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five_rats_in_a_trenchcoat's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Blood, and Gaslighting
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Medical content, and War
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
- 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
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.
Graphic: Confinement, Grief, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Death and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
ollie_again's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Torture, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting
Minor: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Grief
lets_b_libros's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Vomit, and War
augustar14's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, Colonisation, and War
welgan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book is BRILLIANT. It was well-crafted, met all my expectations and went beyond it, even while not meeting my usual cosy preferences. I will need a bit of time to let it sink and mature in my heart, I can't skip to something else immediately.
If you consider reading it, please do not read reviews. Prevent yourself from getting spoiled, it's an experience best consumed while knowing nothing. I'll do my best to review its qualities without spoiling its content.
I was looking for a sci-fi book with characters isolated in a station in space, and it delivered over my expectations. The feeling of space and of isolation is stellar. The wordsmithing is clever and really made feel it, feel the danger, alienness and distant, icy beauty of space.
I was looking for feelings, and it delivered that with brilliance too. The way how the developpement of the two main characters' relationship was explored was amazing. It was tense, emotional, and it took time to explore so many different angles.
The characters are lovable, human, and you can feel their training in their interactions (especially training in psychology and communication when isolated in space, through Ambrose's narration).
As a personnal opinion, I enjoy when characters from different cultures interect and this was nice. It was also a bit strange for my asexual self to read the horny main character Ambrose is, but felt it was very well managed. It goes so well with the rest of development I wouldn't want it other wise. Also reading him made me fear the sexual content would be a bit too present, but it is definitely not. Intimacy scenes are subtle and often very emotional.
The first and second parts of the book were tense, packed with mystery and powerful feelings, with incredibly emotional and tense conclusions, reaching a peak at the end of part 2.
The third part was brutal. Definitely brutal.
In the last parts, the build-up tension changes as the mystery of the first parts makes place to resolving the situation. It gradually unravels the plot and the book ends with calm and peacefulness, leaving me tranquil, fullfilled with my reading. Which is rather amazing for a book about two spacefarers alone in space featuring so much emotional tension.
Last but not least, I'd like to say that the author managed a trope he used very cleverly.
Read under spoiler for more details (still as vague as possible, but we enter in spoiler zone) :
Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content and Vomit
Minor: Excrement
scalygusgus1993's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Violence and Murder
schnaucl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
And the embryo reveal up just as I was thinking and the point of all this is...? since two men obviously can't reproduce. Although I suppose if there's cloning technology maybe there is a way. But the point is, sending only two people who we've already seen will probably die early deaths from radiation poisoning to raise a bunch of embryos on a completely unknown planet just seems like too fragile a hope to pin the survival of humanity on.
I did like the rest of it though. It was genuinely shocking when they were murdered the first time, and when they murdered the rest of their clones.
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Xenophobia, and War
lim's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Death and Murder
Minor: Suicide
mxdegroot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
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
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
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.
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Death of parent and War