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acatastrophe's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
(from my personal reading journal, Jan. 12, 2024)
This was a recommendation from Cav!
The Luminous Dead is a science fiction/psychological horror piece, following a caver--Gyre Price--who advances into a dangerous cave in promise of a huge payday, which she plans to use to get off her shithole planet. Instead of the industry standard team supporting her and her high-tech suit, she gets only Em, her mysterious, reticent boss, who's sent her down for reasons unknown. As she advances through the cave, she grows progressively more and more paranoid that the previous cavers, entombed in the suits and eerily preserved, are following her through the system.
I loved the technicality behind the caving portion of this book--too often I read books with a clearly underexplored scifi hinge theme, but the real and constructed elements of the caving sections are refreshingly solid here. Additionally, the nature of Gyre's delusions remains very unclear throughout (this is a good thing). Overall, this novel kept me guessing at every plot point, which was very refreshing.
However, as Cav and I both agreed, the ending was very disappointing. The story was a no-punches-pulled, dark, psychological tale with a subplot of a deeply messed-up, imbalanced, codependent romance between Gyre and Em, and yet in the end they get to be together, happy and normal and working towards Gyre's goal of finding and showing up her mother. It feels like a misunderstanding of why someone would read this story in the first place. I wish the end was more gorey and upsetting, in keeping with the rest of the book's tone.
Overall, though, a thrilling story. Dr. Sargent saw me listening to this and took down the title, so we'll see if he can stomach the gore (or the lesbians).
This was a recommendation from Cav!
The Luminous Dead is a science fiction/psychological horror piece, following a caver--Gyre Price--who advances into a dangerous cave in promise of a huge payday, which she plans to use to get off her shithole planet. Instead of the industry standard team supporting her and her high-tech suit, she gets only Em, her mysterious, reticent boss, who's sent her down for reasons unknown. As she advances through the cave, she grows progressively more and more paranoid that the previous cavers, entombed in the suits and eerily preserved, are following her through the system.
I loved the technicality behind the caving portion of this book--too often I read books with a clearly underexplored scifi hinge theme, but the real and constructed elements of the caving sections are refreshingly solid here. Additionally, the nature of Gyre's delusions remains very unclear throughout (this is a good thing). Overall, this novel kept me guessing at every plot point, which was very refreshing.
However, as Cav and I both agreed, the ending was very disappointing. The story was a no-punches-pulled, dark, psychological tale with a subplot of a deeply messed-up, imbalanced, codependent romance between Gyre and Em, and yet in the end they get to be together, happy and normal and working towards Gyre's goal of finding and showing up her mother. It feels like a misunderstanding of why someone would read this story in the first place. I wish the end was more gorey and upsetting, in keeping with the rest of the book's tone.
Overall, though, a thrilling story. Dr. Sargent saw me listening to this and took down the title, so we'll see if he can stomach the gore (or the lesbians).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Toxic relationship
w0lfyfr3n's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
3.25
To this book's credit, I genuinely felt like I was down in the caves with Gyre, and it really delivered with the horror aspect of being trapped/isolated underground. Some of the caving equipment and terms were difficult to understand in places, but not in a way that impacted the overall story too much.
However, especially after around the 70% mark, the story was so long and sometimes frustrating that I expected somewhat more from the ending, and it fell short.
The part I had been most interested in, i.e. the walking dead folks, were never fully explained and I'm still unsure if they were ghosts, hallucinations or shroom zombies. Also, with regard to the conclusion, it feels super unnecessary for both MCs to retraumatize themselves just to confront Gyre's mom ? Did they learn nothing from this expedition ?! A similar trend is followed throughout the story, where Gyre and Em have some nice interactions but they both then make inexplicable U-turns with their character growth.
It still gets points for the creepy underground adventure but I was left unsatisfied.
However, especially after around the 70% mark, the story was so long and sometimes frustrating that I expected somewhat more from the ending, and it fell short.
It still gets points for the creepy underground adventure but I was left unsatisfied.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
thehal's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Body horror, Gore, Blood, and Vomit
yuripiano's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
As a Locked Tomb fan, I sure do love me the combination of mentally unstable toxic lesbians ft. ominous caves with mysterious hidden away secrets and the threat of terrors within.
Reading the book admittedly felt like a bit of a slog though.
The opening? Great, compelling, foreboding, mysterious! You're quickly introduced to Gyre and Em, who are also the only two real characters in the book, and backstory and motives for them both are woven throughout the story as they delve deeper into the Tower-
Sorry, the cave.
I meant the cave.
Coming hot off reading Annihilation, though, there are definitely some sorts of inspirations that I can see there, and I believe there's a blurb on the back of the book noting that it has "the creeping dread of Annihilation." I definitely do think it had some amount of dread, but there was a sort of repetition to the book that left me spacing out or thinking "didn't we read this part already?"
A lot of the book was basically just this sort of Metroidvania series of checkpoints following a flowchart of "Caver, proceed through the next sump to the next checkpoint" -> "Fuck you but okay" -> "Caver, next sump" -> "You're a monster" -> "Caver, it's sump o'clock". There were definitely interesting things going on with Isolde appearing, the mystery of the Tunnelers, etc., and this kept me reading for that payoff, but
1 - the slog to get there felt like its own monotonous sump, and
2 - the payoff wasn't nearly satisfying enough
Part of that was me fully expecting there to be some sort of more paranormal explanation for what was going on. While I enjoyed that there weren't actual ghosts or anything like that, I also felt like I wouldn't have minded that, and maybe I would have been more interested in the actual plot. It felt like a lot of foreshadowing and buildup for some sort of actual run in with the dead cavers, and the title of the book made me think as well that there would be some sort of rebirth, but that didn't really seem to be the case. This isn't even talking about the Tunneler, which happened right at the very end and was just... fine? idk, it just sort of... appeared, and then Gyre did #JustGyreThings and somehow this worm that literally exists to survive in this environment accidentally killed itself? like. idk. it was so "whatever" that I just didn't really care since the Tunneler didn't give a huge sense of foreboding for me personally.
However, that could also be coming off of having read Annihilation - it didn't feel as though theTower Cave really had that same sort of... "life" to it? Like, near the end, when Gyre felt compelled to stay in the cave, THAT felt like it was a Real Entity and was trying to push into that gothic space, but I didn't get that sense throughout most of it.
Still, the characterization of Gyre losing her shit near the end was probably the best part for me - her amputation, the delirium, etc. That was all strong, and the gay fangirl part of me really wanted to buy into this Gyre/Em romance thing, but I didn't really get the part of why Em had these strong feelings for Gyre? Like, I'm all for the power dynamic mismatch between Gyre and Em, and I loved the idea of Gyre having this weird sort of Stockholm syndrome type attachment for Em, but I didn't get a lot of it from the other end, and also Gyre's affections swapping back and forth was irritating as she would repeat the same thoughts over and over at different parts while tackling Legally Distinct Sump #7.
I liked a lot of parts of the book - just some of the repetition between Gyre's thoughts, the "I can trust her" -> "I can't trust her" -> "I hate her" -> "I need her" on repeat felt a little bit "fanfictiony" to me, as well as the repetition of the cave itself made it difficult to get through the main portion of the book. There was a map at the beginning of the book, but the caving-focused scenes still felt like I had read the general gist of it already. That said, even if I got annoyed with Gyre on the whole, I liked how messy she and Em both were in their own ways, and Em not being entirely redeemed in her own right was.. refreshing? Idk, I also wouldn't have minded that though. That's kind of a selfish take for me though that comes from feeling like the book read like a well put together fanfiction in parts, and I need my fanfic gays dammit.
If I could rate particular parts of the book, I'd say that the beginning was great, and the ending was also really solid, but the middle was kinda "eh". Kinda like a burger with really good bread on both ends, but when you take off the top bun, it's Oop! All Sumps inside, and I'm not sure that was the meal I wanted to spend 400 pages getting through.
Reading the book admittedly felt like a bit of a slog though.
The opening? Great, compelling, foreboding, mysterious! You're quickly introduced to Gyre and Em, who are also the only two real characters in the book, and backstory and motives for them both are woven throughout the story as they delve deeper into the Tower-
Sorry, the cave.
I meant the cave.
Coming hot off reading Annihilation, though, there are definitely some sorts of inspirations that I can see there, and I believe there's a blurb on the back of the book noting that it has "the creeping dread of Annihilation." I definitely do think it had some amount of dread, but there was a sort of repetition to the book that left me spacing out or thinking "didn't we read this part already?"
1 - the slog to get there felt like its own monotonous sump, and
2 - the payoff wasn't nearly satisfying enough
Part of that was me fully expecting there to be some sort of more paranormal explanation for what was going on. While I enjoyed that there weren't actual ghosts or anything like that, I also felt like I wouldn't have minded that, and maybe I would have been more interested in the actual plot. It felt like a lot of foreshadowing and buildup for some sort of actual run in with the dead cavers, and the title of the book made me think as well that there would be some sort of rebirth, but that didn't really seem to be the case. This isn't even talking about the Tunneler, which happened right at the very end and was just... fine? idk, it just sort of... appeared, and then Gyre did #JustGyreThings and somehow this worm that literally exists to survive in this environment accidentally killed itself? like. idk. it was so "whatever" that I just didn't really care since the Tunneler didn't give a huge sense of foreboding for me personally.
However, that could also be coming off of having read Annihilation - it didn't feel as though the
Still, the characterization of Gyre losing her shit near the end was probably the best part for me - her amputation, the delirium, etc. That was all strong, and the gay fangirl part of me really wanted to buy into this Gyre/Em romance thing, but I didn't really get the part of why Em had these strong feelings for Gyre? Like, I'm all for the power dynamic mismatch between Gyre and Em, and I loved the idea of Gyre having this weird sort of Stockholm syndrome type attachment for Em, but I didn't get a lot of it from the other end, and also Gyre's affections swapping back and forth was irritating as she would repeat the same thoughts over and over at different parts while tackling Legally Distinct Sump #7.
I liked a lot of parts of the book - just some of the repetition between Gyre's thoughts, the "I can trust her" -> "I can't trust her" -> "I hate her" -> "I need her" on repeat felt a little bit "fanfictiony" to me, as well as the repetition of the cave itself made it difficult to get through the main portion of the book. There was a map at the beginning of the book, but the caving-focused scenes still felt like I had read the general gist of it already. That said, even if I got annoyed with Gyre on the whole, I liked how messy she and Em both were in their own ways, and Em not being entirely redeemed in her own right was.. refreshing? Idk, I also wouldn't have minded that though. That's kind of a selfish take for me though that comes from feeling like the book read like a well put together fanfiction in parts, and I need my fanfic gays dammit.
If I could rate particular parts of the book, I'd say that the beginning was great, and the ending was also really solid, but the middle was kinda "eh". Kinda like a burger with really good bread on both ends, but when you take off the top bun, it's Oop! All Sumps inside, and I'm not sure that was the meal I wanted to spend 400 pages getting through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit
hayleyham's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-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
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit
directorpurry's review against another edition
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment
librarymouse's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content
archaicrobin's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
anracli's review against another edition
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.
I almost certainly won't reread this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt
krystaldelusion's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Deeply chilling