A review by folkmare
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

Well, I loved this. Horror, check. Sci-fi, check. Gay, check. Deeply flawed female characters, check. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Death, Excrement, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

This whole book is very claustrophobic and unnerving. Our narrator is unreliable more and more as she goes on and becomes paranoid. There is some (mild?) gaslighting as her handler intentionally misleads Gyre and tells her she's fine when she's not, lies to her repeatedly, and forcibly drugs her. I didn't mark self-harm because it isn't depression-motivated but there IS a self amputation of a limb. Also a lot of talk about the bio-suit and how it reroutes organs and the digestive system which can be gross if you're sensitive to that.