the sci-fi locked room (lab) hamlet did in fact save me....

this book is absolutely bonkers. it's bold and exciting and fresh and even if you're familiar with hamlet the play, you find new complexities in characters and character dynamics in this retelling especially given the limited cast.

liu doesn't just retell hamlet here, she picks it apart and mashes it back together again in a really intense way, filling it with biting prose and technical language galore. and, you may be happy to know, you don't need to know hamlet to understand this book, though it certainly does frame some of the actions in a specific light if you do. what i found most interesting about this book though was the varying perspectives from not just hayden (our hamlet here), horatio, and felicia (ophelia), but from our unnamed overarching narrator who is putting together this account as a book project. it's so fascinating and is another brilliant way to view a shakespearean retelling that i find personally very interesting considering my academic research.

liu's prose reminds me very much of tamsyn muir's sharp and aching prose and at times even of amal el-mohtar and max gladstone's novel, this is how you lose the time war (one of my personal favorites). just so so wonderful

I finally get Hamlet ! Though I feel like I'm being haunted now

I sure was - for the lack of a better word - gagged.

This is a very creative and engaging retelling of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" which pleasantly surprised me with its approach to the story. Highly dramatic and supported by Liu's competent prose, it makes for an intense reading experience.

Some parts of the ending fell a little flat to me but the novel quickly managed to find its footing again and draw to a satisfying conclusion. A little bit more could have been done with the characterisation, too. However, the quality of the remainder of the novel more and makes up for any shortcomings.

the anatomical references >>>

The idea of a hard science fiction Hamlet retelling intrigued me. That being said, I’ve never read Hamlet and I didn’t feel like reading it before I read this story. Hayden Lichfield's life is ripped apart when he finds his father murdered in their lab, and the camera logs erased. The killer can only have been after one thing: the Sisyphus Formula the two of them developed together, which might one day reverse death itself. Hayden has no idea who the killer might be: his Uncle Charles, head of security Paul Xia, lab tech Rasmussen, or Paul’s daughter and Hayden’s coworker and ex-girlfriend Felicia. What transpires is a story of Hayden and Horatio’s relationship together and to an extent Hayden and Felicia’s too. Liu’s main gaze looks at a thoroughly intimate integration of Horatio into Hayden’s neurological network and just how a sentient AI might behave in a situation. While initially pitched as a locked room mystery retelling of Hamlet, this story quickly begins to get away from that original premise and introduce some interesting themes and ideas. It stops being a locked room murder mystery and instead rips into revenge, relationships and romance. The narrative is a jagged mix of Horatio observing Hayden, extracts from Felicia Xiu and an editor piecing everything together to preserve the story of what went down in Elsinore Labs. As such, we find out who the killer is a little too quickly for comfort. No song and dance, no sleight of hand. We just know who it is and move along. With that, the payload has been dropped and all that remains is blood. There are moments of excellence. When Hayden enacts his plan to avenge his father’s death it is a true masterstroke. That moment when you say “No!” out loud as you see what’s about to happen but you, and the characters, are powerless to do anything about it. The juxtaposition of the sterile lab environment with the ugly, butcher’s shop violence was effortlessly done and was satisfyingly unsettling. I enjoyed the parts I enjoyed but subsequent scenes of violence, killing, and self harm also weren’t executed in a way I found satisfying for the narrative, and as such I lost my way with Hayden’s motivations and his character. What this book does best is look at some interesting ethical questions under a science fiction scalpel. Should our relationship with AI really cross this line of direct interfacing? Is the fear of death worth killing for? Do we really have the right to try and live forever? While all these interesting questions are explored, I do feel like I wasn’t given satisfying answers or a way to finish the story with a great takeaway. Not exactly the book that I wanted, but not worthy of a DNF either. Definitely a book I plan to reread another day and re-examine.

I didn't realize Hamlet slapped this hard? Or maybe it's the queerness, or the near future sci-fi aspects...but I thoroughly enjoyed this read. If anything, it could've wrapped up a little sooner (climax dragged a bit) but absolutely loved the ending.

Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for this eARC in exchange for a review.

A queer sci-fi locked-room thriller retelling of Hamlet? Yes, please! I was so excited to read this book! Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat in execution...

The tension created by the situation was impeccable! I loved the setting, the bioscience references! It made me feel so clever while reading it!

The romance between an AI and a human, while feeling a little weird to begin with, was woven in so naturally that by the time it spikes, you're on board. And it's written so gracefully!

The little twists on the classic Hamlet tale were perfection! Plus, the pacing was fast, which I loved!

However, my complaints are thus; The mystery was not really a mystery. The "whodunit" was obvious, and even with the added mystery of the mastermind behind it all, it was guessable and obvious.

The characters were all neurotic and I just had no sympathy for any of them.

To the right person, this book will be a masterpiece. Unfortunately, I was not that person.