Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Darkness Outside Us

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.

Content Warnings

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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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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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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yourlocallibrarian's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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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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ilkaohnem's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious

4.75

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rebelbooks101's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

This was really interesting. I haven’t read a whole lot of sci-fi but as I read more I’m starting to learn more about my tastes which I feel like is weird books like this.

This is one of those books I recommend it best not knowing much. All I knew was it was enemies to lovers on a spaceship alone and it definitely makes it more interesting to figure out the plot as the story goes along.

I really enjoyed this book! The characters were amazing. I really cared for both Ambrose and Kodiak. They were great characters to follow and I would find myself rooting for them even when hope was lost.

The plot was interesting. I liked how you started thinking it was one thing when it was something else entirely. It made the story very interesting. I will say however after the big reveal a bit over halfway, it made it a bit more difficult to follow the second half because you knew exactly where the story was going so as much as I enjoy knowing the mystery, I feel like holding off a little longer from the reader could’ve made it more interesting. Like I think if the characters knew what was going on but it came off vague to the reader until like part 5 I think it would’ve made the story a bit more interesting rather than just knowing.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it. It’s not difficult to understand if you are someone who doesn’t read sci-fi often like myself. It very much reminded me of inception meets 2001 a space odyssey meets These Broken Stars.

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