Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Die leuchtenden Toten by Caitlin Starling

5 reviews

booitsnathalie's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Moderate: Medical trauma and Murder

Minor: Vomit

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug use, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Classism, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Cursing, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Death, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Medical content, Gaslighting, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Murder, Abandonment, Vomit, and Classism

Minor: Suicide and Excrement

Nonconsensual drugging, loss of bodily autonomy. Overdose. Hallucinations, paranoia, surveillance, unreality. Descriptions of bodies in various states of decay. Limb loss.

vasha's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A book for October? The Luminous Dead has ghosts, sort of (their exact nature is unclear), and they are definitely the scary sort, not ones you could have a romance with — nor, friendly ancestors in the tradition of Dia de los Muertos. This is a science-fiction suspense/horror novel about a weeks-long solo descent into a cave that has already killed many — but although dangers and discomforts take a toll on Gyre, the explorer, she’s ultimately less threatened by those than by the mental pressure of having no one to talk to but her one remote-linked handler (one! when it’s normally a team — and why? that turns out to be an important question). Gyre has past issues with abandonment and isolation, and it turns out her employer/handler, Em, is even more emotionally damaged, and has made bad choices that got people killed — they have their figurative ghosts to deal with… is Gyre seeing literal ones too? Em and Gyre struggle with each other, and bond strongly, and it feels like romantic love to them. It’d take a dedicated romance believer to think they’d really be good for each other as a couple after the end of the book. I have seen a remarkable number of long and meaty reviews for this novel, meaning it makes people want to ponder, and write about their ponderings. I'm personally not sure it's as deep as all that; could have been sharpened up with more psychological and sociopolitical acuity (and also would have benefited from being a hundred pages shorter). But worth reading, absolutely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Cursing

kscallahan's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Medical content and Murder

Main character is forcibly/non-consentually drugged multiple times and is manipulated and bribed by the woman who she is working for. The woman is her only contact with the outside world for a long time, is very controlling

and has caused others to die for her own gain. The two women enter a romantic relationship at the end of the book

. The main character also stops being able to trust her senses as the book progresses and is unable to determine how much she can trust herself and the woman she works for