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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.
‘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
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 starslivlamentloathe'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.
This also introduced many new concepts to me that I wish we had on our Earth in 2023.
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
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
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
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
taelights's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I HATE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Medical content, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Cursing, Gaslighting, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia, Biphobia, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and War
marjoleinvanderspoel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
WTF was this book? I expected a sweet queer love story in space and got an existential crisis instead. Incredibly creepy and well thought out. I love books about the reality of space because it really highlights the fragility of human life. Another favourite theme of mine is the age old question of the human condition, and this was an incredibly ambitious take on that. Perhaps a little too ambitious, as I did feel there was a lack of depth in the characters and it was really the plot that made this story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Confinement
Minor: Violence
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
bowlofspaghetti's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cancer
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