thesk3tch's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I loved the bright session podcast and the world Lauren Shippen made. I do feel like she flip flops on Damien as a character. In the show I felt like she couldn’t commit to who he was and what we as the audience should think. He was my favorite character, so I really felt the indecision and missed opportunities. She honed it in so much better here. I may have liked the book better without the podcast and knowledge of where Damien goes, but it still served as a strong intro to Damien, and the world is interesting to spend any time in at all.
rosemccrum2's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kyanitecourage's review
4.0
Trigger warnings for this book at the end of my review. Contains one big spoiler in the warning.
Ahh Shippen developed a lot from her first book to this one. Unlike Infinite Noise, this book is almost entirely new content. Damien is the character that you hate to love, the horribly manipulative and selfish person who you still feel sympathetic towards. And here we really dive deep. You keep wanting him to just be better. Oh and new characters!! Loved the Unusuals crew. I would love to hear more of them. The argument they have with Damien does get repetitive, but I didn’t mind too much. Also set in L.A. with a bit of flare for a fantastic life.
Also I still think this book is most enjoyed if you’ve listened to the audio drama podcast The Bright Sessions first. This book moves through a character study rather than plot, so keep that in mind.
Trigger warnings: spending a LOT of runs in a depressed mind, as well as anxiety, suicidal ideation and attempt, drinking, drug abuse(mentioned), violence, murder.
Ahh Shippen developed a lot from her first book to this one. Unlike Infinite Noise, this book is almost entirely new content. Damien is the character that you hate to love, the horribly manipulative and selfish person who you still feel sympathetic towards. And here we really dive deep. You keep wanting him to just be better. Oh and new characters!! Loved the Unusuals crew. I would love to hear more of them. The argument they have with Damien does get repetitive, but I didn’t mind too much. Also set in L.A. with a bit of flare for a fantastic life.
Also I still think this book is most enjoyed if you’ve listened to the audio drama podcast The Bright Sessions first. This book moves through a character study rather than plot, so keep that in mind.
Trigger warnings: spending a LOT of runs in a depressed mind, as well as anxiety, suicidal ideation and attempt, drinking, drug abuse(mentioned), violence, murder.
anxious_nia's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
illidia316's review
5.0
This book is absolutely amazing.
Damien is my favorite character in The Bright Sessions. Even though he seems like the bad guy, it is evident throughout the podcast that there is much, much more lurking beneath the surface. A Neon Darkness is Damien’s origin story, and the person he is in TBS now makes 100% sense. His childhood was rough, to put it mildly. It doesn’t get any better as he moves into his late teens/easily 20s, and when he finally meets people that he loves enough to consider family, both he and his power get in the way.
Even though this book is a standalone, unless you are a fan of The Bright Sessions podcast, it will probably not make a lot of sense.
I can’t wait to read the third book based on characters from TBS!
Damien is my favorite character in The Bright Sessions. Even though he seems like the bad guy, it is evident throughout the podcast that there is much, much more lurking beneath the surface. A Neon Darkness is Damien’s origin story, and the person he is in TBS now makes 100% sense. His childhood was rough, to put it mildly. It doesn’t get any better as he moves into his late teens/easily 20s, and when he finally meets people that he loves enough to consider family, both he and his power get in the way.
Even though this book is a standalone, unless you are a fan of The Bright Sessions podcast, it will probably not make a lot of sense.
I can’t wait to read the third book based on characters from TBS!
brittaniethekid's review against another edition
2.0
Not as compelling as the first book, probably down to Damien being an arrogant asshole and this book is really only about him. While the other characters have quite a bit diversity, that's not what I care about so did little for me when the characters themselves are rather two-dimensional or just unlikeable. It's written in a different style from the first book as well, like we're reading flashbacks going back and forth between character perspectives and it was a bit annoying. Overall, really disappointing after I enjoyed the first book so much.
I'd definitely recommend listening to the podcast before going into this book so you know more about who Damien is in the "present" and then go into this as it's his origin story. In the podcast (as far as I got) he's very much a villain character and this was interesting in that we see before, he was just a kid from a corn field in Nebraska. However, you also see that he displays zero maturity or growth in the years between this and the Bright Sessions which makes me think of him as a really boring villain and I'm usually one to root for the bad guy or underdog.
I'd definitely recommend listening to the podcast before going into this book so you know more about who Damien is in the "present" and then go into this as it's his origin story. In the podcast (as far as I got) he's very much a villain character and this was interesting in that we see before, he was just a kid from a corn field in Nebraska. However, you also see that he displays zero maturity or growth in the years between this and the Bright Sessions which makes me think of him as a really boring villain and I'm usually one to root for the bad guy or underdog.
voidstar's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a huge fan of Damien Gorham, the main character of this book, from The Bright Sessions audio drama. Unfortunately, the author's writing of him is inconsistent, harsh, and clumsy. As a general statement, I don't think this author is very skilled writing or handling the social issues she's trying to work with. This book is not that much different.
I have a love/hate relationship with this novel.
Damien is a villain you are supposed to hate, but he's also the only character in the series with a cluster b personality disorder. If you also have a cluster b pd, please be aware that you're going to pick up on a lot of hurtful messages about it.
That said, Charlie Ian is an amazing actress and she does the narration of Damien in the audiobook. If you're going to read this, I highly recommend the audiobook format.
In a way, this book also changed my life, though. In spite of the way we're intended to receive, revile, and reject Damien as a character, I've actually come to have a more rounded view of other people and myself. Flaws are flaws. They can be really interesting when you stop trying to moralize everything.
There's a brief interview at the end of the audiobook version where the author says, "I don't think [Damien] deserves the people [he] is trying to have in [his] life."
And as shitty as that is to hear if you see any part of yourself inside Damien, a queer character who was abandoned at 13 and spends the rest of the series homeless, it's definitely a certain kind of closure.
I have a love/hate relationship with this novel.
Damien is a villain you are supposed to hate, but he's also the only character in the series with a cluster b personality disorder. If you also have a cluster b pd, please be aware that you're going to pick up on a lot of hurtful messages about it.
That said, Charlie Ian is an amazing actress and she does the narration of Damien in the audiobook. If you're going to read this, I highly recommend the audiobook format.
In a way, this book also changed my life, though. In spite of the way we're intended to receive, revile, and reject Damien as a character, I've actually come to have a more rounded view of other people and myself. Flaws are flaws. They can be really interesting when you stop trying to moralize everything.
There's a brief interview at the end of the audiobook version where the author says, "I don't think [Damien] deserves the people [he] is trying to have in [his] life."
And as shitty as that is to hear if you see any part of yourself inside Damien, a queer character who was abandoned at 13 and spends the rest of the series homeless, it's definitely a certain kind of closure.
babyfacedoldsoul's review
2.0
Lauren Shippen is an excellent world builder. I loved The Bright Sessions and The Infinite Noise. As someone who read and wrote a lot of fanfiction in 2007 this was a throwback and not in a good way. The formatting is a mess and while I love the characters their development was made choppy by randomly switching POVs instead of using chapters. Damien is not redeemable. I don't think Shippen is trying to make him so in this book. It was short and at the same time still way too long.
merthemarij's review
dark
mysterious
tense
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
4.5
aquietglow's review
3.0
Welp, silly me, I thought this was more Caleb and Adam, but it's Damien. I really liked The Bright Sessions, and I liked the first book. I think this was good, it's also just dark and heavy and frustrating. But that's the nature of the story, not bad writing.