Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

34 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

meg_thebrave's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I really liked the premise of the book. I think Gyre and Em are well written characters. This could have been a shorter story; sometimes too repetitive, as Gyre wandered the caves. The biggest horror of the story was the body horror, Gyre’s suit, and the claustrophobia of the tunnels.

The Tunneler reveal was underwhelming, but I appreciated that most of the climax involved Gyre’s waning sanity and physical injuries.

I’d definitely read something shorter by this author, who is skilled at character exploration. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical trauma

leweylibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

1.75

Ngl I'm shocked I finished this one 😅 I think I really just wanted to know for sure whether

Em's mom was actually down in the cave or not.

Basically, it was just way too slow with too little of consequence happening to keep me interested, especially since the WHOLE BOOK except the very last chapter are in this cave. I kept losing track of where the MC was in the cave and why because it all just felt the same?

AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT

THE ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP??

NO. Just no. On so many levels wtf. I kind of want to recommend this book to someone just so I have someone to hate on this part with 😅 it makes absolutely no sense for the characters and feels incredibly forced on top of being toxic AF.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical trauma

higgindasz's review

dark emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Abandonment

krystaldelusion's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Deeply chilling

brioches22's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

spaghettii's review

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

3.5

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

itsjustgrumpy's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.5

The name of the book and the cover made me think Zombies. No zombies. But it was a good sapphic sci-fi story. Probably could've been trimmed a little, to avoid some of the repetition found later in the book. It was an alright read, might not recommend it to those into actual horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Death, and Gore

nittiotvaan's review

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Drug use, Medical content, and Medical trauma

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