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A review by acatastrophe
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
(from my personal reading journal, Jan. 12, 2024)
This was a recommendation from Cav!
The Luminous Dead is a science fiction/psychological horror piece, following a caver--Gyre Price--who advances into a dangerous cave in promise of a huge payday, which she plans to use to get off her shithole planet. Instead of the industry standard team supporting her and her high-tech suit, she gets only Em, her mysterious, reticent boss, who's sent her down for reasons unknown. As she advances through the cave, she grows progressively more and more paranoid that the previous cavers, entombed in the suits and eerily preserved, are following her through the system.
I loved the technicality behind the caving portion of this book--too often I read books with a clearly underexplored scifi hinge theme, but the real and constructed elements of the caving sections are refreshingly solid here. Additionally, the nature of Gyre's delusions remains very unclear throughout (this is a good thing). Overall, this novel kept me guessing at every plot point, which was very refreshing.
However, as Cav and I both agreed, the ending was very disappointing. The story was a no-punches-pulled, dark, psychological tale with a subplot of a deeply messed-up, imbalanced, codependent romance between Gyre and Em, and yet in the end they get to be together, happy and normal and working towards Gyre's goal of finding and showing up her mother. It feels like a misunderstanding of why someone would read this story in the first place. I wish the end was more gorey and upsetting, in keeping with the rest of the book's tone.
Overall, though, a thrilling story. Dr. Sargent saw me listening to this and took down the title, so we'll see if he can stomach the gore (or the lesbians).
This was a recommendation from Cav!
The Luminous Dead is a science fiction/psychological horror piece, following a caver--Gyre Price--who advances into a dangerous cave in promise of a huge payday, which she plans to use to get off her shithole planet. Instead of the industry standard team supporting her and her high-tech suit, she gets only Em, her mysterious, reticent boss, who's sent her down for reasons unknown. As she advances through the cave, she grows progressively more and more paranoid that the previous cavers, entombed in the suits and eerily preserved, are following her through the system.
I loved the technicality behind the caving portion of this book--too often I read books with a clearly underexplored scifi hinge theme, but the real and constructed elements of the caving sections are refreshingly solid here. Additionally, the nature of Gyre's delusions remains very unclear throughout (this is a good thing). Overall, this novel kept me guessing at every plot point, which was very refreshing.
However, as Cav and I both agreed, the ending was very disappointing. The story was a no-punches-pulled, dark, psychological tale with a subplot of a deeply messed-up, imbalanced, codependent romance between Gyre and Em, and yet in the end they get to be together, happy and normal and working towards Gyre's goal of finding and showing up her mother. It feels like a misunderstanding of why someone would read this story in the first place. I wish the end was more gorey and upsetting, in keeping with the rest of the book's tone.
Overall, though, a thrilling story. Dr. Sargent saw me listening to this and took down the title, so we'll see if he can stomach the gore (or the lesbians).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Toxic relationship