Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

41 reviews

jengambale's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I'm not okay 🥲🥲🥲

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Violence

michmoo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I mean, what can I say about this goddamn book? 

I was drawn in by the premise and captivated by the possibilities of where the underlying mystery would take us, and then promptly smacked in my soul with the beginnings of the plot twist which only further stressed me out when I realised that we still had a big chunk of the book to go.

Overall, I would say that while this is a sci-fi mystery thriller, it is also at its core, a love story. Watching the love blossom between the two protagonists was a gift in spite of the heart wrenching moments it led to, perhaps because of them.

I definitely recommend giving this book a chance if you are at all interested.

The author did an amazing job, I am emotionally compromised. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, War, Grief, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Blood

mandaraffe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: War and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

tacoshark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I was surprised by how well this ended up working - at first it seemed like it was going a somewhat predictable route, and while some of my predictions were correct, the way they played out was really well done and interesting. It kept me engaged and invested in these two characters throughout. The ending was a little bit weird and if it were up to me, I think it went a bit too far, but overall I enjoyed this a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Terminal illness and Suicide

themissyreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

This book was absolutely NOTHING like what I thought I was getting into. I expected a queer sci fi romance/drama where we unlearn cultural biases and nationalist brainwashing and come to understand we are all of us more alike than different— maybe teaming up against an evil AI… then 50% through, the airlocks open and we get yanked out into the vacuum of space because everything we thought we knew was a lie. Once that happened, i couldnt stop reading. This book went in directions i NEVER could have predicted, and it was amazing. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, and Death

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: War and Suicidal thoughts

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

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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.

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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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, and Cancer

Moderate: Murder, Gaslighting, Violence, and Torture

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

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

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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