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schnaucl's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
I can't decide if it's not for me (in the sense that I'm not the intended audience), which is obviously fine but might be why I struggled with it.
It's very disjointed. Purposely so, I think. There are a lot of characters, who nearly all have their own backstories. I often found myself really interested in a backstory about the time the backstory was wrapping up.
The book had a lot to say about race and class and gentrification and the last season in particular is very bleak.
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Murder, Terminal illness, Blood, and Police brutality
jo_lzr's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Colonisation, Drug use, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, War, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Child abuse, Addiction, and Infidelity
Minor: Rape
jennikreads's review
3.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Police brutality, Murder, Gun violence, Racism, Terminal illness, Death, Child death, Classism, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Confinement
jackelz's review against another edition
Graphic: Police brutality, Gore, Classism, Blood, Racism, Drug abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Child abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault
laurareads87's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Goliath is a non-linear multi-POV novel that follows a range of characters living in the 2050s; Earth is heavily polluted, and many of the wealthy have departed to space stations where they continue to extract resources from the planet they poisoned. Those still living on Earth navigate imposed resource scarcity, illnesses caused by pollution, and precarious infrastructure. Goliath critically engages with racism (including environmental racism), economic exploitation, police violence, and climate crisis, and in these respects it can be a challenging read, but it is far from all despair: there is joy here, humour, community. I suspect Goliath will be one of the absolute best standout sci-fi works of the year -- highly, highly recommend.
Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Gore, Racial slurs, Violence, Classism, Murder, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Sexism, Child abuse, and Sexual harassment
blackmetalblackheart's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Blood, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Classism, and Racism
Minor: Rape and Vomit
foreverinastory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Hoping to reread this later this month when my audio hold comes in because I need another read to process everything this book did.
Goliath is a post-climate apocalypse story that studies several characters: the ones left behind on Earth, and the ones privileged enough to escape to the space Colonies and are now migrating back.
This book is something else y’all. And I mean this in the best way. My brain is sometimes able to sit for like 30 mins and read, but this book had me captivated. I spent around 2 hours sitting on my couch (a miracle in itself) finishing the second half of this book.
Goliath will be a challenging book for many to read, especially white readers. This book offers a hard look at the future. One that doesn’t pull any punches from the racism and anti-Blackness that is rampant in the world. I don’t say this to dissuade anyone from reading, but to be aware of what you’re getting into. This is a book that needs an open mind and one that’s willing to juxtapose the truth with what society wants us to believe.
Rep: Mainly cishet Black and Brown cast, white gay MC, achillean MC with two moms, sapphic elderly female side character.
CWs: Death, drug use/abuse, addiction, violence, murder, colonisation/re-gentrification, child death, cursing, genocide, blood, gore, gun violence, racial slurs, racism, mentions of climate disaster and mass radiation exposure. Moderate: police brutality, rape, sexual violence, suicide attempt, imprisonment, prison riot, hostage situation, kidnapping, child abuse.
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Gore, Murder, Racism, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Violence
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Rape, and Sexual violence
perpetualpages's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
I remember when I first heard Tochi talk about his inspiration for this book during an interview for Quarantined Pages (hosted by Britney of Melanin Eclectic) where he described it as "gentrification in space". Cue everybody in the audience absolutely *losing* their mind. To see the story go from a buzzy tagline in a video interview to becoming a fully-fledged novel is so gratifying, especially as a reader.
Goliath is a novel that is incredibly cerebral and abstract. It patchworks together a ton of different characters and perspectives in this not-so-distant vision of the future where those with the means to do so have left the planet for dead in favor of colonizing space. Though Goliath is very much a sci-fi story, it's also firmly grounded on earth as it strives to explore how systemically "forgotten" characters attempt to build their own future from the ruins.
This is a constantly-shifting kaleidoscope of a story where the reader is almost secondary to the storytelling process. It's one of those reading experiences where the world-building is fully-realized and the reader is left to try and catch up on their own as they go. In that way, it's a story that refuses to hold the readers hand at any point, which is something I really respect. This is a story that's best enjoyed slowly, because it forces you to engage, to be present and attentive, and I think the pay-off is worth that little bit of work.
What really struck me about Goliath is its sense of urgency. The story is set in the not-so-distant future, and even though it paints a completely different planetary landscape, it feels eerily familiar and realistic. It reads more like an inevitable trajectory for humanity as opposed to a fictional futuristic projection that spontaneously sprang from the author's imagination. I think what Tochi has highlighted so well is that the issues under-served communities are facing now are the same ones they’ve always faced and the same ones that they will *continue* to face if nothing changes. This vision of the future illustrates how even after the system "collapses," it will continue to function as intended to further marginalize already-vulnerable communities.
I also really appreciate the way Tochi develops dialogue between his characters, because it feels real. He allows characters to talk to each other in the discordant, chaotic way that people actually speak, where there's no way to tell where one thought begins or ends. Every conversation feels like being dropped right in the middle of a story at its climax, but it also feels familiar and grounds the reader amidst this new futuristic technology and landscape.
Above all, I think the question at the heart of this story is how do we understand and determine “value,” especially when it comes to society, community, and people themselves? What kind of legacy are we creating and imparting when we become comfortable with erasing people and leaving them behind, and who are we allowing to be heroes? I think the story presents a really interesting take on those questions, and even though I had some minor issues with the structure of the story towards the end, I still think it gets that message across very effectively.
If you enjoy gritty sci-fi, social commentary, and complexly character-driven narratives that ask big questions about humanity and the future, then Goliath is absolutely the book for you. I continue to be excited by the SFF worlds Tochi Onyebuchi is excavating from his imagination, and I can't wait to see what comes next.
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Murder, Death, and Drug use
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Addiction, Gun violence, and Police brutality
Minor: Rape and Vomit
tonysipsandreads's review
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence