The Death I Gave Him

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First book of 2024! A sci-fi Hamlet retelling set in a locked down tech / pharmaceutical company as Hayden tries to get revenge after his father is found murdered. I really loved Horatio being an AI system in love with Hayden. I do wish Hayden had put on a show of madness a bit more because I love the question of what's real and what's not in the original play, but nonetheless a very fun and effective reimagining.

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Robotswithpersonality

The Death I Gave Him | Em X. Liu

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so-so

Hard for me to assess this book fairly because I loved certain elements, and that made me want more of them then might serve the chosen narrative. The thrust of the book feels like the Olivia character's coming to terms with her 'madness' and the Hamlet character coming to terms with his dissociative, self-destructive self-hatred:depression and suicidal ideation. Mental health is a major feature! 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? The pieces that worked for me were the exploration of how an AI might develop emotional involvement, how that might express itself, and the allusions to future work in pursuing immortality and linkages between human and artificial intelligence minds. This was a sci-fi mystery thriller in a Hamlet-retelling-shell and I was most interested in the sci fi portion. 1y

Robotswithpersonality 3/? Seeing the author reimagine elements of the play was fascinating, but the drama and tragedy (especially around the Ophelia and Hamlet characters' relationship) necessary to maintaining the mood of the original took time away from the relationship I most wanted to explore. I think anyone who has been ticked about how much of a voiceless plot device Ophelia can be in the original play will appreciate how much this book allows the story to be from her perspective, but it turned out to not be what was most compelling about the narrative to me. 1y

Robotswithpersonality 4/5 Glad to see Hamlet/Horatio slash fiction is alive and well in the 21st century! There's a whole other discussion to be had about the nature of this book being advertised as queer sci fi. It presents initially as a gay pairing between a male human and an Al that is given a male name and pronoun, mirroring the characters from the original play both being male. But would Al conceptualize itself as having gender? From my perspective, it is a queer relationship between a cis male and a genderless being. I like that it opens up the conversation. 1y

Robotswithpersonality ā ļø¸Self harm, suicidal ideation, mental health concerns and discussion, medical/science related gore 1y

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IReadThereforeIBlog

The Death I Gave Him | Em X. Liu

so-so

Em X. Liu‘s SF novel is a tech take on HAMLET that explores themes of mortality, fear, intimacy and revenge. Although I enjoyed how Liu updates Felicia (the Ophelia character), I wasn‘t gripped by the story and the fragmented style, while true to the underlying themes of the play, further distanced me from the story. Ultimately, this is a clever and thoughtful book but not one that vibes with me, although I‘d still check out Liu‘s other work.

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Hooked_on_books

The Death I Gave Him | Em X. Liu

so-so

In this Hamlet sort of retelling it is 2048 and Hayden (Hamlet) works for his dad in Elsinore Labs, trying to unlock immortality. Taking place primarily over one night, I was initially drawn in (though spent a lot of time trying to compare the 2 stories), but it should have been propulsive and exciting but wasn‘t. It‘s not a bad book, just kinda ok.

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julesG

The Death I Gave Him | Em X. Liu

Masters of Death #audiobook while I'm (re)potting some baby plants I grew out of cuttings.

The Golden Gate (ARC) - nearly done, must write a review

The Death I Gave Him (ARC) - looking forward to this Hamlet 'retelling'

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

#RushAThon @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES @Andrew65

#ARCaDayAugust #ARC #MountARC #NetGalley

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