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A review by mweis
The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu
3.0
*I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
I think this is 100% a case of "it's not the book, it's me" here. I love the premise. A sci-fi locked room thriller but make it Hamlet and also gay, literally everything about this book screamed new favorite. And I was left... bored?
I want to believe it came down to my reading experience. I picked it up via audio in a rather busy time of my life so I found myself only listening a little bit at a time over a longer period of time than it usually takes me to read a book, so I was never able to sink into the narrative the way I would have wanted to. I also think that some of the narrative structure would have worked better reading with my eyes rather than via audio. Though Catherine Ho narrates and I have historically loved her work. So while this didn't 100% work for me, I will absolutely be trying this again at some point and reading it physically when I have more time to dedicate to the story.
As it is, there was a lot to love here. I liked the narrative voice a lot and will absolutely be checking out any more of Em X. Liu's work. I was impressed by the imaginative nature of the work and the way Liu wove in sci-fi elements throughout the story. This is ambitious and intriguing and I want so badly to love it.
I think this is 100% a case of "it's not the book, it's me" here. I love the premise. A sci-fi locked room thriller but make it Hamlet and also gay, literally everything about this book screamed new favorite. And I was left... bored?
I want to believe it came down to my reading experience. I picked it up via audio in a rather busy time of my life so I found myself only listening a little bit at a time over a longer period of time than it usually takes me to read a book, so I was never able to sink into the narrative the way I would have wanted to. I also think that some of the narrative structure would have worked better reading with my eyes rather than via audio. Though Catherine Ho narrates and I have historically loved her work. So while this didn't 100% work for me, I will absolutely be trying this again at some point and reading it physically when I have more time to dedicate to the story.
As it is, there was a lot to love here. I liked the narrative voice a lot and will absolutely be checking out any more of Em X. Liu's work. I was impressed by the imaginative nature of the work and the way Liu wove in sci-fi elements throughout the story. This is ambitious and intriguing and I want so badly to love it.