Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Haunting of Tram Car 015

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

9 reviews

emily_mh's review

adventurous funny mysterious fast-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

This was another fantastic novella from Clark set in his alt-history steampunk 1910s Cairo! I’m truly in love with the setting of this world, and in this book it was really brought to the forefront, the plot being focussed on this Cairo’s network of aerial trams!!

The plot further expands the world-building in how it ties in the religious and political diversity and tensions of the setting. There’s a particular focus on women (and how AMAZING they are), as Egypt’s women are fighting for suffrage, and womanhood is otherwise tied into the story. Ironically, our MC and his investigative partner are men, though they are very endearing ones at that. Furthermore, the pacing of the plot was once again well-executed.

I was really intrigued by the brief commentary on this Cairo’s thinking machines. The narrative poses the question: if they can think, are they beings in their own right, and thus is our use of them enslavement? The parallels were AI are striking.

Overall, this was thoroughly enjoyable and well-done.

Rep: Muslim Egyptian MC, Egyptian SCs

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novella42's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Excellent worldbuilding!

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rorareads55's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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rowan_reviews's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 is about two men who are investigating a.. well, a haunted tram car, and it's not as straight forward as they thought it'd be.

I enjoyed how the seemingly unrelated background cultural/societal/political information was woven within and throughout the story, with all the loose ends neatly tied up. The story takes a few twists and turns, which adds to the fun.

All in all it was a satisfying and quick read.

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thereaderfriend's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Had higher expectations for this :/ the potential was there but not executed well. Did like the wacky mysterious vibes. Didn't like the women's suffrage subplot to the main plot. That wasn't good. Didn't like the MC but the rest of it was decent. Definitely a starting novella for the author. Liked the monster action and world building. Looking forward to Fatma's book.

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aardwyrm's review

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adventurous funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

I really like Clark's work and all the weirdness and reflection on human frailty and fundamental potential for goodness and cool monster action is here, though you can kinda tell it's an earlier work (lot of "as you know, Bob" dialogue), the exposition dumps sit lightly because the bizarre worldbuilding is a large part of the draw.

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ellenareads's review

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adventurous funny mysterious

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

5.0

I LOVED this novella. I quite enjoyed the first short story in this series and fell in love with the world and hoped to read more from those characters. This one was no different. I hope there are more fiction coming from Hamed and Onsi . Can't wait to expand on this world and find out more about Fatma in the next novel from this universe.

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awpatton's review

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adventurous fast-paced

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

4.25

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naika's review

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I quite enjoyed "The Haunting of Tram Car 015", albeit I did not always fully understand what was going on. But P. Djeli Clark weaved such a moving, atmospheric story, I did not feel pressured to figure everything out. What I did gather was conversations on equality, activism, subjugation and exploitation, and otherness. All set in a really interesting, alternate, steam-punk Egypt. This novella most certainly could have been a full-length novel with everything that was introduced (though the execution of this novella was top-notch and was well developed for something so short). Although each character was great, I very much liked Onsi. I am not sure if he was supposed to be perceived as comical, but his character caused me to laugh and was a good contrast to Hamed. I certainly look forward to the next book in this world!

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