Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The Darkness Outside Us

This book was such a fun YA sci fi thriller with a cute-ish queer romance. I was expecting a cute YA romance with some thrilling moments, but it was more the other way around. This book continued to raise the stakes and make you worry about the characters at any given moment.

I wouldn't say it was completely mind-blowing or unpredictable, but everything was just a little bit darker than I expected. I flew through this because I needed to know how it ended.

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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

THE DARKNESS OUTSIDE US features two older teens on a space mission to rescue Ambrose's sister. When little things stop adding up, the more Ambrose and Kodiak try to find out what's happening, the more the A.I. gets in their way.

The plot takes a while to get going, the beginning is a lot of worldbuilding which is usually smoothly conveyed, but occasionally veers into thinly veiled infodumps. Once things get going (somewhere between a third and halfway in) they pick up quickly and the story becomes very engaging. It has much of what I love most about time loop stories without technically being one. I was initially hesitant about the relationship between Ambrose and Kodiak, their chemistry grew slowly and I'm a bit too demi to buy into a romance driven by being the only two people they can interact with, but once I accepted that they clearly like each other I was able to settle in and enjoy the story.

They're from two different countries (apparently the only two countries on Earth at the time of their ship's launch), which are implied to be Russia and an Anglophone country (I'm pretty sure this is supported by the actual text, the audiobook narrator used a Russian accent for Kodiak and a British one for Ambrose which may have affected how I interpreted the story. They make reference to a cold war, so I'm pretty sure that's what was happening. This felt a bit off to me from a worldbuilding angle because there are other large countries who could just as easily have been used as the starting point for the two remaining world powers, but I think the choice ends up working. With that small caveat, I love the second half of the book, I had an excellent time and didn't want it to end.

I would highly recommend this, except for my uneasiness about the country choices and the fact that in the first quarter I almost didn't finish it because of the slow pacing and how I wasn't getting into the romance at first. If you want a groundhog day story about gay love in space, with a possibly hostile A.I., try this.

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sarahna's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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book_voyager's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

Ohmygosh… That was nothing like I expected and somehow everything I wanted. Clever storyline and adorable characters, and space adventure.

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yoursupremereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

3.75

This was something I was not expecting. Gay teens in space? Dystopia? New planet hopping? Spaceship faring? Dark science fiction with sinister AIs? This gave me a run for my money. A great addition to the YA queer canon of literature for young people to consume. A story I wish was here when I was a youngling.

Ambrose and Kodiak's light enemies to lovers journey was honestly heart warming, especially given the fact that Schrefer makes it feel like these two boys are the only people in the entire universe, so interaction was inevitable. But their budding romance was handled in the best way possible. And the looming threat of the vacuum of space outside their spaceship was ever present and tense. And the twist, made my jaw drop. Just know clones are involved and it was mind blowing. But the best thing about the story is that Ambrose and Kodiak get a happy ending that was worth the trials and tribulations of their journey.

Content Warnings

laesterlurch's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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ricardo_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? No

4.75

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