Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Mroczna materia by Blake Crouch

28 reviews

chloeve's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The concept of this book was really interesting and it kept my attention. However, sometimes it did get a little repetitive (understandably), and I got lost with the science talk. I didn't see how it was going to end though, and I did like it. Also, the chapters were wayyyyy too long for me, so it felt like I was taking forever to read the book. Overall, I did enjoy it and would recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ababytapir's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Like Recursion, Dark Matter is fantastically mind-bending and all too easy to read in a day. It's incredibly violent and thought provoking. If you like your sci fi thrillers tinged with horror, existential dread and romance, this is the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Cancer, Rape, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

If you struggle with derealisation, dissociation or depersonalisation, or any sort of identify disorder, this book could potentially be incredibly triggering. Proceed with extreme caution. Violence warning: There is an incredibly detailed description of a gory epidemic/pandemic. There are multiple gory descriptions of dead bodies, murder, and horrific natural disasters. There is a long kidnapping scene. There's multiple instances of stalking.

iono's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Stalking, Abortion, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Rounding up to five. This is the third of his books I’ve read, and each one hits the sweet spot for me. I love this author’s mind. The way he writes opens up my mind. I’m going to read every one of his books between this year and next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lizziaha's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

2.25

I don’t think thrillers are really for me. Or multiverse/alternate universe stories. On top of that, the characters in this book were not compelling, and their bonds to each other seemed tenuous at best. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.75

The good:  I enjoyed the UberChat.  I felt that right when that was introduced a different ending could have spawned that turned into a lighthearted rom-com and I like to imagine that.

The bad:  I knew pretty early on that this was not going to be a favorite.  I don't read a lot of thrillers in general but I enjoy sci-fi so I figured I would give it a shot.  I couldn't stand the main character.  And thus, the book was doomed in my eyes.  The pacing was jumpy, and the plot was predictable (as in, I guessed what really happened in the first chapter and the main character didn't figure it out until the ~50% mark).  There was some promise for some thoughtful introspection but the approach was heavy-handed at best.  Some of the descriptions were vivid and others were flat out whacky.

I don't know if I will try another book by the author, but I don't think I was the intended audience for this work so who knows what the future holds.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

katiefurms's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Not only is this an incredible concept for a story, but it is so phenomenally well written that i could not put it down. Absolutely incredible book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Cannibalism, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ottercorg's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Looking for an introduction to the sci-fi genre, an Internet list pointed me to this one. 

I enjoyed the main characters and plot, felt that Crouch told the story well. The reason I've avoided sci-fi for so long is that my brain is not good at comprehending the science part. But this book made it palatable and mostly easy to understand - which made me enjoy it even more! Only a few times did risk going over my head. 

Overall, an interesting tale that kept me invested, and not just because I had nothing better to do. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

anniereads221's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A sci-fi thriller, this book kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. It was interesting and well-written. The story is compelling, unsettling, and fantastical. parts of the science-y description/explanation were outside my realm of comprehension but all in all this book is incredibly accessible to all readers. The chapters are really long but the writing style made the book fly by for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail