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aranmn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
What I liked: the atmosphere, the horror aspect, the sci-fi elements, the originality of the setting. What I didn't like: the characters; they read very juvenile and melodramatic.
If you can get past the characters and like slow-paced, psychological horror, I would say this novel is totally worth a read, though. I personally enjoyed it quite a lot even though I can see why many people don't.
If you can get past the characters and like slow-paced, psychological horror, I would say this novel is totally worth a read, though. I personally enjoyed it quite a lot even though I can see why many people don't.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Body horror, Abandonment, and Gore
Moderate: Vomit
disnelyse's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Body horror
Moderate: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
smarzipan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Drug use, Medical trauma, Vomit, Death, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, and Grief
cryptidenthusiast's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror
marleens's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed the setting of the story. Despite the detailed descriptions of the spaces, I did have some trouble properly picturing everything, but I liked the overall sense of darkness and isolation and small spaces to squeeze through. The survival element of dwindling resources was well done. The tension was high throughout, mainly because of all the emotions of main character Gyre. I was let down by the end though. In the second half the scary creepy vibes increased, and that got my hopes up for a satisfying ending but I didn’t really feel like we got that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Vomit, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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
5.0
I am fine and definitely not afraid
*checks over shoulder*
*checks over shoulder*
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Vomit, Death of parent, Abandonment, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
pocketsknight's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I liked this well enough, but I was expecting to adore it. So comparatively, I am still disappointed.
On paper, this has everything I love: ruthless women who are also the main characters, a lot of focus on a deep but antagonistic relationship, a creepy atmosphere...
But for some reason it never clicked. Despite the ordeals Gyre had to go through, I never truly did get attached to her. Or to Em.
Now, this isn't a criticism to the author's writing abilities: I simply believe her writing style may not agree with me all the way. That's fine. It happens. It's a shame that this happened to an author who has such compeling ideas.
I will keep an eye on what she writes in the future. I won't read everything, but if one of her books seem compelling enough I will try again.
On paper, this has everything I love: ruthless women who are also the main characters, a lot of focus on a deep but antagonistic relationship, a creepy atmosphere...
But for some reason it never clicked. Despite the ordeals Gyre had to go through, I never truly did get attached to her. Or to Em.
Now, this isn't a criticism to the author's writing abilities: I simply believe her writing style may not agree with me all the way. That's fine. It happens. It's a shame that this happened to an author who has such compeling ideas.
I will keep an eye on what she writes in the future. I won't read everything, but if one of her books seem compelling enough I will try again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Body horror
kaiju_krispies's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.0
I told storygraph that I was interested in dark stories involving unreliable narrators, complicated power dynamics between women, in dystopian settings, with a side of horror, grief, and hurt/comfort. Proving that their algorithm fucking works, it suggested The Luminous Dead.
Truthfully, the book suffers a little for want of a slightly more experienced author. The pacing of the overall story comes out all right, but the pacing of individual scenes often isn't. This mostly came through in feeling that a particular scene could very easily have been much scarier or horrifying than it actually was. The theme is set up so well to touch on extremely common fears, yet flies through descriptions of those scenarios so fast that there isn't time to build up those feelings to their full extent. Describe the sensation of being trapped by your own horrific exoskeleton in a fat man squeeze! or the fear of falling and wedging headfirst into a narrow hole! There are so many true stories of actual cavers and cave divers dying in the saddest, scariest ways to have drawn inspiration from; my hands are sweatier from reading the Nutty Putty Cave Wikipedia page than they ever were from The Luminous Dead. It also wouldn't be the worst thing to include a little more exposition for those who don't know much about climbing in general--I do happen to know the difference between a cam and a bolt and the pros/cons of each, but not every reader will, and there's again some benefit in building up tension this way.
The author does get this right with the body horror aspects. So much description of the stomach cannula and the horror of being trapped in goo and unable to even scratch your own nose!
The characters are not completely believable. Their motives feel a little flimsy and tend to change at opportune moments to justify the plot continuing. There are points at which the characters--Gyre especially--act so stupidly that it felt like a letdown.Starting a fire in the graveyard sump springs to mind, as does purposefully fighting the Tunneler--maybe the Tunneler is just a symptom of the cave's desire to keep Gyre, but the fire felt like recklessness for no reason. Ah and wading through the spores too, and doing the water exchange in moldy water.
All that said, I devoured the book. I looked forward every time to reading more and was genuinely invested in these broken characters, their awful emotions, and their ultimate conclusion. It was an enjoyable, interesting read, and I think this is why some of my criticisms feel harsher than they are meant to. The premise is so good, and the themes so specifically of interest to me in particular, that I wanted it to live up to its fullest potential. It didn't quite, and that's all right! I hope the author has more books left in her, and that they have equally degenerate premises but with the weight of more experience and lessons learned behind them. Linger on the things that make your readers sweat!
Truthfully, the book suffers a little for want of a slightly more experienced author. The pacing of the overall story comes out all right, but the pacing of individual scenes often isn't. This mostly came through in feeling that a particular scene could very easily have been much scarier or horrifying than it actually was. The theme is set up so well to touch on extremely common fears, yet flies through descriptions of those scenarios so fast that there isn't time to build up those feelings to their full extent. Describe the sensation of being trapped by your own horrific exoskeleton in a fat man squeeze! or the fear of falling and wedging headfirst into a narrow hole! There are so many true stories of actual cavers and cave divers dying in the saddest, scariest ways to have drawn inspiration from; my hands are sweatier from reading the Nutty Putty Cave Wikipedia page than they ever were from The Luminous Dead. It also wouldn't be the worst thing to include a little more exposition for those who don't know much about climbing in general--I do happen to know the difference between a cam and a bolt and the pros/cons of each, but not every reader will, and there's again some benefit in building up tension this way.
The author does get this right with the body horror aspects. So much description of the stomach cannula and the horror of being trapped in goo and unable to even scratch your own nose!
The characters are not completely believable. Their motives feel a little flimsy and tend to change at opportune moments to justify the plot continuing. There are points at which the characters--Gyre especially--act so stupidly that it felt like a letdown.
All that said, I devoured the book. I looked forward every time to reading more and was genuinely invested in these broken characters, their awful emotions, and their ultimate conclusion. It was an enjoyable, interesting read, and I think this is why some of my criticisms feel harsher than they are meant to. The premise is so good, and the themes so specifically of interest to me in particular, that I wanted it to live up to its fullest potential. It didn't quite, and that's all right! I hope the author has more books left in her, and that they have equally degenerate premises but with the weight of more experience and lessons learned behind them. Linger on the things that make your readers sweat!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, and Confinement
Minor: Vomit
raincloud35's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Abandonment, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Body horror
shadowspinner's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Confinement, and Body horror
Moderate: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders