This book is close to a masterpiece! Hamlet for the future !

The locked room mystery begins when Hayden's father has been murdered in their lab. Hayden is trapped in the lockdown with four others—his uncle Charles, lab tech Gabriel Rasmussen, researcher Felicia and security head Paul. With only his AI companion Horatio to assist him, will Hayden avenge his father?

The books it patched together interviews, essay an autobiography, transcripts, camera footage, letters and footnotes including Horatio's own POV. Switching between Hayden and his AI the story drills down to the true questions of Hamlet! Bring on the adaptations! #Rebellion #solaris #Thedeathigavehim #EmxLiu

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion Publishing for providing me with an E-Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

★★★★/4

'The Death I Gave Him' is described as a “locked-room thriller;” since it takes place entirely inside the Elsinore science lab where Hayden Lichfield’s life revolves around one main goal: to live forever. In their lab, he works alongside his father to perfect a secret chemical called the 'Sisyphus Formula'. When Hayden suddenly stumbles upon the dead body of his father and the camera logs erased one day, his entire life is upended and he now has a new goal: to find and avenge the murderer. With the help of an AI named Horatio, Hayden sends the lab into lockdown and starts investigating the only four suspects who are in the lab with him: his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia, and their head of security, Felicia’s father Paul.

First and foremost, this book is a re-telling of 'Hamlet' so it follows the book main themes such like; mortality and immortality, fear, doubt and of course, revenge. But it's set in the not-so-distant futuristic scenario, where AI and sci-fi themes collide. The premise, although is a retilling of a classic, it felt so original and real.

The writing style was stunning and gripping, taking you through the pages trying to solve the mystery alonside Hayden. The author managed to create a truly beautiful story, respectful to the original Shakeaspeare story, yet elevating it into something that captures our modern world and uncertainties as well when it comes to new tecnologies and how they will affect our future.

The writing lyrically outstanding! The tension its gripping! The structure, unique and hectic! The characters are well fleshed out, and feel real.

I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys sci-fi, gripping thriller and mysteries. And of course, if you enjoy reading re-tellings, this one it's so unique as its own story and perfectly balances the original story with a sci-fi murder mystery with gripping characters and singular prose!

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu comes out September 12th 2023!

This lockdown STEM thriller is an absolute gem, brimming with captivating elements. As I embarked on this literary journey, I ventured in with no preconceived notions, and while it took a moment to be fully entranced, once the narrative took hold, I found myself utterly engrossed, so much so that I devoured the entire book in one sitting.

Certain passages within the text are infused with the essence of William Shakespeare, as if his voice softly resonates, akin to how Horacio's presence lingers alongside Hayden's throughout the tale. The skillful execution of this artistic fusion deserves commendation, as the author's prose masterfully navigates these dual influences.

The dynamic between Horatio and Hayden is, to put it succinctly, scintillating. The audacious flair with which these moments are rendered is undeniably magnetic, showcasing the author's remarkable prowess in constructing palpable chemistry.

The setting in which this tale unfolds, emerges as a character in its own right. Its presence permeates the narrative, an omnipresent entity that the reader can envision throughout the story. The sterile and pristine environment creates a vivid backdrop, prompting contemplation on its potential impact on the Hayden's experiences. Each member of the cast is impeccably portrayed. Their depth and complexity lend authenticity to the narrative, facilitating a genuine connection between reader and character.

The author's ingenuity shines through, highlighting their aptitude for storytelling. This is a literary triumph that encourages me to explore the author's other works.

I'm a Shakespeare fan. I've read all the plays and have spent hours analyzing them, and Hamlet is my favorite. I also love retellings and how parts of the original are translated into a new context to cast a new angle on the source material. All that said, I have read a lot of Shakespeare retellings, and this was a highly anticipated read for me.

There were things I liked (adaptation of plot beats into a new context; Hayden's character and how he is as Hamlet; the themes around life and death) and things I did not (Horatio; plot inconsistencies; other themes). I will now break these down in more detail.

Adaptation of the plot beats:
This is what I liked best about the book, overall. There were some clever ways scenes from the original were pulled into adaptation that fit well with the retelling's premise, setting, and tone while maintaining the specific impact of those scenes' role or placement in the original. Paul (Polonius) dies as collateral to an attempt by Hayden (hamlet) to kill his uncle. Hayden killing the Guildenstern-Rosencrantz analog with his father's pen with his mother's name on it (reminiscent of a forged royal letter and seal) is the first act of intentional murder of who Hayden intended to kill is the same flip in Hamlet as when he sentences them to die. Horatio dying for Hamlet to keep him living instead was so clever and, as I mention in the next section with the death themes, is exactly the sort of flip that I love in retellings since they offer a new angle with the same result (as soon as I suspected this was going to happen I did put the book down and say "fuck" aloud). Ophelia taking Laertes's place as Claudius's instrument of revenge was fitting and what I would have done. There were more instances than that, but that is a sufficient example of plot translation and I thought it was done well.

Themes:
This is a section where I think more could have been done. Liu set up a lot of fascinating conversations between themes from the original and other aspects of the play that you wouldn't necessarily expect - especially with Horatio, which I'll get to in a second. However, they were set up and then fell to the wayside, and I don't believe Liu didn't know what they were doing when they set them up, which makes it even more disappointing that nothing happened with them.

The one theme they did follow through was death and life, and I did feel that was treated well and with nuance. This is boosted by how the research done in Elsinore Labs is a method to reverse or prevent death, and that it was Hayden's pet project. Hayden himself is where this theme centers, which of course makes sense (given he's Hamlet and in the play death is kind of his whole thing). Hayden is obsessed with living, but as Felicia (Ophelia) points out, there's a difference between wanting to live because you want to live and wanting to live because you are scared of death. Instead of wanting to die, Hayden was frenetically insistent he would live forever. I actually loved this flip because ultimately it did not change the deep anxieties about death and the questions the original play raises around it; this is the sort of reframing to highlight something about the original that is my favorite in retellings.

I will add that I also somewhat liked the themes around storytelling. The end of Hamlet, where Horatio is left with the command to tell the story, translates nicely into the format of the book: it's a retroactive project, at least 100 years to the future from the event it recounts. Even the primary sources (Felicia's written account) were a retrospective analysis; Felicia is writing it after the fact. At one point, the "historian" says in a footnote that they have made up a fictionalized narrative because they feel this project is best made in story form to convey emotion rather than facts. That's neat!! But I felt like it didn't culminate into anything, despite carrying throughout. Yes, we understand that this is told in retrospect, and not everything can be known - but what's the significance? What are the implications of how this is told for the sake of a good story over strict historical accuracy? Of how Felicia, looking back years later, is picking and choosing what to tell? Of the fact that a lot of the "evidence" used to create the narrative is piecemeal? There was an indication towards the end that a story is a way to live forever, but it felt like it came out of nowhere. The theme was all there; the author just didn't bring it home. At least it gave me something to think about.

However, I'm first and foremost a themes person, so this may not be a widely applicable concern for readers.

Horatio:
As I mentioned, Horatio was set up with a fascinating combination of themes and motifs from the original. Basically, from the outset Liu paired Horatio + "Denmark's a prison" + surveillance, which cast curious implications on the Horatio of the original play. Horatio, the AI, is literally the building that hosts Elsinore Labs, which Hayden considers a sort of prison. Horatio is also 100% accessible by Charles (Claudius) at any time, which means anything Hamlet discusses with Horatio could be known by his uncle. These feel opposite to the role Horatio plays in the original play, but I'm on board for anything as long as the author sells it.

Unfortunately, the author did not sell it. The problem is that we never know what Liu meant by setting it up like this because they totally ignore every implication. And the thing is that without this followed through, I don't think this pairing made sense and it lowered my enjoyment of this book's Horatio because there was nothing to refute my belief that this ran fundamentally counter to play Horatio. This setup also led to some forced plot maneuvering which I will discuss later.

There was also one point early on where it was said that Horatio was programmed where he could not disobey a direct command from those with the highest clearance levels - which are specifically said to include Charles and Hayden. This could be FASCINATING for Horatio's role as Hamlet's confidante and what it could say about the original play and how Horatio feels about assisting Hamlet in all of this. However, this does not come up after the first few chapters when it's necessary for a plot point. (I guess this is spilling over into plot inconsistency issues after all, but to be fair most of those revolve around Horatio anyway.)

The other problem is that Horatio as a character was extremely boring. I did not get a personality outside of caring about Hayden, and if that's all you do with your Horatio, I'm not going to care about the relationship. It's that simple. And in this case it's so disappointing because he was set up to be this important character. Even the fact of making Horatio a disembodied AI had so much potential thematically and otherwise! It simply was not realized in favor of pushing how close and intimate Horatio and Hayden were (which i could not get behind because, again, Horatio had very little personality). Also, the sex scenes were weird.

Other characters:
I talked about Hayden in the themes and he was definitely the most complex and I did like how he was written. He tied well to the life/death themes. His heartbeat motif was clever, especially with those life/death themes. His mental health and depression and self-harm and spiralling thoughts were compelling and believable, and I would say he is a good interpretation of Hamlet. Will say I wish we got more thought about his relationship with his dad because I didn't really understand it - not in a "intentionally complicated" way but more of a "not really mentioned" way.

Felicia I feel like I should have more thoughts about, considering a lot of this was her POV. I liked her, but I didn't think she was anything special as an Ophelia. I did like her and Hayden's relationship. They never fully hate each other, no matter what happens. Even if Felicia can't forgive Hayden, they can't cut each other out of their lives. This is more of commentary on the kind of trope/relationship I like in general, but I can also find basis for this in their play relationship. Also, Felicia had a tiny bit of water motif going on. I did like that detail. Can't have an Ophelia without a little water or flowers.

Charles I did not feel anything for. I feel rarely does a hamlet retelling manage to make me feel like claudius has any depth, so it was whatever. Helen (Gertrude) I struggled with. I didn't get any sense of why she would do what she did, and her role in things and her supposed love for Charles felt shoehorned in because the author felt they had to include it for Hamlet adaptation purposes. Honestly? Things would have been stronger without that. It weakened Charles as a character and he really didn't need that. Helen isn't even present in the text apart from a single phone call with Hayden and via old letters they found.

Plot inconsistency:
Usually I don't care a ton about little plot issues if I care enough about everything else, but these bugged me. If it was set up to be intentionally inconsistent because this is all supposed to be reconstructed historical evidence, that would be one thing; but instead the inconsistencies felt intentionally ignored because addressing them would mean a plot point couldn't happen, and the author needed that plot point to happen.

This mostly came into play with how Horatio was established worldbuilding-wise - specifically, what he's able to access and who can access him. He can see everywhere except a few dead zones - except at one point when Hayden is in the dead zone Horatio can see through him (via their tech link) even if it is dead to Horatio's cameras, and at another point Hayden makes a big deal of Horatio's absence because Horatio cannot access him when he is in the dead zone. There's also the thing I mentioned above, where apparently Horatio is unable to refuse a direct command, but it never shows up again. (I'll admit I didn't track if Horatio did indeed refuse direct commands but I feel like yes.) And then generally, there are things I felt Horatio should know, or Charles or Hayden should be able to know via Horatio, and none of them did.

However, if anyone complains that Hayden himself is inconsistent, I WILL take issue with that because that's the point. Hayden is erratic. Hamlet is Going Through Shit and his mental health is shot and that's just a hallmark of his character. And Hayden is a good Hamlet.

Conclusion:
Despite how this review makes it appear, this book is one of the better Hamlet retellings I have read! This is largely because "how did it pull things from the play into the new context" is so important and this book did that well (or at least better than many retellings I've read). It also did get one theme nailed well (life/death) and successfully translated Hamlet's character (the most important) as well.

Largely I took issue with Horatio, and I wanted more from the themes, and (to a lesser degree) the plot inconsistencies annoyed me. It all just felt a little "I'll change the rules [plot, theme, character, etc] whenever it doesn't suit my ultimate end."

I would like to thank Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book tries to be clever and I think in some ways it executes it well. I was drawn to this book for two main reasons: a retelling of [book:Hamlet|1420] and the front cover. We have to give it to the publishers the front cover is very attractive. I know the story of [book:Hamlet|1420] but I've not read it; I have, however, seen Lion King (1994).

I like how the book is set out - from the excerpts from the trail to the interviews with certain characters. I genuinely think it brings a sense of authenticity to it. It feels more realistic despite it being set in the late 21st century.

I couldn't rate this book any higher because I found the characters unlikeable. For me, characters drive a book. That is personal opinion. I think this book has huge strengths in adapting Hamlet to the 21st century and giving it a sci fi spin. I think it's very clever.

Long ago, in another life, back when I was young and foolish, I was very interested in writing modernisations of early modern fiction – particularly Hamlet. This is because I was a pretentious young writer, and what I produced would almost certainly have been quite dull and navel-gazing. Thank goodness, then, that The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu is nothing like the scribbles of my youth. This a smart adaptation that has something to say, focusing hard on the themes of surveillance and modernising its ideas of self-destruction into a more pathologised era.

The Death I Gave Him takes place over the course of one night in the Elsinore research lab, where Hayden finds the murdered body of his father before quickly securing his top secret research. It is narrated by Hayden, a young researcher; Horatio, the lab’s all-seeing AI who shares a special connection with Hayden; and Felicia, Hayden’s ex-girlfriend and co-researcher. The lab is locked down following the murder, and Hayden must use his ground-breaking Sisyphus formula to speak to his dead father and try to get revenge on his murderer.

Liu moves Elsinore forward in time, creating a found document text that is annotated by a further distant future, in which it seems people can live forever. References are made to court trials following the single night, but the outcome of the story is never made fully explicit, nor do we really know our editor who has chosen what to show us and what to omit; what to fabricate and what to relay in full. In this way, the reader is just as misled and manipulated as the story’s characters, creating a complex text that might just hurt your head if you think about it too hard.

The movement of setting is surprisingly successful, as is the reduction in cast – we hear only from the play’s key players, with a wider world only hinted at. But the best thing about this book is the absolute beauty of the writing. I love Liu’s style, at once evocative and lyrical, but never pretentious (although occasionally the characters might be). In particular, Horatio’s narrated sections, as he starts to learn what life is like connected to and within Hayden’s body, getting to grips with physicality as well as his own controls over Hayden’s movements, are a sensory delight.

With a modernisation of a text as lauded as Hamlet, readers who don’t like diving into The Classics, who are coming at this perhaps from a sci-fi background, might wonder if the book is still enjoyable. I would say very much so. As a story, it stands strong on its own. The only benefit to a foreknowledge of the Bard is enjoying Liu’s little tweaks to the story, and a doomed sense of anticipation for the plot points the author surely can’t have changed. I would recommend The Death I Gave Him as a smart crossover of two literary worlds, enjoyable for both, and for those new to either genre.

Review written with thanks to the publishers and Netgalley.co.uk for providing an e-advanced review copy.

The Death I Gave Him is a gripping sci fi thriller, set in a futuristic lab where they have been developing a formula to reverse death. It seems this research is powerful enough to kill for.

The book is written as a retelling of this one fateful night in the lab by a third party, pieced together using a combination of interviews, recordings and commentary. This built the picture up in a really interesting way. Some of the interviews, knowing they were happening after the events of the night we were following, revealed outcomes of certain characters. Whilst this reduced some of the mystery, the tension was still kept high as you waited to see how things would play out to reach that ending.

The Death I Gave Him is a futuristic twist on Hamlet, but I don't think you have to be a massive Shakespeare fan to enjoy this. Whilst those more familiar with Hamlet might enjoy seeing the parallels and different character interpretations, it stands well in its own right as Sci Fi.

I enjoy reading a retelling of a classic story and this is another good one. While there are not all of the same elements of the original story present, this still makes for interesting reading.

Thank you Netgalley and Rebellion Publishing for providing me with this book in exchange for a review.

"Do you want to live because you want to live, or because you’re afraid to die?"

4.5

Oh. My. God. Shakespearean retellings will always do it for me but this one was out of this world.
Not only the locked room setting creates an oppressive atmosphere which leaves you gasping for air, but the intricate relationships also make this a thrilling story, which you cannot help but keep turning the pages. It's fast, it's jarring, and it's tragic; what else would you need?
I highly recommend this book and I hope you pick it up once it's published!

ps. If I'm allowed this, I would have to say that Horatio is now one of my favourite characters ever, and I can't wait for you to meet him.

The Death I Gave him
By Em X Liv
Thank you to netgally. for a copy for an honest review
The story an interesting retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet was also balanced well with being its own thing. The references or 'Easter Eggs' were well done, and a nice surprise for those familiar with Shakespeare's original text.
But sadly, 'the Death I Gave Him' didn't really hook me, while done well at times I found myself bored.
Still would recommend 'The Death I Gave Him'.
.
Rating: 4 stars

This is such an intelligent and punchy way to reimagine Hamlet! A scifi locked room mystery is simplifying it — it plays with your expectations, keeps you coiled in tension, delights by meeting your expectations and them moves on to subvert them. I had such a fabulous time reading this arc, and I cannot wait to buy the book in hard copy once it comes out for the sheer joy of rereading this to savour all the layers. Do yourselves a favour and buy this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of the Death I Gave Him. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

I really wanted to love this (queer hamlet retelling? Sign me up!) but ultimately I felt a little… let down? There wasn’t quite enough Hamlet for me in the end - it hits a lot of the major plot beats (which sort of undermines a plot ‘twist’ later on if you’re familiar with the play) and I enjoyed the spin on both the ‘ghost’ and the play, but some key elements of what makes the play for me were missing - where was the madness? The melancholy (it comes, but frustratingly late)? The betrayal? Hayden and Horatio are interesting takes on both their characters, and whilst I applaud that Felicia is an Ophelia with agency, I found her hard to like - difficult when much of the book is from her POV - and often frustrating to read. The side characters also felt somewhat poorly fleshed out, barely there (poor Paul, aka Polonius, has a handful of lines before he meets his fate and I wanted more friendship, more… anything, really, from the Rosencrantz/Guildenstern stand in). I also disliked the presentation of the story as a book within a book, and whilst this is a clever meta-textual play that reflects the original text (play within a play, etc..), I felt like it added little to my enjoyment of the novel, other than its cleverness. In fact, it actually marred my enjoyment in parts, jerking me out of the story in places, when I found it hard to believe an academic novel would include certain elements of the story, though I enjoyed the camera ‘interludes’ from Horatio. It seemed largely like a justification for including footnotes and the switches between third and first person POV, unnecessarily so. Hamlet occupies the space of the mind a lot - is this real, am I mad, is he mad? - whilst The Death I Gave Him is very in the body, wonderfully dripping with fluids and viscera and gore. I didn’t find the text ‘lyrical’ like some reviewers, but Liu writes skillfully, with confident prose, keeping the text accessible whilst interweaving scientific terms. The story fizzled out a little at the end for me (there were multiple points where I thought we were going to end, then continued on) but the final footnote is deployed beautifully. Overall I didn’t hate it - I just wanted, and expected, something a little different from what I got.

CW: death, blood, graphic violence, self-harm, cutting, needles, murder, suicide ideation

This is pitched as a modern sci-fi version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and me, having never read Hamlet, was slightly worried that would dampen my enjoyment of this book but alas, it did not. Nevertheless, I desperately want to read Hamlet now and go back to this story to compare the two. (Honestly, all I know about Hamlet is the skull and two quotes: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” and, of course, “To be or not to be that is the question.”) My ignorance did not stop me from genuinely enjoying this story, however, and might have even heightened the entertainment value to me. As I do not know the original story structure and how close this book is to the events in the play, I cannot speak to the similarities and if the differences are enough to not make the reading experience at least a little bit boring.

I must admit that generally, I did not necessarily like any of the characters. I definitely felt for them and was hooked on the story and what they would do next and I think that their likability isn’t really the point in this story. The locked-room mystery of who murdered Graham Lichfield was resolved fairly quickly and the mood shifted more towards a thriller, not necessarily my favorite genre but I enjoyed it. I did not predict a few story aspects while seeing other coming from chapters ahead so my reading experience was very balanced and I was unbothered by what I predicted.

The writing was very lyrical and poetic at times while simultaneously being analytical and scientific in other passages which was a very interesting mixture. It was fairly obvious that the author knew what they were talking about concerning various biological processes but I sometimes had to skip through some of the scientific terms.
One aspect I absolutely loved, however, was the structure and frame narrative surrounding the events in Elsinore. I have recently come to the conclusion that I love any stories that more or less obviously include the examination of storytelling and the reliability of its narration which I did find in this book and which led be to think about some passages even long after I’d read them. Additionally, the various formats and perspectives the events get told through and considering it is all compiled by an unknown narrator way after everything happened as a research project contributed to my rumination on what this means for the story.

The sci-fi parts of the story are definitely important but, in my opinion, take a back-seat overall. They are important in the beginning and interspersed throughout the book but I honestly forgot about them for large chunks of the book. Even Horatio, the lab AI, who is prevalent throughout the story was less important in his function as such but more so as a character interacting and having alliances with other characters. The book is predominantly about people and their relationships to each other, mixed with mistrust, vengeance and betrayal between them.

Despite the many positive aspects I enjoyed in this book, I found myself bored at a few points and skim-read a few pages before I became interested again. Additionally, one specific aspect in the second half did not contribute to the overall plot and I was confused why it was included and what its purpose was. Of course, I could come up with some reasoning that would fit in with the characters it involved but still, I was rather surprised to read the concerning passages.

I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the premise, even if you don’t like science fiction normally as it plays a comparatively small role overall. After this book, I will definitely keep my eyes out for future works by Liu.

Interesting retelling of Hamlet. I enjoyed the locked room aspect even though we know the story so that took a little out of the mystery, but we’re still wondering how it all plays out.

The Death I Gave Him feels like the right book at the wrong time for me, I was really hoping for something and this didn't quite hit the mark.

TDIGH is marketed as a modern day queer Hamlet but you can definitely read this if you a) haven't read Hamlet or b) have no interest in the works of Shakespeare, it is a story in its own right it just has a few Easter eggs / hidden nuggets if you are aware of the "original" text.

As I said, not the book for me right now but if the blurb sounds of interest to you then definitely give it a go. The more queer books we have on the market the better!

This was so good! Tense and interesting and very cool. This is a successful retelling, in my opinion, because Liu manages to transcend their source material. Is this queer, futuristic Hamlet? Yes. Is this also unlike anything I've ever read? Yes. Liu is a talented writer who created a fantastically structured story that is all their own. A few things didn't fully land for me, particularly some of the action scenes and minor characters. I was also left with a lot of questions about the world! So many mysteries about the future, and I could have kept reading beyond where Shakespeare's Hamlet ends.
Truly, truly, if anything about this book sounds interesting to you, you should read it!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the e-ARC!

A somewhat futuristic retelling of Hamlet, set in a lab where the author can forego creating a world that is futuristic and instead simply provide the reader with the year here and there as evidence. I prefer my sci-fi to actually be a bit more sci-fi. While the research and science discussed is futuristic, it is also simplistic in description and almost non-existent in the story. This book instead is a study on human nature, focusing on the themes prevalent in Hamlet: revenge, madness, and mortality.

While I did enjoy some parts of this character driven story, I also found the inner monologues at times bordered on the tedious. Maybe that's because I struggled to engage with most of the characters in this book. The most engaging character in this is Horatio, the AI. His exploration into what it is to be human mimics a lot of sci-fi already produced (so not original) but it is well done and compelling. I found the other characters not so compelling. We are told they are all extremely intelligent (well, they are all scientists conducting intricate research) but their actions don't meet that intelligence. None of their actions do. This resulted in one character, Charles, to resemble a villain from a cartoon, so naive were his actions in this story. I guess I had the impression the characters were out of their depth with the situation, which is probably intended in the story. So that was a believable reaction in the book. However, even though I know this is a retelling of Hamlet, I just couldn't engage with the revenge angle. Something about that didn't fit with Hayden's character. His character seemed overly needy and emotionally weak. It didn't match my view of a character strong enough to seek revenge.

We are told this is a locked room thriller. In a way it is. A body is found in a room with seemingly no evidence of a culprit. However, most locked room thrillers are primarily a thriller and the culprit not exposed until the end, if at all. The culprit in this book is exposed a lot earlier and probably comes as no surprise to the reader. As marketing choices go, it's not the best.

I applaud the risk it takes to retell a story such as Hamlet in the setting given in this book. My thoughts are this will be a book for a certain reader. It wasn't sci-fi enough for me, and not enough of a mystery or thriller either. I still enjoyed the story, and wish the book well. It shows the author is willing to work outside the box, which is always exciting, for it means future books will also aim to challenge the audience.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing a free copy of this book. All comments are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Solaris for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Death I Gave Him is a Hamlet retelling if Hamlet was queer, living in a near-future sci-fi hellscape, and trying to master death via scientific advancement. These are all positives, and I found that using a locked down lab gave this a wondrously claustrophobic atmosphere that heightened the tension. Of course, this is a Hamlet retelling, and I think anyone who’s picking this up knows Hamlet, so the point isn’t really “who did it???” (which, granted, at times this feels a bit like a whodunit, except we all know who it was because, again, this is Hamlet we’re talking about). It’s so layered and complex that I am still reeling from how much I enjoyed it!!!

I really loved the way that Liu crafted and framed this. I thought they did an excellent job at using different perspectives to build tension; this is told through essays, camera footage, audio recordings, the occasional text message, footnotes, letters, and a more traditional third person limited perspective. I thought that the switching between all of the forms was seamless and brilliant; there is nothing more delightful to me than seeing an author take creative risks in their storytelling. The tension was exquisite and I tried to squeeze as much of it in as I could in each sitting; oftentimes I would look up and not even realize how far through the ARC I had gotten.

As this is a Hamlet retelling, the themes of the original play are present throughout; madness, life and death, revenge, and so on and so forth, and I thought the concept behind the Sisyphus Formula plays into Shakespeare’s original play. I also appreciated how Liu breathed new and interesting life into the characters, especially Ophelia’s counterpart, Felicia. I liked how she got to diverge the most from the prescribed narrative and really become her own person.

Overall, I loved this! I had a great time and I absolutely adored the kaleidoscopic storytelling. I loved Liu’s prose and the way they’ve remixed the original Hamlet, I enjoyed the sci-fi elements and never wanted to put this down. I’m unsure if I’d go as far as calling it a thriller since I feel this is much more character driven than plot driven and also, again, you know how this ends, you’re here to watch how they got there, and the real delight is watching it all unfold.

A retelling of Hamlet?
A contemporary setting?
Sci-fi elements?
Queer presentation?
A locked room mystery?

Oh my goodness, could Em. X Liu have ticked any more of my favourite boxes?
Her retelling of Hamlet takes place in a science lab, with the protoganist Hayden Lichfield taking on the role of Hamlet. Like the original Hamlet, Hayden finds himself alone with little support after his father's murder. His only ally is Horatio thr AI system. Hayden is aware that the murderer can only be one of four people:
his uncle Charles,
lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen,
research intern Felicia Xia
and their head of security, (Felicia’s father) Paul.
With the help of Horatio, Hamlet begins to investigate the murder, with the danger levels increasing with each passing hour.
I will admit that it took me a few pages to find my pace in this novel, with the discovery of the body and the feedback from Horatio providing a dramatic and fast-moving opening chapter.
Liu has not been afraid to take the premise of such a much-loved work and recreate storyline that manages to incorporate the tension, with dramatic text and yet, make the entire story both fresh and exciting. Buy and add to your reading list ASAP!

I really loved this. I was an English major in college and, in fitting with the stereotype, love me some William Shakespeare. The cover caught my eye first (WOW) and then when I saw it was a locked-room thriller retelling of Hamlet? Yes, please! The ways Liu adapted the familiar play to this new tale and setting were great, and even though I know Hamlet pretty well, this book was still an exciting new story for me. This is going on my purchase list, for sure!