Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - The Darkness Outside Us

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

72 reviews

mxdegroot's review against another edition

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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capt_avantika's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

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the_tea_collector22's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Space queer teens wrestling with existential questions of “what does it mean live?”, or to have a purpose, is that where our definition of existence begins and ends.
Incredibly well crafted with great tonal shifts. The less you know about the story the better it is, I went in barely knowing what it was about except for it being a space book, and that is the right way to go. A new instant favorite.

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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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orchidd's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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paulawind's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-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

2.25

It’s perfectly average sci-fi, getting brownie points for trying to be diverse. Nice spot in the ya genre but I guess I’m-too seasoned in sci-fi genre to find any of the plot points here novel.

I liked how they pondered upon different reactions the clones would have upon discovering that they are clones but existential dilemmas are the backbone of sci-fi so I could predict most of the action and plot twists. Was it still an enjoyable read? Yeah but I’m not going to rave about it. Maybe I’m too old for this? Or too “polsci grad” for the mentioning of Plato’s allegory of the cave to seem nuanced? I liked how it asked the questions what should our fate be as individual humans in history. Felt like this book learned a bit too much into being American selfish no matter what because let’s be honest - the fact that the humanity wasn’t doomed after they killed all but the last pair of clones is sheer luck. Just because they wanted to live few extra years they almost made humanity die out. Typical neoliberal propaganda

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