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cato_g's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? No
4.75
Great world building and character development. Character relationships really drive the plot of the story forward so more focused on how the protagonist is navigating the world than on the world itself.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
destryhawk's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
More than anything, it made me very intrigued to read more of his work.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gore, and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content
scytheria's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
I requested to review this book because I loved Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy. That series was so atmospheric, filled with dread on every page, and one of those unusual trilogies where the second book is the best. I’m not really a sci-fi person, but I thought this book would be different, since I enjoyed the apocalyptic, ecological horror style of VanderMeer’s work in the past. But I hate to say it, but I did not like this one 😬
A lot of this book was either incomprehensible to me or contained content that I have a particularly hard time with. I struggle with body horror elements in books, and this one had such a heavy focus on medical content, with grotesque, gory descriptions of genetic engineering into “living arts” just had me skimming over large swaths of the story.
Also, I think this book was just too smart for me. There’s this exploration of language, narrative structure, and biblical references (I think?) that went way over my head, and not in a way that I could appreciate. I would say that reading the new foreword by Charles Yu helped lay out the strong points of this novel, and the different themes to pull out from it, and I did like that. I think reading this foreword is really required reading for those planning to pick up this book.
Overall, I think that this was a well-written book that was a case of just not for me. I think this book is still worth picking up if you like:
- Medical sci-fi
- Experiments with writing styles and different ways of communicating
- Futuristic, dystopian world-building
Thanks Penguin Randomhouse Canada for this gifted copy, I’m sorry I didn’t like this one more 🫣
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content
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