Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Das Buch Anderswo by China Miéville, Keanu Reeves

2 reviews

sarahb919's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very well written but didn’t really enjoy it. Couldn’t become invested in any of the characters. The one character I was really curious about, Vayn, barely featured. And then, in the end, everything was just a big misunderstanding, which felt unsatisfying and anticlimactic. The beginning, with its jumping around in the timeline, was difficult to understand. It took several chapters before I could get my footing and understand what was going on. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jhbandcats's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • 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? Yes

3.5

This book was really dense. Sometimes I would read a sentence or a paragraph two or three times before I understood what it was saying. I think I would have liked this more had I read the BRZRKR comics. I spent a lot of time in the first half trying to figure out who was who, when was when, and what was going on. 

I wasn’t bothered that the book was told in several tenses, mostly second and third person. However, as the story takes place in different time periods, after each change it took a while till I knew where I was and who the characters were. I found the contemporary timeline more interesting, maybe because I like spy / mystery tales. 

There’s good depth of character where Unute is just tired, tired of all the death, tired of all the repetition of life. Despite his being an agent of horrific destruction, he’s actually a sympathetic character. 

Supposedly the comics are being made into a movie starring, of course, Keanu Reeves. I confess that throughout I pictured him as Unute, even hearing the dialogue in my head in Keanu’s voice. 

I’m not sure this book would appeal to a general audience. It’s pretty abstruse, and the violence might be a dealbreaker for some readers. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings