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planetesastraea's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: War, Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Homophobia, and Xenophobia
mswarning's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, and Mental illness
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Homophobia, Suicide, Sexual content, Sexism, Cancer, Vomit, Grief, and Misogyny
Minor: War, Confinement, and Death of parent
miaaaahh's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
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
I literally have no words other than it was an emotional rollercoaster. Just read this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, Cancer, Abandonment, Gaslighting, and Medical content
Minor: Suicide
paracosim's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
5.0
I hadn’t expected to cry so hard at the end of this book but I was sobbing for a good 10 minutes after. I think I’ll be coming back to this one again and again as the years go by.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Mental illness
Minor: Vomit and War
reader_in_the_meadow's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The Darkness Outside Us is a 2021 Young Adult Science-Fiction novel by american author Elliot Schrefer. It is parted into six part and is written continuously with no marked chapters. Told is the story of Ambrose Cusk and Kodiak Celius, two spacefarers whose mission to rescue Ambrose's sister takes a dark turn when they discover secrets on their ship.
The plot of this book was all over the place, but in a good way. It was such a well worked out idea that was told in an easy to follow way, so you couldn't miss a thing. Since I don't want to spoil here I am just honna say that the plot twist came right out of nowhere which was such a surprise. And I love when that happens! However, there were some parts where only info dumping was done, but at least they were pretty short.
Since there are only two acting characters in this book there is not much to say about diversity, besides that both of them are non-heterosexual young men. But the tricky thing Schrefer had to do was make both of these characters a whole own personality each so they really stand out. And oh boy, how he did that! They were both very well worked out and their dynamic was so good!
The writing in this book was not that hard to read which makes it easy to concentrate on the story. However it was a bit hard for me to understand some of the more scientific terms, since I did know many of them. The way the story is told is through the eyes of Ambrose, who acts as the main character in this story. I was able to completely immerse myself in the atory and the atmosphere that was built up while reading.
I really liked the dystopian idea, of the cold war not ending and instead accumulating two big countries on earth. It gave the whole story a kind of intense background and so much interesting story points.
However, I found the characters at some points very annoying and just stopped reading because I could not understand them at these times.
To sum up, The Darkness Outside Us is a very great Science-Fiction book with a thrillerish turn woven into it that I can only revommend. Still, please take note of the content warnings before buying.
The plot of this book was all over the place, but in a good way. It was such a well worked out idea that was told in an easy to follow way, so you couldn't miss a thing. Since I don't want to spoil here I am just honna say that the plot twist came right out of nowhere which was such a surprise. And I love when that happens! However, there were some parts where only info dumping was done, but at least they were pretty short.
Since there are only two acting characters in this book there is not much to say about diversity, besides that both of them are non-heterosexual young men. But the tricky thing Schrefer had to do was make both of these characters a whole own personality each so they really stand out. And oh boy, how he did that! They were both very well worked out and their dynamic was so good!
The writing in this book was not that hard to read which makes it easy to concentrate on the story. However it was a bit hard for me to understand some of the more scientific terms, since I did know many of them. The way the story is told is through the eyes of Ambrose, who acts as the main character in this story. I was able to completely immerse myself in the atory and the atmosphere that was built up while reading.
I really liked the dystopian idea, of the cold war not ending and instead accumulating two big countries on earth. It gave the whole story a kind of intense background and so much interesting story points.
However, I found the characters at some points very annoying and just stopped reading because I could not understand them at these times.
To sum up, The Darkness Outside Us is a very great Science-Fiction book with a thrillerish turn woven into it that I can only revommend. Still, please take note of the content warnings before buying.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content
Moderate: Cancer, Excrement, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
Minor: War
raeprice9's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide, Murder, and Mental illness
orcamagicka's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Cancer, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence
Minor: Blood, Vomit, and Xenophobia
glyph's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.0
this book is insane. trying to explain this book to people has my brain wrapped up in itself to try and explain how amazing and yet how crazy this story is. to plan for a story like this, to have the mystery so expertly rolled out that you don't even see it coming in the first hundred pages – a feat in itself! it's definitely more dystopian than romcom, and i do wish that i would've known how much of a difference the story had from my expectations from the beginning.
the only thing i wish that would've been a little different are some plot holes that don't really make sense:like how they redirected the ship but yet there was the portal that led to the book and the tapes? i thought that was their own plan, not something that was there from the beginning? and what about the people who came before them? the logistics of it all stump me.
there's also the factor of characterization, but this is leveled out by the end of the book. i really enjoyed how each iteration got to be their own people, by chaos or intervenience, bc it feels like a kind of step back from destiny / fate storylines, which i enjoyed. i had a hard time picturing w/ the dialogue that they were seventeen year olds, in my mind they were more late twenties with how they spoke and acted. but even still, we didn't have the time to connect to any particular set, because they changed so often. really the first part of the book is really all we get to see, and even then, it's all surface level with a few dips of emotional depth, but nothing that actually made me feel connected to them. maybe i was too enthralled by the mystery?
it was a ride, and one that i don't think i'll stop thinking about for a while, but it's strange and mysterious and devastating, with small soft moments that make it feel less cold than the space they live in.
the only thing i wish that would've been a little different are some plot holes that don't really make sense:
there's also the factor of characterization, but this is leveled out by the end of the book.
it was a ride, and one that i don't think i'll stop thinking about for a while, but it's strange and mysterious and devastating, with small soft moments that make it feel less cold than the space they live in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Murder
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide
Minor: Vomit
zucchinispades's review against another edition
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Self harm, Murder, Mental illness, and Death
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, and Confinement
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