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fatfatrat's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Confinement
Moderate: Violence and Gaslighting
Minor: Misogyny, Medical content, and Racism
mar's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
a really cool concept that slowly devolves into a racist+sexist shitshow. i am truly blown away by how fucking horrendously the one black character+the one female character were written
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Racism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Violence
mitchalkois's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I love this app because I can leave reviews like this and not be bombarded with hate like on Goodreads:
This book's philosophical and psychological concepts are fascinating. Crichton presents new ideas and allows them to exist in the space without feeling like characters know too much about different concepts. Allowing each character to have their specialization made for interesting and understandable dialogue, even if some characters sounded similar.
Minor spoiler ahead (CW: victim blaming) The handling of the one female character's arc is horrible. I don't believe in judging things as "a product of its time", because I'm not reading this book in 1986. I'm reading it now. And the only explored female character is painfully offensive. Early in the book, she even makes a comment to one of the men that what they said was, "like blaming women for being raped because of what she was wearing". To which the man replied, "Well maybe you have to ask yourself what that woman was doing in the bad part of town at night." A gross comment to make, but surely we are meant to disagree and be disgusted by this man, right?
No. In the end, the woman character faces her train. Is her her trauma that she was in a relationship with a man who held power over her? No. Is it that the man denied her credit on the research they performed together? No. Her trauma is that she seeks victimhood. And she must overcome that fault. There's no mention of power dynamics or the fact that she was shafted by the head researcher, only that she wants to play the victim to feel better.
It was a gross concept that soured the entire book for me. With a slight tweak, Crichton could have made the book better. By making her trauma stem from being abused and mistreated, you could have had a better story. Not perfect, as that idea is overused and problematic in itself, but at least it would be less offensive.
Overall, this book pushed some rich concepts, but failed to deliver on creating likable characters. And the offensive nature of the one character (not to mention the black stereotyping to a slightly lesser degree) made it so I could not recommend this book in good conscience.
This book's philosophical and psychological concepts are fascinating. Crichton presents new ideas and allows them to exist in the space without feeling like characters know too much about different concepts. Allowing each character to have their specialization made for interesting and understandable dialogue, even if some characters sounded similar.
Minor spoiler ahead (CW: victim blaming)
No. In the end, the woman character faces her train. Is her her trauma that she was in a relationship with a man who held power over her? No. Is it that the man denied her credit on the research they performed together? No. Her trauma is that she seeks victimhood. And she must overcome that fault. There's no mention of power dynamics or the fact that she was shafted by the head researcher, only that she wants to play the victim to feel better.
It was a gross concept that soured the entire book for me. With a slight tweak, Crichton could have made the book better. By making her trauma stem from being abused and mistreated, you could have had a better story. Not perfect, as that idea is overused and problematic in itself, but at least it would be less offensive.
Overall, this book pushed some rich concepts, but failed to deliver on creating likable characters. And the offensive nature of the one character (not to mention the black stereotyping to a slightly lesser degree) made it so I could not recommend this book in good conscience.
Content Warnings
Minor: Misogyny
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