Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - L'Éveil du Léviathan

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Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

L'Éveil du Léviathan by James S.A. Corey

34 reviews

rattledragons's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

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lissi_k's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.5

Loved, loved this book! This is what you imagine when you hear "soap opera". It had a slow start, but as I continued reading I became more and more hooked, and the ending was insane to me, especially

Miller's suicide that was somehow... epic with the way he did it, but also so tender and compassionate in the way it was written, I think I almost cried during the conversation he had with Jim right before.

Initially I was a bit put off by the choice of having Holden & Miller as the only POV characters, since they are both in their own ways very cliché male hero archetypes, but the James Corey really pulled it off, especially when the two

met. It was so funny how Holden & Miller are both so used to being the center of the universe (while having opposing philosophies in life) that when they met they just annoyed the hell out of each other.

It made me realise that they use these clichés very consciously and explore the consequences of these traits.

Concerning what I didn't like: the worldbuilding, while very good, is so blindly inspired by American culture, to the point where Holden talks to a Martian about being from "Montana", to which I say: Holden should be lucky if a Martian crudely knows about a continent called America.

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Writing: 2.75⭐️/5

I read this after a Sanderson kick, so maybe I’m comparing apples to oranges, but if Sanderson is apples, these are tiny mouldy oranges left at the bottom of my lunch kit as a child. The first section of the novel, despite having the highest stakes possible, was hard to care about or believe in. From there, you’re met with a slog of exposition – telling and not showing, telling and not showing, and more telling and not showing – to the point that I felt exhausted. And, while I know one of the heights of sci-fi for some people revolve around its explanation of the science in the world, I couldn’t love the overexplanation of every little piece of technology. (Also, for a book in outer space, I really had to hear a lot about these two men’s balls. Please. Never again.)

Characters: 2.75⭐️/5

I would love to give this a higher mark, but how do you have so many characters and so few female characters that stand out? They really felt like accessories to the men: ready to make them look good, ready to be set down when the moment wasn’t right for them, and ready to be picked back up to adorn them at the end. We also follow two men who, despite trying to do their best, are so concerned with playing hero that they felt a bit fake – and incredibly boring.

Plot: 3⭐️/5

Did I enjoy the parts of this plot dedicated to being sexist? Not particularly. Do I have to hand it to the authors for making a story I couldn’t quite predict? Maybe. I did enjoy parts of the plot and, at certain moments, I almost started to love it. Of course, it was usually in those moments that we resorted to sexist tropes, unnecessary exposition, and/or the defilement of a woman’s body. Is there something interesting happening in this novel? Most certainly. I’m just not certain I would recommend it based solely on that.

Who Should Read This Book?

Fans of sci-fi who aren’t balked by a little sexism/misogyny

Content Warnings?

Body horror, death, gore, grief, war, genocide, suicidal thoughts, rape, sexual assault, misogyny, sexism, murder, blood, injury, injury detail,

Post-Reading Rating: 3⭐️/5

I wanted more from it, and also so much less.

Final Rating: 2.75⭐️/5

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veronicadidato's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Plot is intriguing and well-crafted. It never really feels like anything is unnecessary. The mystery and politics were well made, which only added to the interesting world building.

Some characters’ motivations for moving forward felt a little on the flimsy side but overall it was fine.

If you’ve watched the TV series: the first season is pretty accurate in terms of following the book content. You just get some more insight into the characters reasonings in the book. And the book doesn’t have any on-page sex - that was just added to the TV series.

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linneak's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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hermitqueen's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

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

4.5

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menomica's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

Everyone too busy trying to survive to spend any time creating something new.

I’m gonna be honest the only reason I read this book was for my writing class. If you’re into sci-fi and zombies, this book will probably be up your alley. But I’m more a realistic-fiction girlie so there were good stretches of this book where I was kind of bored.

I will admit, I was able to keep myself entertained throughout the middle and end of the book by just reading it as a character study. I mean, almost all the (male) characters were character types that I was not into, but I think it was a nice exercise to dissect why I was turned off by them.

Miller is such a fucking looser. Like he was just giving pathetic flop cringecore the whole book, especially towards the end with his obsession with Julie. Like, my guy you literally have never even met this woman and she’s god-knows how many years younger than you. I get that Julie (and her case) just represented his need for redemption to prove himself as a capable detective and whatnot but it was still very weird the way he was about her.

Holden and Naomi was the most comphet ass shit and I will stand ten-toes down in that. That being said, the scene after they had sex (~~I will not permit hetero copulation on my good Christian server~~) was kinda cute, idk. I like my men a little-love stupid. If they actually ever take the time to develop legitimate chemistry together beyond this-is-convenient-and-we-need-the-guy-to-get-his-girl type of situation, they could actually be, like, nice to look at. I really appreciated Naomi standing her ground and being like «if you want me, prove it.» Yes girl, respect yourself!

My writing prof said there was more stuff that gets developed in later books that actually seemed interesting to me (why tf is Amos like that, Naomi pov), but I did not care enough about this first book to feel motivated to keep going. Y’all have fun though.

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