Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

101 reviews

delz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

5.0

Ambrose and Kodiak are alone on a ship hurtling through space. Their mission is to rescue Minerva, Ambrose’s sister,  but they discover the mission is a lie. I really can’t say much except there’s a bit of a mystery, the two boys are very attracted to one another and the OS, which uses Ambrose’s mom’s voice is terrifying. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, and Death

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: War and Suicidal thoughts

char42's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Firstly: This is not a Young Adult book! It could be maybe be called “New Adult” but I’d recommend for all ages 16+.

‘The Darkness Outside Us’ is a deeply moving and challenging book, a well-executed and original take on several key sci-fi tropes including <evil AI spaceship> and <clones / regeneration>. Schrefer build the tenfold beautifully and excruciatingly. The romance is believable and tender, without getting in the way of individual character development. I have some small nitpicks in terms of the continuity of character development (due to the central plot twist of the book) but given the unique plot, Schrefer managed to keep the character development mostly coherent and believable (which is a real feat considering the central premise). A beautiful and challenging sci-fi book, which feels miscategorised as Young Adult. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Cancer, Vomit, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

Minor: Genocide and Child death

corriejn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Gaslighting

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Cancer

Minor: Vomit, Blood, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Sexual content

emesfiz_28's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual content

five_rats_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Cancer

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Excrement, and Medical content

This book was an emotional roller coaster, I'm going to have to sit with it for a bit and when I'm done orocessing I can't wait to reread it. The big plot twist was perfectly executed, you get the exact amount of information to be able to guess, but not enough to fully know what's coming, it was a perfect mix of "Oh shit, I think x is what's happening" and "what the fuck is going on". If you like sci-fi thrillers with horror elements I highly recommend this book, what an amzing read. I listened to the audiobook and if that's your cup of tea you should give it a listen, the narrator did an amazing job voicing the main characters and his imitation of different robot voices made me giggle a couple of times! Beware of the warnings though, this book can get very heavy at times and has some content that could be triggering. The ending was absoluoltely worth the tears I cried though, 5/5 stars

livlamentloathe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

Fascinating. I didn’t stop thinking about this while reading—it just moved to my subconscious and then came back anytime it was relevant again. Heavier than many of the other SciFi books I’ve read. When I got home, and before I turned off my car, I often had to just sit there, over-emotional, before pausing it to continue about my day/night. Especially in the final third of the book, I was struggling with a lot of the thoughts of Ambrose on his journey.

This also introduced many new concepts to me that I wish we had on our Earth in 2023.

Like the discussion of gender and homophobic and top/bottom dynamics.

There was also a paragraph where Ambrose considered “love” and his preconceived notions of what it is and is meant to be—this actually helped my autistic brain to better rationalize the differences between media-based interpretations of love and what I’ve genuinely experienced.

This book was raw and honest in a way I don’t often see in sci-fi. I mean, I’m biased as I don’t consume a ton of science fiction, but I find a lot of the tech and discussion to be pretentious and unnecessarily complex, but this was relatable and real and genuine. I really enjoyed following the relationship of Ambrose and Kodiak. And I’ll almost miss them.

Highly recommend to anyone who likes Sci-Fi and dislikes gender/sexuality binaries. To anyone who wants to better understand love and what it means to be human.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, and Confinement

Moderate: Death and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cancer, and Abandonment

ollie_again's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, and Cancer

Moderate: Murder, Gaslighting, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, Grief, and Blood

lets_b_libros's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

5.0

sobbed so so hard multiple times. The lives they lived, and lost…. UGH SO sad and moving

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Confinement, Medical content, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Vomit, Terminal illness, War, and Xenophobia

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

---

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

augustar14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

Another gay space story where something isn't quite right. That being said, I didn't see the twist/what wasn't right coming. Don't recommend reading before bed- there's no good place to put it down. This book makes you think about what it means to be human, to connect with another. It explores what someone will do to survive, and to save the one they love.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Murder, Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Medical content, and Transphobia