Reviews with content warning for Death - Jeskyně zatracených

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Jeskyně zatracených by Caitlin Starling

115 reviews

kurumipanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

I liked this. The caving parts were excellent: atmospheric, unsettling, terrifying. The dialog and relationship development were weaker - it seemed to develop too quickly/strongly with too little substance. Some story decisions felt inconsistent and illogical, and I wish the author had gone further with the sci-fi and cave ecology aspects. The audio narrator is great, though hearing the dialog aloud may have exacerbated some of my issues with it. Overall worth the read.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was sooo atmospheric and creepy!! I would not last 10 minutes in this situation let alone however long Gyre was down there.

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wickedmitch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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rain02's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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bespokecompost's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense 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

Now that’s what i call toxic yuri!!!!!! Jokes aside this was incredibly effective for me. It was the definition of a page turner, i love a slow burn suspense filled “did i really see that” horror narrative mixed with some sudden terrifying moments and boy did this deliver. I also love the character introspection and the whole grappling with the nature of the one person you have to trust with your life even as they prove over and over again that you can’t really trust them. Ough i love it, i love the horrible yearning and forced trust and betrayal and devotion and i love it when those things are also gay. I saw some complaints about the ending feeling rushed but to me that’s the point: once they’re out of the cave the story is over. They can move on in whatever way the reader wants to imagine, but the cave still looms fresh in the mind. I’m now very excited to read her other books because if they’re anything like this (her first book!!??!!) I’m going to love them.

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librarymouse's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

The Luminous Dead calls into question the reliability of its characters' perception and creates such a thick fog of paranoia and confusion that it remains tangible even after the end of the novel. Both characters are terrible people who are terrible to each other.

I don't really know that this was the case, but my interpretation of events is that the tunneler was using the likenesses of those who died in the tunnel's depths to lure victims to reveal themselves. However, Gyre's fever, the spores, and the general paranoia of her time in the tunnels makes it unprovable. Gyre feeling herself be dragged by the sporified corpse of Jenny reinforces that uncertainty of reality. Especially with the pull of the depths like the call of the void made manifest. Em is a terrible person. Sympathetic, but still terrible. She killed so many people in the search of corpses she wasn't sure would still be there, and ran when Gyre found them. They're so toxic for each other - Gyre holding the kill switch to Em's livelihood and future and Em having broken Gyre's body and mind. Not to mention Gyre's willingness to mutilate herself for the sake of getting a job for the money to get off planet and find the mother who abandoned her and whom she grows to hate, and Em's willingness to desecrate her mother's memory by sending caver after caver down into the depths that swallowed her parents, only to turn away and leave Gyer alone in the dark when her father's body is found. They're terrible people and terrible for each other, but in this sort of off world horror, you kind of have to root for them.

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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

After finishing this book I’m not really sure how I feel. I don’t hate it but I honestly don’t feel it was a good time.

Gyre is underground in a cave on another planet fulfilling a very expensive, well paid, secretive caving job for her abrasive employer Em. As Gyre gets deeps into the cave things start going worse and worse. Soon she’s struggling to not just survive, but to make it back to the surface in one piece.

This book had so much potential! I love survival horror, space horror, and caving stories because I find them so terrifying! This one had ghosts, weird alien worms called tunnelers, and an antagonist that is complicated and Gyre’s key to survival. All the pieces were there but the execution was not.

While Gyre was a great character it was hard to relate to the other main character Em who is responsible for Gyre’s plight and her reasons for it are dumb and pretty nonsensical. The author tries to make it sound like her motives have a meaning but honestly they don’t and it makes her incredibly unlikeable and impossible to relate to.

Also, the forced romance between Gyre and Em I found really gross. Stockholm syndrome does not equal love, and the fact that this unnecessary abusive and toxic relationship was even a thing, just sat very wrong with me. Gyre would be in a horrific situation and thinking about Em and how she cares for her despite all the abuse Em dishes out. I don’t like novels that glorify toxic or abusive relationships, and this one was so off the rails and really not necessary.

In addition, this book is so long and slow with nothing really sci fi going on beyond the suit and these tunnelers that we don’t see until the end of the book and only for a page. The pacing is far too slow, with a majority of the book being climbing and traversal of the cave intermixed with Em and Gyre’s interactions, and Gyre’s slowly unraveling sanity which made this a hard one to get through for me. In the end it wasn’t even worth it because the ending was so anti climactic and again just kinda gross due to the toxic relationship here.

This one had so much potential and was honestly a big disappointment.

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anracli's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The book is quite long and repetitive, much, I suppose, like a cave. It took a while for anything to really happen, and by the time that point came around, I didn't really care for either of the characters. The back and forth wasn't particularly enjoyable, and the ending wasn't particularly satisfying.

I almost certainly won't reread this book.

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krystaldelusion's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense

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

4.75

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rororow's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

Could not put it down

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