Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

16 reviews

kidprezident's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

theqwerty's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit

spaghettii's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

The ending was an interesting choice

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

smolhandsdan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

This not a story for everyone, it doesn't focus on monster and super natural, they do makw an appearance here and there in the story - enough for me to be on edge when they pop up.

The main drive for the characters in this story is grief and trauma. And the fucked up system of needing money and putting yourself in a dangerous scenario just to get what you need. I liked that reality. I liked the pull and give between the characters learning to trust each other and recognize their faults and how to move past that.

The horror of cave diving, swimming through tight places, and relying on gear was enough to get me in HELL NO, NOPE headspace anxiety for the the main character. I think at times it could be a touch repetitive in the experiences chapter by chapter. The author was good at weaving new existential dread, frustration, despair, mental trauma that kept it fresh. I was sitting here wondering if the end would be depression hell or if it might turn out alright somehow.  I enjoyed the grief, I think that kinda dark place isn't something everyone understands but damn was it powerful. 

I enjoyed the audiobook I'm excited to check out the other authors works!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

samferree's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, and Death

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

eldritch_archivist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.5

Gave me real life anxiety reading this, absolutely shitting myself during the back half. I'm now much more afraid to read more books by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Suicide, Gaslighting, and Classism

bsmucker's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Stalking

ladyinverse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Medical trauma

vasha's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

A book for October? The Luminous Dead has ghosts, sort of (their exact nature is unclear), and they are definitely the scary sort, not ones you could have a romance with — nor, friendly ancestors in the tradition of Dia de los Muertos. This is a science-fiction suspense/horror novel about a weeks-long solo descent into a cave that has already killed many — but although dangers and discomforts take a toll on Gyre, the explorer, she’s ultimately less threatened by those than by the mental pressure of having no one to talk to but her one remote-linked handler (one! when it’s normally a team — and why? that turns out to be an important question). Gyre has past issues with abandonment and isolation, and it turns out her employer/handler, Em, is even more emotionally damaged, and has made bad choices that got people killed — they have their figurative ghosts to deal with… is Gyre seeing literal ones too? Em and Gyre struggle with each other, and bond strongly, and it feels like romantic love to them. It’d take a dedicated romance believer to think they’d really be good for each other as a couple after the end of the book. I have seen a remarkable number of long and meaty reviews for this novel, meaning it makes people want to ponder, and write about their ponderings. I'm personally not sure it's as deep as all that; could have been sharpened up with more psychological and sociopolitical acuity (and also would have benefited from being a hundred pages shorter). But worth reading, absolutely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Murder