Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

63 reviews

editorbrenna's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Suicide, Blood, and Grief

inkdrinkers's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

How do you describe a book that you know will inevitably become a classic?

This is a true science fiction masterpiece. The ending gives the same rush of emotion as classics like "The Lottery" or "The Most Dangerous Game." The plot and execution was lofty, but it absolutely nailed it. Everyone should read this, digest it, and then go for a walk outside and take in the sheer magnitude of what this story accomplished.

I loved this. I loved the characters. The formatting was a little difficult to get used to, but it pays off tenfold in the end and is the only way this story could be told. Please go into this blind, don't look up a single thing if you can.

This is a truly magnificent book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Gore content is less than a horror movie, on par with a thriller. Contains mentions of bodies and death. Vomit is described. Sexual content is steamy and fade to black but discussion is had about it. Violence might be scary and was akin to assault. Moderate triggers: Abandonment is a huge plot point. Blood and chronic illness are mentioned throughout as byproducts of being in space and exposed to radiation. Death is both seen on page and mentioned off. Death of a parent is off page but discussed. Gaslighting is done by a side character and is a catalyst for the plot. Grief is openly discussed and worked through. Medical content is included throughout as the characters become ill and need aid.

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, Death, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicide

temi403's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, and Grief

Minor: Chronic illness

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: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Biphobia, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Death of parent, and War

pvbobrien's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Terminal illness and Injury/Injury detail

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

For a book where most of what actually happens is relentlessly grim, a strangely gentle read. The whole thing is very tropey and none of the twists will likely actually surprise you, but the journey matters more than the destination. I have to say the emotional build-up early on feels a bit rushed, but then, our main characters are seventeen year old boys, so. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and War

dododenise's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This was so much more than I ever expected. I’ve read before that the blurb is misleading, and yet this book blew my mind.
This is what I’ve been missing in the science fiction books I’d been reading lately. I’m so thankful for this book of reminding me why I love science fiction so much.
I knew there needed to come a plot twist, and when it came I was still completely baffled.
The romance was beautiful. And so interesting. Yet this definitely wasn’t a romance, but so much more. 
There are so many other things I could say, but I don’t want this to contain spoilers so I’ll shut my mouth. All I can say: Go read this book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and War

greatestheights's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.5 stars for breathtakingly good plotting and suspense. Goddamn, this was not what I expected.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Medical content

Minor: Genocide and War

nickoliver's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

I truly don't know what to think of this. Some of the plot twists were really good, but there were many things it just didn't do well. For example, the romance was barely developed, especially in the latter half of the book. I never quite understood why the characters fell in love with each other; it seemed to me that they mostly just did that because they were the only two people on that ship, not because there was genuinely something between them. The chemistry was a bit lacking.

Plus, there were a lot of plot holes that drove me insane, and some things were left in the open until almost the end. And I also didn't like the way it described the two countries involved in this, Fédération and Dimokratía, because it was basically "utopia where everyone accepts everyone" vs. "homophobic country where children get trained for war from the time they're four". It left a sour taste in my mind, especially because it was never really addressed?

Moreover, the main character Ambrose, who came from Fédération, made fun of Dimokratía for still using labels ("gay", "bisexual", but even labels such as "top" and "bottom"), and the way it was portrayed like that was part of why Dimokratía was still so backwards was hurtful. I like labels. I like that there are words to describe exactly how I'm feeling. It's completely fine if you don't like labels, I'd never push them onto someone else, but just because someone likes using them doesn't mean there's something wrong with them? And again, this was barely discussed by the characters, which is what made it so frustrating.

The story was also way darker than I expected; it was very emotionally taxing and left me practically physically exhausted at the end. (Hello, existential crisis.) The end itself was also way less hopeful than I think the author intended it to be? Overall, this was definitely more a miss for me, which makes me sad, because I had such high expectations! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content, Grief, and War

Minor: Cancer, Suicide, and Vomit