- General thoughts
Unfortunately this book was a disappointment. I was really excited to read it, for one because it's a Hamlet retelling and also because the premise and setting sounded interesting. The main thing that really bogged down the book for me were the characters, they fell really flat for me and I just couldn't bring myself to care for them.
- Positives
The concept is really interesting.
The setting is cool.
Hamlet retelling.
Mixed media format. The book is presented from the point of view of a grad student who has put together the events of the night but is interspersed with documents and evidence they found. There are also footnotes.
- Negatives
Although the book is only 350 pages it really drags and feels a lot longer.
The characters feel really flat and underdeveloped.
This book is marketed as a 'locked room mystery' but it's not. To be fair, it's probably hard to write Hamlet as a mystery but the answer is literally given to us at the beginning of the book. Calling this a mystery seems disingenuous to me.
I was very confused about why this book is labeled as queer. I assume it's supposed to refer to the relationship between the main character Hayden and the artificial intelligence Horatio. I found this to be disappointing since this is the only 'queer' relationship in the book and one of the parties is a sentient building. Also like all the characters, their relationship was incredibly undeveloped. Calling this book queer feels very strange to me especially since Hayden spent most of the book running around and making out with his ex girlfriend...

I initially requested this ARC because I was working for a Shakespeare company and wanted more options for merch/book clubs.Now that I no longer work there, I'm pleased to say I till found this a phenomenal read. This futuristic, queer sci-fi thriller - with shades of Hamlet - is one of the most inventive and fascinating books I've read in a long time. I found it incredibly impressive as a debut novel. The structure was well engineered, the characters fleshed and realized, the emotions raw and visceral. This one is going to settle in my noggin for a good long while as I anxiously await more from Liu.

The Death I Gave Him is a weird book. A SciFi, locked-room mystery reimagining of Hamlet, the story is bizarre, tense, and incredibly intriguing. Though I enjoyed the story I am not sure that it lived up to its potential (or honestly its marketing).

The Death I Gave Him is told retrospectively through a series of transcripts, data logs, interviews, and testimonies. Footnotes from a graduate student are interspersed throughout the book giving the reader a peek into the future impact of the events at Elsinore Labs. This unique structure compliments the bizarre and chaotic nature of the plot.

Though there is a murder mystery plot it contributes little to the overall tension of the story because the killer is obvious from very early on. Instead, the plot is driven almost entirely by the frantic actions of its characters as they scramble to protect the key to immortality and react to a murder. These characters all cracked long before the doors to Elsinore Labs sealed shut and, in this paranoid isolation of the lockdown, they are moments away from shattering. Both afraid for and afraid of these characters, I could not look away from the story.

Hayden (Hamlet) is a depressed, paranoid, PATHETIC man who is petrified by the thought of his death. Set on an impossible mission of revenge by his murdered father, Hayden rapidly spirals toward madness. Though he is the main character he is portrayed less as a character and more as an object of obsession. I have mixed feelings on this approach. I wanted more of his perspective but it was interesting to explore how other characters perceive him. He is infuriating and irrational but also passionate and brilliant. He is truly a fascinating character to read about.

Felicia (Ophelia) is a powerful contrast to Hayden’s indecisiveness. Her perspective is overwhelmed by the icy rage that she feels towards everyone in the story, including herself. She is decisive and quick to action though she doesn't always know how to control or direct her feelings. The retrospective format of her chapters highlights the conflicting feelings of love and hate that she has for Hayden.

This book’s weakness is also the reason I picked it up. And that is Horatio. If you are going to have a sentient AI major character then commit to it. There are moments between Horatio and Hayden that I was intrigued by but they feel completely disconnected from the story because Horatio is not a fully developed concept. He doesn't do anything other than pine after Hayden. He is a fully sentient AI that has almost total control of a state-of-the-art lab that is attempting to cure death. And this book did NOTHING with that. His relationship with Hayden is also basically fully developed before the start of the book so the reader doesn't get any sense of the connection between them. This leaves some of the more emotional moments, especially the ending, feeling hollow. It is especially disappointing that I was underwhelmed by this aspect of the book because I feel like it was a major part of the marketing. Yes, this book is weird, but it needed to be weirder.

The Death I Gave Him is a stressful, spiral of a book with fascinating characters. Unfortunately, it didn’t do enough with some of its most intriguing concepts. If it had gone just a bit further this honestly could have been one of my favorite books of all time.

i find this type of trying-too-hard to be clever sci-fi to be irksome at the best of times, i just found the narration grating.

Full disclosure: I have never actually read nor know anything about Hamlet. The Death I Gave Him is a sci-fi re-imagining of Hamlet that begins with Hayden finding the dead body of his father in the lab they have been working in together. The entirety of the book takes place over one evening/night following the discovery of Hayden's father, with the cast of characters locked in the building. I don't mind this type of story but I do find it makes it harder to develop characters and the relationships between them. There were some flashbacks, which helped, but I felt like I needed more time with these characters to truly care enough about them. For me, that was one of the biggest issues I had with this book. Some of the dialogue also felt a little unrealistic rather than natural. On the positive side, the mystery was intriguing enough and the anticipation of how the evening would unfold kept me hooked. A promising book from a young author, I think their work will only get better from here.

Helped me to love/appreciate Hamlet! Loved the research facility setting. I do think at least some knowledge of hamlet is important going in.

As an obnoxious Hamlet stan, I have read a lot of bad retellings. Thankfully this is not one of them. The Death I Gave Him is very clearly written by someone who both understands what makes Hamlet a story worth coming back to for literally hundreds of years and has a clear sense of how they were going to iterate on that story in a new and exciting way.

This book was wacky. From the plot structure to the medical body horror elements to the AI who’s in love with the main character, it brings a lot of refreshing elements to a story that many of us know and love. The actual story takes place in a near-future world with near-future technological advancements, but it’s compiled through transcripts and court documents and shown to us through the lens of someone living far into the future, after the events of the story have taken place. I think this was a really effective way to introduce the uncertainty and unreliability of the narrator that Hamlet is known for—the “author” of the book states that they’ve taken creative liberties with the subject matter, so we can’t know for sure if their portrayals of any of the characters are accurate.

I also think The Death I Gave Him did a fantastic job of contending with something that many other Shakespeare retellings struggle with: giving agency back to the female main characters in a way that feels authentic. It’s one thing to say “Ophelia should be a more active character”; it’s another thing to write that into your novel without tipping it into cheesy Girl BossTM territory, and Em X. Liu successfully manages to give a significant amount of narrative power to the women of this story while still portraying them in ways that felt natural.

The pitch "inventive, queer sci-fi Hamlet retelling" was made for me, so I was excited to get into this, and it held up for the most part. Although the writing didn't fully capture my attention, I did highlight several gorgeously-written passages. The locked-room mystery wasn't so much about the murder (the killer is fairly obvious from the beginning) than about how devastating the aftermath would be, how far these characters were willing to go. I also found the immortality theme to be incredibly interesting, especially in the context of biotech and artificial intelligence versus the very human fear of dying. The characters are where this fell a bit flat for me. I wasn't as invested in Hayden as the narrative wanted me to be, and everyone else remained fairly static throughout - even during Felicia's supposed changes of loyalty, I never really doubted her character, which took away some of the strength of the ending. (Part of this is on me, because I was going through a huge reading slump and took a break for a couple months halfway through, which threw me off during the second half.)
Overall, The Death I Gave Him is still an original, dynamic book that I'd recommend to anyone interested in queer Hamlet, themes of artificial intelligence and immortality, and a fresh twist on a locked-room story,

I didn't like this book much but that's definitely a me problem. I'm not too big a fan of syfy and have been trying to find more stories in the genre that I'll love. When I saw the premise of this one, I was immediately intrigued by the queer Shakespearen plot. Sadly, I ended up DNFing the book about 50% in.

Really great book with amazing characters and a great plot. Was easy to get into and it was very engaging. This is a book that I can see a lot of people in YA enjoy.

DNF at 45%. The book blurb is misleading, i couldn't get into the story or connect with the characters. No sign of queer rep so far

This is an undeniably smart novel and a very clever retelling in more ways than one, However, it didn't capture my attention enough to really feel as though I was getting the best reading experience out of it.

You know those books that you read and love so much that it's hard to find the words to convey your emotions and just end up begging people to read it instead? The Death I Gave Him is one of those books for me. I love it so, so much that I'm not really sure where to start, or if I even should because I think the story is so much better going in and not knowing what would happen next, knowledge of Hamlet aside of course.

This book took my heart and built it anew just for the sake of crushing it to see what would happen. I imagine throwing myself into the sun would have had a similar affect, but less painful because at least I wouldn't be around to suffer the consequences. Instead, I sit here in emotional turmoil and wish I could crawl back through the crevices of the words until I was at the start of the novel, and read it again for the first time. Liu has mastered crafting characters and their motives and fears and facades, building them up until they destroy one another - or themselves - in a way that takes you apart with them.

Read this book. Cry over it and then buy it for your friends, your family and maybe even your enemies.

"The Death I Gave Him" fulfills its promise as a lyrical, queer sci-fi retelling of Hamlet set in a 2050s locked-room thriller. Em X. Liu's love for Shakespeare shines through, offering a fresh take on the classic play. The reimagining rather than a strict retelling adds depth, especially in the evolution of characters like Horatio and Felicia. The sci-fi elements align with Shakespearean themes, and the lyrical narration resonates strongly with classic plays. Overall, the book's creative and original approach is likely to find a devoted audience appreciating Liu's unique perspective on tragedy.

This book was so good! It was intriguing and really drawed me in. I'll be reading more of this authors work.

A fantastic, insightful (and slightly heartbreaking) reimagining of Hamlet in a sci-fi setting.

Liu’s lyrical, beautiful prose brings new emotional resonance to this well-trodden tragic tale. An insightful reimagining of a classic.

3.stars If you’re familiar with Hamlet then a lot of elements in this story won’t come as a surprise. There are a couple of deviations from the tragedy though, particularly with the ending. I found The Death I Gave Him to be a compelling locked-room mystery/revenge tale. I liked the added sci-fi elements, it made for a very unique re-telling. I also quite enjoyed the relationship between Hayden and the AI program Horatio. They were the heart of the book for me. Things did drag in the middle and the book lost a little suspense for me since I knew coming in who the murderer was since it’s following the story of Hamlet. Additionally, I was a bit ambivalent with the ending and I’m not sure if I’m satisfied with how it concluded. Overall, you’ll enjoy this if you’re a fan of science fiction, locked room mysteries, or Hamlet.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this advanced copy.

Sheakspeare retelling with scifi... Just perfect!

"What does revenge mean, to a body?"

Sharp as a scalpel, The Death I Gave Him plays exquisitely with the tension between the freedom of a retelling, and the fatalistic inevitability of a well-known story. It's Hamlet through a shattered mirror, distorted and refracted. The story is dissected and reassembled with such tenderness and brutality, you come out the other side gasping for breath. It's ambitious, and more than lives up to its own lofty aims, with a gorgeously crafted structure and deft, masterful prose. I truly cannot recommend this book highly enough; taut and visceral, haunting and achingly brilliant.

Thank you to Rebellion Publishing for the advance review copy!

Original and wholly entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where sci-fi and thrillers are popular.