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Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Die Berufene by M.R. Carey

45 reviews

shieldbearer's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

4.0

An extremely strong showing from Mike Carey, who I know from his work on X-Men. The characterizations were very well done for the most part- most of them are quite layered. The worldbuilding was strong, and the reviewers asking questions about motivations and "evolution" clearly didn't pay attention because those things were explained in the text. 

Ultimately, a few small things did knock this book down by a star for me. For one, I would have
at least switched the fates of Parks and Gallagher, though I also think you could make an argument for Gallagher's survival being more interesting than his death given the detailed backstory and internal conflict he's given. His interaction with the status quo at the end of the story would have been extremely interesting IMO
Part of this may be because I didn't particularly care for Parks, but this is also because Parks doesn't really have anything interesting going on. 

For another, I feel as though
the Hungry children were too easy to corral at the end.
The questions of the long-term viability of Melanie's plan didn't bother me because  that's not the point of the story. 

Finally, and most glaring IMO,
I feel like Sparks would have encoutnered pregnant hungries if they are able to sexually reproduce. I just have a hard time believing this aspect without a little extra narrative support - especially given how often fatal pregnancy is, and how the fungus wrecks so much of the body and shuts down a lot of its systems. Even mentioning a pregnant hungry in the crowd would have helped. I also can't say I'm a fan of the whole "sex is a human instinct" theme. I expected there to be adult hungries like Melanie that showed up later, if they specified that only the kids were the unique ones earlier I somehow missed it.


Either way, I definitely recommend this even if I feel some elements could have been treated with a bit more care- which is about what I would say about his work on the X-Men, as well. 
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reddeddy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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scenic92's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.5

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jextown's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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marthadude's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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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mayambrielle's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

This was super brilliantly written. A lot of things didn't go in the direction you would anticipate, and the connection between Melanie and Miss Justineau is a heartwarming part of this story.
The ending was incredibly sad, though, as a lover of romance novels I was hoping the relationship between Sargent Parks and Miss Justineau would develop. However, it was cut short by the infection of Parks. I am curious how Miss Justineau will continue on in this "new world," considering she is not infected and they don't know yet if you can become half infected so she could be like Melanie.
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wendinogo's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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tiemzahra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Melanie’s routine was fixed every day. Every day, she would wait to be picked from her cell to the classroom, at gunpoint and strapped in a chair. She thought they didn’t like her. 
 
This is a story of zombie apocalypse and I thought I could never be interested with this genre. I bought this book with the prospective of extraordinary kid, never thought she would be a zombie/hungry. But I stand corrected.
This book has given the perspective I always look for in a book - moral ambiguity. 
 
Introducing Sergeant Parks, the military guy who was rigid, had no exceptions in his rules; hungries are hungries, no matter if they look human or a literal child. He would treat them with contempt, because for him, they were threats. Dr. Caldwell, a purely logical-thinking scientist, treating the kid hungries as test subjects. They were important for the sake of humanity progression. Feeling sorry for them only hinder their progress with the dying civilisation. And Miss Justineau, despite the nature of the kids, treated them with compassion. She believed they were just innocent sensitive kids and didn’t deserve any of the mistreatments in the centre. 
 
Miss Justineau might be the most morally right, but with the current situation they were in, you would understand both Parks and Caldwell’s POV, and will be stuck in moral dilemmas.
I personally agree with the three of them at different situations, and even Miss Justineau at times was being dramatic that she almost jeopardised the whole crew. Parks’ instinct ensured their survival, while Caldwell’s study led to the new world they had to prepare for. While Justineau, with her compassionate personality, would be educating the future leaders of the new world.
I just concluded that these three distinctions were necessary to keep them going. 
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sorcha's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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lamplight's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

Scream what a fantastic ending!!

so as I said before I'm not really a sci fi person... and that proves itself in that a lot of the science-y explanations and more wordy action scenes did not stick any landings in my brain. but luckily the whole novel was not like that!! i actually found it very engaging and for the most part easy to read and understand.

how insanely violent this is was probably one of my least favorite things about it, like damn 🤢 i never knew reading about certain things could make me feel queasy but alas

and finally, the plot and the themes - great, interesting, super well done! i was enjoying myself and ready to give this 3.5 stars but the ending pushed it to 4 for me. everything just Clicked and it ended at once on a sad and hopeful note. beautiful.
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