made in origin and it is about hope.

I like my science fiction best when it is grounded firmly in realistic and believable science and Daniel Kraus met that expectation fantastically. The horror was built in layers of realism I genuinely didn't expect.

Content Warnings

inirac's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional informative tense medium-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

4.25

While I enjoyed this book I strongly recommended checking out the content warnings. I know nothing about diving or whales, but I have been in the area the characters discuss!

Content Warnings

daelight's review

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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