This was one of the most gripping retellings I've read, the story was great it had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened next and the main character was so compelling

A sci-fi retelling of Hamlet, set in the lockdown environment of a laboratory. Well-written, using different points of view and "evidence" for reconstructing the night of the crime, but overall it really wasn't for me. 3 stars (to balance out my disinterest and my appreciation for the artistic effort).

Thank you, Solaris and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Sometimes a cover entices you enough to look into a book without knowing anything about it and oft times you will find yourself being disappointed by the inside material compared to what initially drew you to the book - this book was NOT the case. This book has a very evocative cover, and the writing inside is stunning and laced with poetic notes that had me rereading bits I had just read just to soak up all the feelings that held onto the carefully chosen words.

Bonus points of it being a reimagined Hamlet story, but make it queer and science fiction based. That checks off so many boxes I didn't even know I had.

The Death I Gave Him follows Hayden (our modern day Hamlet) stumbling upon the body of his murdered father in the Elsinore Labs where he works with his uncle Charles, research assistant and ex-girlfriend Felicia Xia, her father and head of security Paul Xia, and technician Gabriel Rasmussen - and one of them is the perpetrator of the grisly murder. Hayden, who idolized his father, is bound and determined to uncover the truth of his father's murder and the conspiracy around it with the help of the labs AI system affectionately named Horatio with whom he shares a deep and intimate connection with. The story lends to its claustrophobic feelings and paranoia with being trapped in a place you once felt the most safe in and where everyone is a suspect and you can't trust anyone in fear.

The format of the book is told in a retelling of events by way of autobiographical notes, transcript logs, camera footage descriptions, and it is done so splendidly that you will find yourself immediately immersed in the mystery and deep dive into all the characters psyches and who they all are to the story as a whole. No one is all good or bad. All the characters are varying shades of grey and landing somewhere on the 'I hate to love to them' scale which made for a compelling read when the tension is high and you left in the dark about where the story was progressing towards. It really helps you understand the overall plot to an extent if you remember the general plot of Hamlet as it follows a similar trajectory but with the welcomed science fiction element added - Shakespeare + Scifi are two things I never thought would works as well as they did here.

I don't want to give away too much about the queer element of the story, but if you know anything about Shakespeare's Hamlet you will already know about the 'close friendship' that Hamlet and Horatio shared. The way it is written is in such an interesting and intimate way in The Death I Gave Him that at first I didn't know how I felt about it until around mid point in the novel and it hit me hard at how well constructed it all was and how attached I was to their connection. If you don't love Horatio by the end I would be very surprised!

I cannot wait for this to come out and I can recommend it to all my Shakespeare sci-fi loving friends who will no doubt devour this in no time!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Rebellion Publishing, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"The Death I Gave Him" is a reworking of Shakespeare's classic tragedy "Hamlet" into a queer sci-fi closed door murder mystery. It's intriguing and classy, I'll give it that, and one of those where sometimes the clever scientific jargon outpaced the plot. The prose was purple-tinged (but never quite tipped off the edge), and yes, just as in the actual 'Hamlet' I found the Ophelia stand-in, Felicia, more intriguing than most of the guys - but on the whole this was well-done, if a little overwrought. Sure, it's Hamlet, 'overwrought' is the assignment, but I admittedly checked out of the some spicier scenes. Was disappointed in the romance wholesale; it seemed superfluous and underbaked. Just because you discovered your father's dead body a few hours before and you're trying to kill your murderous uncle doesn't mean there isn't time for a neuro-mapped handjob, I guess. Nonetheless the book was successful at creating a very interesting mood and high stakes; I enjoyed my time spent with "The Death I Gave Him".

3.5/5

"The neuromapper can preserve your ongoing thoughts, your way of thinking, everything that makes up who you are. I don't think it's farfetched to call that a kind of immortality."

Revenge. Doubt. Morality. Mortality.

If Cronenberg believes surgery is the new sex, then Liu believes artificial-thought-preservation is the new intimacy. Liu offers a fresh spin in an old tale, one wrought with tension on the fronts of dare and desire. Through a flurry of CCTV footage, audio transcripts, letters and footnotes from different perspectives, we get a very rich story with much cinematic quality and fervor.

Locked room action thriller. Part Sci-Fi, part psychological thriller - an intense roller coaster ride of twists and turns. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for this e-ARC in an exchange for an honest review.

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu is a modern retelling of Shakespear's Hamlet with a few twists and turns to make things more interesting. This book is a queer sci-fi thriller in a locked lab and defintely serves an unique layout. The story revolves around Hayden, who finds his father murdered in his own lab. Instead of calling the cops his uncle decides to lock down the lab. The writing is very poetic and is absolutely amazing to read. I enjoyed this very much. The characters were perfectly crafted. It was all over a very good read and I can really recommend this one for old and new Shakespear fans.

This was so cool! A locked room, sci-fi thriller that's also a queer Hamlet retelling? Always sign me up. And this, omg, this absolutely delivered. The tension in this story was palpable, and the writing was *chef's kiss*. This is probably one of my favorite retellings I've ever read, and ever will read. I am beyond excited to get physical copies of this at my library and promote them to patrons! I will also be buying a physical copy for myself, no questions asked! I cannot wait for more from this super talented author.

I struggled to follow this book. The prose was rather confusing, though sometimes pretty. I did not finish the book sadly, but I do see it bring appreciated by the right audience

That writing! That structure! That tension! This queer Hamlet retelling as a locked-room sci-fi thriller is insanely good!!

I needed to recover for a while because the tension was so tangible in every sentence that I felt I had to keep my breath constantly while reading. So, breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out!

Sometimes a book is fantastic because it’s different. Sometimes a book is fantastic because it’s original. Sometimes a book is fantastic because it’s ingenious. And this book has it all. The blunt, lyrical writing and the amazing structure kept me on the edge of my seat. The Death I Gave Him is only covering fourteen hours, but it doesn’t feel that way at all. It’s built up from an essay, camera footage, audio transcripts, letters, footnotes, Horatio’s and Hamlet’s POVs from the neuromapper log, etc., etc. It switches from lyrical, distant third-person prose to a somewhat prickly first-person narrative to objective facts, to transcripts of conversations, and back again. Add a natural trigger warning within the text and an unreal love story that felt so real, and a sensational novel is born!

The Death I Gave Him follows Hamlet’s main themes, like mortality and immortality, revenge, and doubt. There’s science to find solutions to reverse death, there’s ambition and madness to prove it’s possible to relive, there’s revenge for Hayden’s father’s death, and there’s doubt because the question is: who did it and who stole the Sisyphus Formula? But also Hayden’s fears and doubts are central in this magnificent story!

Everyone who knows Shakespeare’s Hamlet also knows Horatio and the deep friendship the two of them had. In this retelling Em X. Liu constructs a relationship full of affection and love that I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t read it myself. Hayden who never felt he was enough and Horatio so caring for the human he loved. So much that tears clouded my eyes in the last part of the story. I almost don’t dare to admit that I fell in love with an AI voice.

Shakespeare would have been proud of this retelling and maybe even jealous! Pick up this book, everyone! It’s phenomenal!

Reworks of Shakespeare plays seem very common currently. Unless you knew the play well I doubt you would recognise it. Sort of=f sci-fi/locked room/Shakespeare mash up. Well written and I admire the author for tackling such a project. Wasn't quite my thing and i did get lost several times. However, I do recommend it as a read and maybe I should read it again in a few years

This is one of those books where I finished it and had to lay on the floor for a little bit while my brain felt like it was turning into a smoothie (this is a good experience). One of my favorite pieces of literature of all time is Hamlet, and as someone who also adores reading about what it means to be human, the effects of being isolated, obsession with a project and queer characters who are just a little bit insane, this book was perfect for me. Our main character and Hamlet stand-in, Hayden Lichfield is the perfect mix of a slightly pathetic college dropout scientist (in fact, he feels a lot like if Victor Frankenstein in that respect, but dare I say much better), and a vengeance seeking murderer for him to be incredibly fun to read about and extremely lovable, and I really love how two of the characters who were given very little agency in the original play have a lot more in this book, as well as a lot more agency, as well as being great characters in general. Overall, this book was amazing, probably one of the best ones that I have read this year.

A modern retelling of hamlet yet with so much more: twists, sci-fi and amazing and unique layout etc. I really enjoyed reading this, especially because of how this was layed out almost like an essay was so intriguing to me, I just love that style. Honestly I have nothing bad to say about this, it hooks you in straight away with amazing writing, a great mystery/thriller leaving you not knowing who to trust. The Death I Gave Him is just a really great read, I highly recommend even if you haven’t read Hamlet it is just *chefs kiss*

3.5

Oh, where to begin with this book... I guess I should start with my rating enjoyment-wise and branch off from there. In the beginning of the book, I had a bit of a hard time getting into the story, as sci-fi thrillers aren't usually the kind of book that I pick up.

I felt a little lost at times with all the scientific terminology and technological explanations, and found it difficult to stay in the flow of the writing. At this point, the book was sitting at a solid 3 stars. But then, the plot took a turn for the better at around the 60% mark. I went from feeling a little bored to being unable to put the book down. From that point on, this book sat at 4 stars, maybe more. And so, I'm evening out my rating by saying that technically it's a 3.5, but I'm willing to round up and just give it the full four.

Sometimes when it came to descriptions of the building, or if characters could or couldn't see or hear each other, it was a little confusing at times and this made certain scenes difficult to imagine, but for the most part it was pretty easy to follow.

In particular, I really like how the book is formatted like a student's essay, taking all their research and compiling it into different chapters from different POVs, and really making the mixed-media type chapters work.

The characters were very compelling and all landed in the morally grey area one way or another. Sometimes you could hate a character but still be rooting for them. Sometimes you could even love a character but understand that it is necessary for them to get hurt. This whole story was such a roller coaster, and a real page turner to boot.

I almost sacrificed sleep last night to finish, but finally was able to pry the Kindle from my hands and go to bed so that I could save reading the ending for the morning when I could finally write a proper review.

So I'd say even if I initially was on the fence about it, I'm glad that I read this because I enjoyed it very much. This book has also opened my eyes to the potential for more books to contain computer programmes having such large personalities that they're even able to fall in love, hmm...

Needless to say, I love Horatio with my whole heart and will probably be thinking about his character for a long time afterwards cause wow. Just wow. Imagining a happy ending where (view spoiler) But still, I am content with the ending that we got, and grateful to have gotten the opportunity to read the ARC.

Definitely will be recommending this one to my friends who love thrillers and sci-fis!

You had me at the cover! I would definitely pick this up in a bookshop. Well developed characters and a cracking storyline make this book a MUST READ for me. A modern retelling of Hamlet with new twists and turns to keep old and new fans of Shakespeare intrigued throughout.
Thank you to Netgalley and the author/publishers for this ARC.

You had me at thriller and Shakespeare.

I think the strongest point of this story is how timeless it seems. It magnificently blurs the past and the present, to the point of not knowing in which moment of time you are.
It is memorable, with very complex and well-structured characters, a story that will leave an impression on everyone who reads it. I definitely recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

First, I’d like to preface this by saying that while I have a ton of interest in this genre (and have recently been on the hunt for more post human, emotionally intelligent AI stories) I have not read many books quite like this. To say I was blown away is a massive understatement!

I am still reeling and grasping for words to thoroughly explain how this book impacted me and everything I write just does not do this book or author any justice. I loved the way this story was put together almost like a research paper; footnotes to explain evidence, citations, insight on what was fact and what was a dramatization created by the narrator - it all came together to create a thrilling story from cover to cover. The authors background in biochemistry was present in the most important yet minor details; but not so in depth it deters readers without subject knowledge. I felt like each piece of evidence was revealed and reviewed in the perfect order to provide clues and context along the way. I do feel like there was some subtle foreshadowing thrown into the mix and by the end of the book I was chomping at the bit to find out if my theories were correct and if the betrayal the cast faced was even deeper than they suspected.

Again, nothing I have written here comes close to giving this author or book justice, it was a stunning read and I am looking forward to getting a physical copy for my personal collection when it’s released in September!

I would advise everyone to seek out TWs before picking up this book. There is material that some may find sensitive or triggering.

Liu's writing is poetic and immersive, drawing readers into a world full of beauty, darkness, and wonder. The characters are well-developed and complex, with Liana standing out as a compelling and multi-faceted protagonist. The novel explores deep themes such as grief, love, and redemption in a thought-provoking and poignant way.

The Death I Gave Him is an outstanding work of fiction that will appeal to readers of all genres. Liu has created a powerful and unforgettable story that will linger in your mind long after you finish the last page.

This is such a unique story and reading experience and I am thrilled that I picked it up! The plot may seem predictable as it is a retelling of Hamlet, but the author ties so many interesting devices and new twists into the story that make it something entirely new as well.
I LOVED the ties to Hamlet, and how mortality and immortality was brought up. The relationship between Hayden and Horatio (the AI) was also surprisingly tender and offered quite a few spice scenes that I was not expecting.
If you are a fan of Shakespeare you will absolutely love this LGBTQ retelling. It is a science fiction thriller but I'm not sure I would recommend it to every thriller lover. When it finds its ideal reader this book will be an instant 5 star read, but I do think that it might not be for the general thriller lover.
Hands down EVERY Shakespeare fan should read this one though!

damn. i did not know what to expect going in - or more like, expected something entirely different because i only read "queer hamlet retelling" and clicked request, but damn. wow. wow.