Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Children of Men by P.D. James

5 reviews

vnfhcxksiw's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • 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
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jjb21's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

Engagingly written. Felt older - reminded me of 1984 or Midwich Cuckoos, with a bit of 39 Steps thrown in. Quite slow and steady. But very evocative and interesting. A great humdrum/English/believable dystopia.
Only real gripe is the stakes at the end didn’t feel high enough, so I was left wondering slightly what the point was
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lindseylosers's review against another edition

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

2.5

Read the book because I love the movie. Unfortunately, most all of the interesting and complex themes, situations, and relationships from the movie are not present in the book. Imagine my frustration when I finally realized there were going to be no fugees. Shout out to the team that adapted this story for the movie, they really were spinning straw into gold.
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gabbyreynolds's review

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

3.25

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nedens's review

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dark sad 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? Yes

3.5

First if you have seen the movie this book is not anything at all like that. The movie was very good, but do not expect the book to be on the same storyline as the movie. This book is really a slow burn throughout. Although a sci fi story for sure, it really speaks more of how humans need hope, and in the absence of that the things that we do to go on living. So there are many little bits of commentary on what life would be like absent all hope, including commentary on religion, power, relationships, love, etc. At the end of the story however
you realize that the overarching commentary on the book is really about the hard choices people have to make when they have total absolute power. The view of the main character throughout the book concerning the ruler is one of understanding, that the ruler is making the best decisions he can with what he is presented. However several minor characters in the book disagree strongly. But when the time comes at the end of the story the main character steps right into the role of ruler, but only to assert what he feels is the right course of action. So the larger theme is one of people with absolute power all are doing what they feel is best, but other, even well meaning people, would do things different. That is not to say however that different is always the same as better.
So A good slow burn book that left me thinking quite a while after reading it. As long as you are not expecting anything at all like the movie and enjoy slower sci fi books this one may be for you.
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