Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu

7 reviews

cloud_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Mental illness and Abandonment

bluemonkey14's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I read this after devouring Remembrance of Earth's Past. I do find ball lightning a fascinating topic and really enjoyed following along with the process of unveiling its true nature in the TBP universe. Far-fetched maybe but it feels internally consistent and raises a lot of existential "what if?" type questions. And of course, the exploration of the pipeline from curiosity, to science, to military application is relevant to any area of research.

I do think that Liu Cixin struggles writing women even more so than male characters, and I felt Lin Yun's story was somewhat tarnished by this, I never really felt like I connected with her because she never really felt like a fully fleshed-out character to me. I would love to read her story separately, ending up the same way as in Ball Lightning but through her eyes rather than Chen's. 

That said, what Liu does well, he does very well, as long as those parts grab you enough to push through the weaker parts.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Death of parent

pawan's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, and War

sammelito's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Minor: Suicide

iono's review

mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, and Death of parent

Moderate: War

kipiekie's review against another edition

informative mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and War

f18's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

detailed description of insect stings, terrorism