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A review by xkait98
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
2.0
i was excited for this book. a sci-fi about a woman trapped in a cave on another planet with a dangerous creature about? plus an evil “handler” that could control her? count me IN.
unfortunately, this fell short in so many ways.
the world is shallow. we find out little to nothing about the universe this story is placed in. and the cave system is the most basic, generic cave system i’ve ever seen. the only quality it has are spores that can induce hallucinations. which brings me to my next point.
the “people” Gyre kept seeing, and whether or not they were real, kept me reading this book, hoping for a cool plot point that would really give this story an extra oomph. turns out it was literally nothing. i get it, Gyre’s mental status is suffering, but it feels like the hallucinations were just there as filler with no follow through.
the cave monster called the “tunneler” was one of the most anticipated parts for me. i waited and waited, then at 300+ pages in, it showed up. FINALLY, right? i was expecting some horrific creature that chills you down to the bone. but what i got was a worm that was too fat to hold itself up, so it just fell through the floor and that was the end of that.
Em, the handler, is very selfish, and you almost think she realizes it and grows as a character. but NOPE. even after Gyre has almost died several times, she pushes her to continue with the mission. it really makes all the supposed “bonding” moments between the two where Em realizes her mistakes seem pointless and a waste of space on the page.
Gyre makes STUPID choices just to further the plot, with no reason behind them. she spends so much time questioning Em, just to be like “i don’t care that you killed 30+ people and almost me, i NEED you” at the end.
this book was frustrating. 2 stars.
unfortunately, this fell short in so many ways.
the world is shallow. we find out little to nothing about the universe this story is placed in. and the cave system is the most basic, generic cave system i’ve ever seen. the only quality it has are spores that can induce hallucinations. which brings me to my next point.
the “people” Gyre kept seeing, and whether or not they were real, kept me reading this book, hoping for a cool plot point that would really give this story an extra oomph. turns out it was literally nothing. i get it, Gyre’s mental status is suffering, but it feels like the hallucinations were just there as filler with no follow through.
the cave monster called the “tunneler” was one of the most anticipated parts for me. i waited and waited, then at 300+ pages in, it showed up. FINALLY, right? i was expecting some horrific creature that chills you down to the bone. but what i got was a worm that was too fat to hold itself up, so it just fell through the floor and that was the end of that.
Em, the handler, is very selfish, and you almost think she realizes it and grows as a character. but NOPE. even after Gyre has almost died several times, she pushes her to continue with the mission. it really makes all the supposed “bonding” moments between the two where Em realizes her mistakes seem pointless and a waste of space on the page.
Gyre makes STUPID choices just to further the plot, with no reason behind them. she spends so much time questioning Em, just to be like “i don’t care that you killed 30+ people and almost me, i NEED you” at the end.
this book was frustrating. 2 stars.