Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Die leuchtenden Toten by Caitlin Starling

27 reviews

shiny_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

1.25

This really didn't do it for me. It started out with tons of potential, but then seemed content to settle into a very repetitive structure of bickering dialog and sump diving scenes that blurred together into a muddy, poorly described silt out. 

It tried to tease out its most interesting questions until answering them in extremely flat and unsatisfactory ways. The romantic elements have potential at first, but

their relationship dynamic never truly evolves beyond a toxic, back and forth blame game and gives no indication this has changed by the end

.

The most horrifying about things this book were the maturity level of the characters, the continuous bad decision making that stemmed from that, and the absurd gaslighting they put each other through. These are, ostensibly, two professional women in their 20s -

one of whom has been running and innovating a massive business for a decade at this point

- but they act like angsty teens plucked straight out of a YA novel.

It's not a complete wash up, and I'm sure lands better with some people than it did me. But it's far from the same league as The Martian or Annihilation, like the description implies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

silverheartbookclub's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror

Moderate: Abandonment and Death of parent

eldritch_archivist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Gave me real life anxiety reading this, absolutely shitting myself during the back half. I'm now much more afraid to read more books by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicide, Classism, and Cursing

kennabrooke's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Gaslighting

sarah984's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

A slow but tense book about a woman who gets more than she bargained for signing up for a mysterious underground expedition with a paycheque that was too good to be true. I liked the descriptions of the caving itself and the push and pull between the main characters, the caver and her handler. I do think Em wound up being a bit too soft

(and it's sort of weird imo that she's so young considering she's already sent over 20 expeditions into this cave by the time Gyre tries it) and the Tunneler was scarier before the baffling decision near the end to force a confrontation with it

but overall great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Animal death, and Body horror

hybridpubscout's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

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.

sargasso_c's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

3.0

The writing was very good, but as a whole the book rambled. It would start threads, abandon them for chapters and chapters, and then hurriedly try to tie them up when the main character was nearing the natural end of their journey. Contradictingly, some major plot points were not foreshadowed properly.

Even so - the writing style was quite enjoyable and this isn't at all bad for a debut novel.

The wlw representation was extremely satisfying to read, and I'm delighted that none of the conflicts centered around the queerness of the main characters.

I'm interested in reading more work from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Body horror, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Vomit

Minor: Gaslighting

rachaeldamms's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-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

This was such a claustrophobic read, and I loved every second. Caves and being underground rank high on my phobia list and I've never read a book like this before. The author does such a fantastic job of world-building and making you feel like you are in the suit with Gyre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Medical content, and Gaslighting

nerdinthelibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

annihilation: who are you?
the luminous dead: i'm you but better and stronger in every way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Toxic relationship, and Body horror

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit