A review by mxdegroot
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer

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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