Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Die leuchtenden Toten by Caitlin Starling

12 reviews

zakura317's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Meandering would be a kind way to describe this book. And the two leads have an incredibly toxic and dangerous relationship.

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concertconfetti's review against another edition

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While the character relationships are interesting, I feel like both of them are going in such tight circles around each other. The suspension of belief that the main character would every trust Em is too much - they never seem to build up enough trust to properly hit beats, and I come away from each chapter exasperated with the both of them. It's a thrilling concept, but not for me. 

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smolo1993's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75


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yuyuv's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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ladyinverse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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fictionalportal's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Coming back to add to this review almost eight months after reading the book because I still think about this story. It's an absolutely haunting meditation on grief and the havoc it can wreak on the human psyche. Safe to say I never left the cave besties <3

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boglord's review against another edition

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

4.0


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charley34's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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emmdashed's review against another edition

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

2.5

The blurb favorably compares The Luminous Dead to Annihilation (one of my favorite books I read last year). For the first section I would say that comparison is reasonable: strong science fiction elements, explorers kept in the dark about the true intentions of their mysterious employers, fraught and suspicious relationships, creepy unexplained events and settings. I was really excited to see where The Luminous Dead would go. However as the books continue on they start to diverge, and not in a good way. 

Annihilation was great because I could never quite guess what was about to happen next, but I always wanted to find out. This book I could pretty much figure it out every time and I stopped caring at all. Gyre would wander in a circle, think about how much she hates but doesn't hate Em, do something supremely stupid, get hurt, then blame Em for it. Take your helmet off, rinse it in the sump, repeat ad nauseum. She just does some truly infuriating and foolish things just trying to be defiant (???) or something. I found myself annoyed reading her mental and physical circling while getting nowhere fast. If this book were cut down, removed a lot of this extraneous looping around it would have been a lot better. Maybe the repetition was the goal, to make us feel like Gyre's confused state. However, at a certain point it just becomes tiresome and a slog to read. 

Also frustrating was the relationship between Gyre and Em. Trying to take them from enemies to lovers felt so forced, there was basically no chemistry there outside of trauma bonding. All they do is betray, berate, defy, fight, and control each other and I'm supposed to believe they have feelings for each other? There is probably a way to write this well but..... this is not it. No thanks. 

I think the reason I criticize The Luminous Dead so much is because it had so much potential but it dropped the ball. The writing itself is decent, there were genuinely creepy moments. Whenever the book got into the Science Fiction and worldbuilding elements I really enjoyed it and wanted to know more about this world. Unfortunately the book falls down with characters and plot. 

Tldr: Very cool premise and setup, lots of potential; poor execution and tiresome follow through. Take out about 40% of the circling and the "romance" and the book would have been a lot more enjoyable. 

Pros: 
- Good Hard Sci-Fi
- Cool setting/worldbuilding

Cons: 
- Tiresome characters
- Toxic relationships seemingly portrayed positively
- Too long
- Repetitious
- Seriously though some of the character choices are so had though I still get annoyed thinking about it 

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maudi's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

5.0


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