Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Cheval de Troie by Martha Wells

38 reviews

ritabriar's review against another edition

adventurous sad tense fast-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

5.0

Murderbot gets to confront just how different it would be if it had been treated well, and it... doesn't like it. Murderbot has to keep taking breaks in order to have feelings. Also, once again, Murderbot is saving humans from their own bad decisions, whether or not it thinks that's a good idea. But they're good humans, so it's worth it. Mostly. Maybe. Probably.

Murderbot does this in a setting and situation that keeps ramping up the tension and increasing the stakes, believably if not realistically. It handles all of this with competency and social awkwardness, with help from episodes of Sanctuary Moon. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Medical content, and Kidnapping

Major character death,

hair pulling

as part of attempted murder For those who prefer major spoilers, the person who dies is

Miki

. This death inverts the trope of

fridging, since this is this person's book, and fridging is cheap.

lailybibliography's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I wasn’t annoyed at all. Not one bit.

I will never get over Miki dying thinking its first ever bot friend was mad at it. Screw you, Martha Wells (affectionate, devastated).

This instalment grew to be far more emotionally powerful and resonant than I expected. It broke my heart seeing Murderbot react so strongly to the possibility of humans and bots being equals, able to be trusted friends and companions with genuine love and respect for one another. For all its hilarious dark humour and misanthropic attitude, Murderbot is a deeply emotional, empathetic bot, and utterly traumatized by the violence its owners coerced into committing. I hope the reunion with Dr. Mensah gives it some of the kindness and tranquility it desperately deserves and needs.

Really hope we run into Don Abene sometime in the future novellas. I found her bond with Miki touching and fascinating and would love a more in-dept exploration of the (relatively) egalitarian universe hinted at outside the Corporation Rim. I love the diversity of the human experience Martha Wells has weaved into this world in regard to societal norms, structures and political systems. So much of classical sci-fi literature had a tendency to stick to generally homogeneous political conventions and power hierarchies (monarchies, nobility, grand authoritarian regimes, etc.); its refreshing to see the thriving existences of more… dare-i-say… socialist societies in our futures. I’m not sure if that’s the intended message in any way, but it’s a strangely hopeful one to me. 

((Obviously we have our archetypal hyper-capitalist, cyberpunk dystopia in Corporation Rim, but even that feels more realistic to our modern world with its constant over-surveillance and conglomerate indifference to human liveability than the neon-skies and desolate megacities of previous science fiction.))

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Slavery and Medical content

lonelylooper's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.75

My least favorite of the series so far, but still adorable. “Adorable” is a funny word to describe a story about a murderbot but I stand by it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I had an emotion.

Needing to be alone to process emotions is such a realistic characteristic.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

cardaisy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Brb crying in the club at the ending

Loved this as usual! Though I will say the story felt less fleshed out than the first two. Despite being around the same page length, I feel like Martha Wells covered a lot more ground in the others than in this one, and I can't exactly say why. Maybe because Murderbot wasn't interacting as much with people (outside of Miki) for the most part of the book?

Really liked the dynamic that was explored between Murderbot and Miki and how their experiences as bots/constructs differed so much from each other 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Murder and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror, Blood, Medical content, and Grief

parenthesis_enjoyer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

quotablehedgehog's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I found it a little repetitive at some points with other Murderbot plots and found myself skimming over some details. But once the plot got going (about 1/3 of the way through), I was just as hooked as ever

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing, Gore, Physical abuse, Medical content, Grief, and Colonisation

judassilver's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Slavery

ebp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence, Slavery, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail