A review by noellelovesbooks
The Luminous Dead, by Caitlin Starling

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

 

Content Warnings: Claustrophobia, death, loss of parents, child abandonment, loss of body autonomy, non-consensual administration of drugs, nightmares, hallucinations, feelings of isolation, blood/gore, loss of limb, and suicidal ideations.


I’ve let this book sit on my shelf for a while before finally deciding to dive in. As a huge fan of watching horror/thriller movies/shows I’ve been pretty nervous to read any…for fear that reading it will prolong the unease/anxiety/etc. After seeing a few trusted Booktok accounts discuss the book I finally felt ready to take it on. Although I did make sure to break up the reading over multiple days and also read a happier book when I needed to. 😅


The way this book was written I could easily see it turned into a fantastic horror film. The whole being alone, in a privately owned cave system, with only the voice of your handler as company. Fear of not knowing if you can trust what you see and hear and constantly having a sense of being watched. The suspense alone had my anxiety peaking constantly…always curious and afraid of what the next section of the cave would lead to.


As I’ve never read a book like this before…I can’t say what books it reminds me of. I can however tell you about movies and video games that I was reminded of while reading this book. Without reasoning I’ll just leave my list: The Descent [movie], Until Dawn, As Above So Below [movie], and Man of Medan. Honestly, there are probably a ton others that have similar vibes but these are the four that I kept randomly thinking about as I made my way through the book. 

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