Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

18 reviews

ismildlypoetic's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

4 stars = I loved it!

This is one of the most unique books I've ever read. If you like science fiction, I recommend it, way more for the plot structure. If you're looking for a romance, although it's a main element in this story, I would choose a different book. 

Oh my God where do I start? So I usually don't read sci-fi, because I don't like the idea of something not based in reality, but I always tend to enjoy it a lot more than I think I will. I got this book out of a little free library during a trip to San Fransisco because I needed something to read on the plane home, so I went in with very little to zero expectations. 

Starting with Ambrose and Kodiak 1.0 (2.0? the one we meet at the beginning), I thought the characters were so funny, and I was excited about a classic enemies-to-lovers slow-burn plot, but it just happened in outer space. This, to my surprise, did not happen. They died about 40% of the way through the book, and I had absolutely zero hypotheses for what was going to happen next.

The mystery of the clones, whether OS was evil, if Minerva was alive,  and where we were headed was such a great story and the author did an incredible job of pacing it out in a way that felt natural for the audience. However, after the first set of clones, I feel we lost the Ambrose and Kodiak we loved (i mean, we did), but I never was able to reattach myself to whatever version we saw next. I found myself caring for the original back on Earth more than whoever I saw in front of me. Part of this has to do with the romance. The first set of clones was great, loved it. However, with the second incarnation, the author never built up the love again; just said "here, date" and threw them together. And I never found the spark after that. It seemed like they were only together because they were both gay, and there was no one else around, not for any actual chemistry, which was a shame. 

 

All that being said, I thought this book was great, and I'm very excited to read the sequel when it comes out in October.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicide, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Cancer, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

The main characters

die several times, in graphic ways.

One such instance involves

a murder-suicide.

If these themes would be harmful for you, please choose a different book.

booksnbcys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Confinement, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and War

Minor: Classism, Abandonment, and Sexual content

wheatlyre's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Sexism, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Racism, War, Transphobia, and Homophobia

keya_caivalur's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Abandonment, Cancer, Murder, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Vomit

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, and War

stellastallion's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer and Medical content

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Medical content, War, Sexual content, Suicide, Murder, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Grief, Addiction, Excrement, and Blood

luckbe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Suicide, Abandonment, Death, Violence, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Homophobia

pinkhyxteria's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Misogyny and Homophobia

Minor: Blood, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

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

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