Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Recursion by Blake Crouch

22 reviews

jackbifrost's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Murder, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Gun violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Car accident

rnbhargava's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

This novel is a trip. It puts you through an emotional gamut while reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

The world gets destabilized at points in this book. There’s the question of what types of unpleasant events should be intervened on if that’s a possibility. There’s a prominent element to the plot of this book which involves self harm. Personal tragedies are also quite focused on in this plot. The things that happen across life like declining health of yourself and family members is prominent as well. The question of what would you do for your loved ones is intermingled throughout the twisty plot. I loved this book throughout. It’s one of my favorite things read in 2024.

relliepi's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and War

Minor: Rape, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

_pauline's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No

3.5

I‘m glad I‘m not the only one who struggled to understand everything (judging by the other reviews)

I didn’t dislike it but I had higher hopes for it & it was just a lot of disaster & suffering (

esp towards the end, happening over & over again, getting worse each time

) + confusing at times

also

if everyone remembers everything - including US retaliation -, wouldn’t they stop dropping atomic bombs after a few times? or am I being too optimistic here

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Sexual content, and Mass/school shootings

chasen's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Dementia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

lavinia_speaks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder

leegray's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Drug use, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

ursiform's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Dementia, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

avishajain's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

WOW. This was one of the best books I have ever read. The PERFECT mix of characters, plot, personality, emotions, point of views. Not only do you get an amazing plot, but you also get amazing characters that have depth to them and feel somewhat relatable. 

The pacing is the perfect mix of slow and fast so that you are always at the edge of your seat. This book read so much like a movie that I am surprised that there isn't a movie made on it yet. If it becomes a movie (granted they actually replicate the book and don't do their own thing) I can already tell it will 100% be a hit. 

This book is perfect for those who want to read a sci fi based thriller.

You will definetly be confused for the first 20-30% of the book thinking "I have absolutely no idea what is going on" but just keep reading and it will all make sense once you get further in. 

Do I recommend it? 100% 
The only case in which you shouldn't read is if you want something chill and just relax while reading, and not be on your tiptoes.

This book is also perfect for beginners because the writing style is not complex at all, it is pretty easy to follow, and it reads like a movie so it is really easy to ease into reading if you're super new to it. 

Blake crouch might become my new favourite sci fi author. He really competes with Andy Weir. Andy Weir isn't fresh in my mind since I haven't read any books by him recently so I won't say if he's better than him or not, but boy does he come close. I'm excited to read more books by Blake!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Murder

sambolin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Recursion is such an interesting premise- when armed with technology that challenges and changes the very fabric of society, how do we as humans react and how far are we willing to go to prevent the mistakes we’ve made. While this technology might never be a reality, it’s a great allegory of our current landscape and how we need to balance advancement and prevention. The characters are engaging and keep you turning pages. It is heavy book- with both themes and the writing. Some passages took a couple rereads to take in the full effect. Overall a super interesting book that challenges the reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic