Reviews

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

ceceewing_'s review

5.0

This was BONE CHILLING and absolutely impossible to put down. I made the wrong choice when I decided to finish reading this alone in my room at 3 am. Besides being ridiculously creepy and engaging from page one, this also has a super complex queer girl main character and the potential for an equally complex f/f relationship full of anger and distrust. Basically this is the fucked up queer horror story of my dreams, The One I have been searching for, and I cannot wait to read whatever Caitlin Starling writes next.

*I preordered this copy of The Luminous Dead*

bug_meat's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

b_flowers's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

marareading's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

3.0

This was claustrophobic, had tension, and weird. It still didn't scare me. It was missing something for me. I kept waiting for it, and it didn't come. The beginning started off good, then the middle dragged. The end picked up again. That middle section just lost all the intensity for me. 

ladyaleira's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

ozblom24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

whimsyandwitt's review against another edition

3.0

Slow burn, psychological horror. Emphasis on the slow.

emuhhhh's review against another edition

2.0

Yeah I agree with everyone else…. What was that ending???

lmclar12's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

3.25 stars. The atmosphere in this book was so tense and claustrophobic.  It makes you feel like you’re the one in the suit. I read this book in about a day so it never really felt too slow. I was impressed that for just climbing or swimming or dialogue between the two characters it still held my interest. 

I felt like the ending was a bit rushed also

we never find out what happened with Gyre smashing the battery. What about the other rope on the long drop? And where did Eli’s stuff come from at the end?

I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending hence the lower score 

golivia's review

adventurous dark emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

This is a strange one to rate by this scale. In concept, it's a clear 5. Incredibly immersive and atmospheric as I love deep water horror. But man does the pacing ruin this. It's about 130 pages too long and has at least three fake endings that kind of tanked my enjoyment.
This would make a great film, as we could actually get to see how one horrible situation is different from another, as differences in tunnels and caves are difficult to imagine.