Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

64 reviews

cassie7e's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Just the mix of sci fi and thriller I needed this week! Imagine living on a downtrodden mining planet, being so desperate for money that you take on a solo spelunking job, risking not only the usual threats (cave ins, sensory deprivation, isolation), but also alien contaminants, and a creature like the sandworms of Arrakis but under caves. 

This book plops you right into the story without messing about with backstory or context; those are all added as you go. The plot is long and dark and as monotonous as caving and being stuck underground actually would be. It's not the kind of sci fi that has a lot of worldbuilding or depth. It's tightly focused on the caves and the elements of technology and economic context that are relevant to the caving. 

There are a ton of uncomfortable and unsettling circumstances that didnt actually scare me, but fictional media doesn't scare me easily.

Critiques: 

I didn't find the initial antagonism between Gyre and Em compelling, as it felt a bit over-intense for a pair who've JUST started an expedition, but it feels more justified later once the stakes are raised. I then didn't find the change in their relationship compelling, though trauma bonding is a thing. 

The book could have done some really interesting things with leaning more into mycological horror or the supernatural, but chooses to leave it all ambiguous enough that it's very easily explained away. It also could have more heavily expanded on the lure of the deeps (which Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt does very successfully with mountains), being watched, the bodily discomfort of being in the suit (eg itches, phantom limb or phantom touch), or others having external access to Gyre's suit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

blighted_beak's review

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

Fun read though hard to get into right away. Loved when it started to get spooky though. Horrifying to think about, but great to read. The ending felt rushed/forced IMO, and that was a bit disappointing but I enjoyed the book as a whole. The world building and storytelling of spelunking on a foreign planet was fascinating and cool as hell. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Stalking, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Medical content

keen's review

dark emotional tense

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

hayleyham's review

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

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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

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Body horror, Drug use, Vomit, and Gaslighting

amris's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Medical content

kylieqrada's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Medical content, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

librarymouse's review

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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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

anracli's review

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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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