Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Darkness Outside Us

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

20 reviews

mxdegroot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

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.

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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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miaaaahh's review against another edition

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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.

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saraordnez's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is so underrated it's insane. I literally finished it in a day. the romance is absolutely perfect and i cant even begin to talk about the mystery. literally cannot put into words how perfect this book is. fave book of the year. recommending this book to everyone i know

and the ending was PERFECT. AND THE FACT THAT THEY FELL IN LOVE W EACH OTHER EVERY TIME i just died

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hannahsch1121's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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sorilis's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.25

The reviews said read it without reading spoilers beforehand, so I did. I rarely read books that have not been recommended to me by someone, but I picked up this one on a whim. I’m glad I did.

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ktrecs's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5

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glyph's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

this book is insane. trying to explain this book to people has my brain wrapped up in itself to try and explain how amazing and yet how crazy this story is. to plan for a story like this, to have the mystery so expertly rolled out that you don't even see it coming in the first hundred pages – a feat in itself! it's definitely more dystopian than romcom, and i do wish that i would've known how much of a difference the story had from my expectations from the beginning.

the only thing i wish that would've been a little different are some plot holes that don't really make sense:

like how they redirected the ship but yet there was the portal that led to the book and the tapes? i thought that was their own plan, not something that was there from the beginning? and what about the people who came before them? the logistics of it all stump me.

there's also the factor of characterization, but this is leveled out by the end of the book.

i really enjoyed how each iteration got to be their own people, by chaos or intervenience, bc it feels like a kind of step back from destiny / fate storylines, which i enjoyed. i had a hard time picturing w/ the dialogue that they were seventeen year olds, in my mind they were more late twenties with how they spoke and acted. but even still, we didn't have the time to connect to any particular set, because they changed so often. really the first part of the book is really all we get to see, and even then, it's all surface level with a few dips of emotional depth, but nothing that actually made me feel connected to them. maybe i was too enthralled by the mystery?

it was a ride, and one that i don't think i'll stop thinking about for a while, but it's strange and mysterious and devastating, with small soft moments that make it feel less cold than the space they live in.

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mothie_girlie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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lylah's review against another edition

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emotional 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? Yes

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