The Death I Gave Him

By: Em X. Liu

Narrated by: Catherine Ho

A lyrical queer sci-fi retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet as a locked-room thriller

A Twenty-First Century Hamlet.

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. Hoping to lure the killer into the open, Hayden steals the research. In the process, he uncovers a recording his father made in the days before his death, and a dying wish: Avenge me…

With the lab on lockdown, Hayden is trapped with four other people—his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia and their head of security, Felicia’s father Paul—one of whom must be the killer. His only sure ally is the lab’s resident artificial intelligence, Horatio, who has been his dear friend and companion since its creation. With his world collapsing, Hayden must navigate the building’s secrets, uncover his father’s lies, and push the boundaries of sanity in the pursuit of revenge.

©2023 Em X. Liu (P)2023 Recorded Books

A sci-fi send-up of Hamlet

The Death I Gave Him by Em X Liu is an inventive, sci-fi send-up of Hamlet centered on Ophelia's (Felicia's) point of view and giving Horatio (the lab's AI) a more prominent role. The epistolary architecture of the book is updated to include audio-visual records, magazine interviews, and mind streams. The author offers postmodern meditations on the themes of death, family, legacy, and meaning found in the original. Narrator Catherine Ho does the hard work of bringing the narrative to life through all its voices and formats. An imaginative journey for sure...

Not for Me

I was underwhelmed by this one. I like the concept for this retelling, but I feel like the final version didn’t achieve what I was hoping for. Realistic sci-fi isn’t always easy, and I do feel like some of these concepts were accomplished well.

Unfortunately, I think the format of the story made it less tense than I wanted. It was isolating and removed the emotion from the story. This story would have done better from a stable first or third person perspective.

Mild spoilers: I felt that Horatio and Haden’s relationship was unnecessary. It felt salacious, instead of interesting. I don’t love romantic subplots though, so this may be a personal preference.

I loved the way the “ghost” was done and wish the book had leaned more into the sci-fi horror vibes. Liu captured these elements well and I’d love to read her take on this genre.

Blah characters, predictable plot, flat narration

Shakespeare and scifi? Love the idea. Didn't love the execution. I got about halfway through but realized I didn't care about the characters at all. I couldn't even figure out where the "queer" relationship figured into the plot. It also seemed clear to me that the resolution of the "mystery" wasn't going to differ from that of Hamlet. So . . . moved on to my next read without finishing.

[I listened to this as an audio book read by Catherine Ho. It's possible her completely dispassionate reading contributed to my boredom with this book.]