Reviews with content warning for Cancer - The Darkness Outside Us

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

101 reviews

schnaucl's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I liked it, though the ending felt a little unearned.

It just seems far too risky to bet the whole of humanity on two people to raise a bunch of embryos. There's just a limit to the number of kids any two people can raise, especially if there's no other support (besides the AI). There's no community that can help. They had no way of knowing what conditions on the planet would be like. There might have been predators, they may not have been able to grow food, and yeah, I'm sure the ship had some food on it, but it wouldn't last forever, and they had no way of knowing what the weather or soil conditions would be like. I was willing to go with it until that point.

And the embryo reveal up just as I was thinking and the point of all this is...? since two men obviously can't reproduce. Although I suppose if there's cloning technology maybe there is a way. But the point is, sending only two people who we've already seen will probably die early deaths from radiation poisoning to raise a bunch of embryos on a completely unknown planet just seems like too fragile a hope to pin the survival of humanity on.

I did like the rest of it though. It was genuinely shocking when they were murdered the first time, and when they murdered the rest of their clones.

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rabidkermit's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective 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

thinking about this book again and it's like being shot in the face and then eaten by bears. i love it.

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rey_therese07's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

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mxdegroot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Honestly? What a great read to start the year with. This book was gifted to me by my best friend and unlike anything I've ever read before in all the good ways.

The first hundred or so pages were quite slow to me, but once the story gets going it is absolute insanity to the very end and you cannot put it down anymore. Schrefer tricks his readers as much as

OS tricks our characters

, therefore this book will haunt me forever.

I do have to say that the romance felt a bit forced or too fast at times. Maybe it is because I found both Ambrose and Kodiak hard to connect to. Don't get me wrong, I loved it once the plot really got going, but if we'd had the chance to learn a bit more about our spacefarers' past, especially Kodiak, even though

both of them turn out to be clones

, the

repeated deaths of the main characters and the

end of the book would have hit just a bit harder and better than it already did.

I've seen The Darkness Outside Us be described as a story that "smashes your heart and puts it back together" and ultimately, I agree with that statement and have nothing else to add to it.

Rep: queer MC, poc MC, non-binary mentioned character
December 24th, 2022 - January 2nd, 2023

"When adoration is selfish, it's not going anywhere." - Ambrose Cusk, part 1.

"Welcome to Minerva."

"I couldn't have written about the love of a lifetime without first experiencing one with [my husband]." - Eliot Schrefer, acknowledgements.

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anil's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Hey uhm: what the fuck?! And y'all just let me read this? Let me just go into this with NO idea what I was in for! 'this book is best if you don't know anything about it' THAT MAY BE BUT ALSO MAYBE THIS BOOK AT ITS BEST IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING AND ALSO DEVASTATING??!
I've also seen it described as smashes your heart then puts it back together but I'm still waiting on that second one must've missed it.

I'm not saying it's a bad book it's kind of great I just hated it.

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sunshinesyst3m's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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galleytrot's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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mandkips's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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planetesastraea's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

The Darkness Outside Us is an easy read. I struggled reading through my previous book which was much more slow paced so this one was a real breather. It doesn't give you time to get bored.
Ambrose's point of view gives us a funny, light-hearted and candid introduction to this world. He's silly and dorky and impetuous at times, which makes the story even sharper as Ambrose's different experiences of the world shape him.

I've always loved stories that repeat themselves- let it be through repetitive flashbacks, dreams, or even tales of reincarnation.
Schrefer uses this tool with great skill, some obvious foreshadowing details making the subtle, discreet ones even more delightful as the story unravels.

I didn't know what to expect of this book except "two boys in space fall in love". I certainly didn't expect the dark and twisted turns, the profound questioning of existence, and what makes a life worth living.
It had a lot more in store than I thought and I can't say I was disappointed.

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ilkaohnem's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious

4.75

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