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nittiotvaan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, and Death
Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Drug use
royalraspberry's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Death
Moderate: Gore and Vomit
danimacuk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Death
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Death of parent
Minor: Blood and Medical content
hzamrzla's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Specifically, I got so frustrated with Gyre by the end because of her
Also, I hate
It got old, which is sad.
Graphic: Medical trauma, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, and Abandonment
dogearedbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, and Confinement
Moderate: Vomit and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Toxic relationship
iam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content warnings include: amputation, manipulation, unconsensual administration of drugs, claustrophobia, medical failure, abandonement, gore and graphic description of corpses and causes of death; mentions of death of parents, absent parents.
I personally would have preferred the cave monster to appear more, and a lot of the plot went in circles (literally.) It didn't actively terrify me, but I think that's fine, more low-key/subtle horror more there due to the surrounding situation than what actually happens (and a lot happens!) suits me more than the outright can't sleep one.
Very atmospheric, with a great cast of two characters, and the audiobook narration is done absolutely incredibly by Adenrele Ojo.
Graphic: Death of parent, Medical content, Abandonment, and Gore
amputationdisnelyse's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Death, Confinement, and Body horror
Moderate: Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
marleens's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Body horror, Vomit, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
kaiju_krispies'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? Yes
4.0
Truthfully, the book suffers a little for want of a slightly more experienced author. The pacing of the overall story comes out all right, but the pacing of individual scenes often isn't. This mostly came through in feeling that a particular scene could very easily have been much scarier or horrifying than it actually was. The theme is set up so well to touch on extremely common fears, yet flies through descriptions of those scenarios so fast that there isn't time to build up those feelings to their full extent. Describe the sensation of being trapped by your own horrific exoskeleton in a fat man squeeze! or the fear of falling and wedging headfirst into a narrow hole! There are so many true stories of actual cavers and cave divers dying in the saddest, scariest ways to have drawn inspiration from; my hands are sweatier from reading the Nutty Putty Cave Wikipedia page than they ever were from The Luminous Dead. It also wouldn't be the worst thing to include a little more exposition for those who don't know much about climbing in general--I do happen to know the difference between a cam and a bolt and the pros/cons of each, but not every reader will, and there's again some benefit in building up tension this way.
The author does get this right with the body horror aspects. So much description of the stomach cannula and the horror of being trapped in goo and unable to even scratch your own nose!
The characters are not completely believable. Their motives feel a little flimsy and tend to change at opportune moments to justify the plot continuing. There are points at which the characters--Gyre especially--act so stupidly that it felt like a letdown.
All that said, I devoured the book. I looked forward every time to reading more and was genuinely invested in these broken characters, their awful emotions, and their ultimate conclusion. It was an enjoyable, interesting read, and I think this is why some of my criticisms feel harsher than they are meant to. The premise is so good, and the themes so specifically of interest to me in particular, that I wanted it to live up to its fullest potential. It didn't quite, and that's all right! I hope the author has more books left in her, and that they have equally degenerate premises but with the weight of more experience and lessons learned behind them. Linger on the things that make your readers sweat!
Graphic: Body horror and Death
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, and Confinement
Minor: Vomit
yuyuv's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment