madarauchiha's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️
I loved the motif of seals and thought it was very creepy and horrifying when it all started coming together. It was fairly short and I appreciated the brevity. I thought it let the tension grow and maintain without detracting from the story.
While there is brief mentions of WW1, this is not a war story and it doesn't affect the plotline very much. The gore and violence weren't too over the top, thankfully.
I thought the ending was solid and had a good payoff. I'm glad I went in blind.
content warnings:
minor murder, suicide, gun violence, drowning, anti japanese j slur, adolf hitler mention, religion catholicism, medical situations,
medium ableism, alcohol use, guns, suicide, ww1 war, diseases, parental death, animal gore, gore, torture,
major death, dogs, classism, paranoia, body horror, animal cruelty, animal death, gore, animal hunting, hunting, gun violence, animal cruelty, mouth trauma, eye trauma, gore,
I loved the motif of seals and thought it was very creepy and horrifying when it all started coming together. It was fairly short and I appreciated the brevity. I thought it let the tension grow and maintain without detracting from the story.
While there is brief mentions of WW1, this is not a war story and it doesn't affect the plotline very much. The gore and violence weren't too over the top, thankfully.
I thought the ending was solid and had a good payoff. I'm glad I went in blind.
content warnings:
minor murder, suicide, gun violence, drowning, anti japanese j slur, adolf hitler mention, religion catholicism, medical situations,
medium ableism, alcohol use, guns, suicide, ww1 war, diseases, parental death, animal gore, gore, torture,
major death, dogs, classism, paranoia, body horror, animal cruelty, animal death, gore, animal hunting, hunting, gun violence, animal cruelty, mouth trauma, eye trauma, gore,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Ableism, and Alcoholism
Minor: Medical content
armedwithabook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Dark Matter gave me a lot to think about. Set in late 1930s England, the first World War had ended, leaving not just the ominous feeling that another war will happen but also a lot of unemployment. The main character of this book, Jack, went to university to study Physics but having found no employment in that area, he has been leading a dreary life, one day to the next. Poor with no hopes for the future, when he learns about an Arctic expedition, he decides to join in.
Through his time at Gruhuken, first with his team mates, and later alone, we learn about the atrocities that happened on that land many years ago. The malicious spirit haunting this place is this way because of the atrocities committed by other people to it. The book reminded me of The Only Good Indians in some ways - that the land remembers and no matter who harms it, a general distrust of our own kind perpetuates. Though Gruhuken is a fictional place, I have heard stories of other places that give a similar bad vibe.
“What I don’t like is the feeling I sometimes get that other things might exist around us, of which we know nothing.”
Living in Canada in the winter, when sunlight hours are numbered and few, I felt for Jack - out in the Arctic, in the months when it is night all the time. I would be terrified too, being there. Dark Matter is partly Jack’s diary during his stay and he mentions looking back at the pages how his handwriting has changed, I have no doubt it did, even though I can’t know that from the print.
The book was very well done and the writing portrayed Jack’s descent into fear as time passed. He held on to his sanity by fixating on one of his team mates and whether those feelings were reciprocated, one would never know. Dark Matter was a haunting tale of winter and cold, the loneliness that comes from being on our own and the need for light. I will never forget these lines from the book:
“Fear of the dark. Until I came here, I thought that was for children; that you grew out of it. But it never really goes away. It’s always there underneath. The oldest fear of all.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Torture
Minor: Gore
Suicide (off-screen), Drowning,
More...