Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

19 reviews

lavagirl's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I like how unhinged this book gets halfway thru it's way bigger than it seems

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Cancer, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

fsouthworth's review

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Blood

Minor: Body horror

kteliza28's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. Much more than o thought I would. In the first several pages I wasn’t too sure but I got hooked quickly and found myself so curious about the mystery unfolding. As with most YA, the romance development was kind of erratic and unlikely though throughout the book, things start making more sense. At times, hard to follow descriptions. Given this is a science fiction, there’s times when the environment just isn’t easy to imagine and the verbiage is confusing but the story is fantastic and keep you wanting to find out more.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Blood, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

fillen04's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The first time in all my 20 years of consuming media and fiction, I actually cried. The plot was beautiful and so carefully crafted, every foreshadowing and callbacks felt real. The relationship between Ambrose and Kodiak is something i would could never describe without ruining the book integrity. I have never experienced something so raw and real as this book, it made me reflect on the struggles of the earth and just made me feel. For the first time I am feeling, and only feeling. Thank you world for giving me this opportunity to read this book, thank you.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Minor: Blood and Body horror

wheatlyre's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Sexism, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Racism, War, Transphobia, and Homophobia

harrower's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Medical trauma, Body horror, Death, Terminal illness, and Murder

avacadosocks's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Murder, Sexual content, Cancer, Confinement, Medical content, Body horror, and Terminal illness

Minor: War, Gore, Suicide, and Vomit

emesfiz_28's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, Grief, Suicide, Violence, Cancer, Death, Confinement, and Body horror

Minor: Sexual content

annikaa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Death, Grief, Suicide, Vomit, Excrement, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Violence, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Xenophobia and War

Minor: Misogyny

modernathos's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Honestly? What a great read to start the year with. This book was gifted to me by my best friend and unlike anything I've ever read before in all the good ways.

The first hundred or so pages were quite slow to me, but once the story gets going it is absolute insanity to the very end and you cannot put it down anymore. Schrefer tricks his readers as much as

OS tricks our characters

, therefore this book will haunt me forever.

I do have to say that the romance felt a bit forced or too fast at times. Maybe it is because I found both Ambrose and Kodiak hard to connect to. Don't get me wrong, I loved it once the plot really got going, but if we'd had the chance to learn a bit more about our spacefarers' past, especially Kodiak, even though

both of them turn out to be clones

, the

repeated deaths of the main characters and the

end of the book would have hit just a bit harder and better than it already did.

I've seen The Darkness Outside Us be described as a story that "smashes your heart and puts it back together" and ultimately, I agree with that statement and have nothing else to add to it.

Rep: queer MC, poc MC, non-binary mentioned character
December 24th, 2022 - January 2nd, 2023 

"When adoration is selfish, it's not going anywhere." - Ambrose Cusk, part 1.

"Welcome to Minerva."

"I couldn't have written about the love of a lifetime without first experiencing one with [my husband]." - Eliot Schrefer, acknowledgements.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Medical content, Blood, Murder, Cancer, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide, Confinement, Self harm, Sexual content, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: War and Death of parent