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ishouldreadthat 's review for:
The Luminous Dead
by Caitlin Starling
Originally posted to I Should Read That
My spooky October reading continues with the tense sci-fi thriller, The Luminous Dead. I was so curious about this one because I wasn't sure what to expect -- was it going to be horror? A thriller? A space opera? I ended up having mixed thoughts on this book, but they were mostly positive -- if you're looking for a tense thriller with a character in intense isolation, you should give this book a try.
The Luminous Dead is a book that is super focused on the setting -- the caves themselves seem to nearly be a menacing character on their own, taunting Gyre and driving her mad. Starling does a great job of making the caves seem more and more alarming as the book progresses and as Gyre's mission gets more and more dangerous. I did, however, think that the hyper-focus on the setting did create some pacing issues in the book -- we got incredibly tense horror elements interspersed between fairly lengthy and quiet passages about caving techniques. While the descriptions of caving were interesting, there was quite a lot of them!
This book is also incredibly character-focused, as it is pretty much just Gyre on her own for the entire book in near-complete isolation. Her only contact with the world outside the caves is Em via voice and video links, and Em doesn't prove to be the most supportive person. What this book does best is charting Gyre's descent into paranoia, mistrust, and possible madness as her journey deeper and deeper into the caves progresses and she gets further away from the world outside. She's a character I both liked and was frustrated by in equal measure. I loved her pride, determination, and independence, but often found myself questioning her intense reactions and her extreme mistrust of Em -- although to be fair, Em doesn't do much to earn Gyre's trust. As the mission continues and secrets are ferreted out, I found Gyre's continuing stubbornness and attitude strange, so much so that I actually thought the book was going in a completely different direction and the ending left me feelin a little blindsided.
I think ultimately I liked this book, but I expected a little more from the set-up and execution. The ending left me feeling a bit dissatisfied, as I felt there could have been a number of more interesting conclusions to the plot of the book. However, it was still a good and compelling read!
3.5 out of 5 stars
My spooky October reading continues with the tense sci-fi thriller, The Luminous Dead. I was so curious about this one because I wasn't sure what to expect -- was it going to be horror? A thriller? A space opera? I ended up having mixed thoughts on this book, but they were mostly positive -- if you're looking for a tense thriller with a character in intense isolation, you should give this book a try.
The Luminous Dead is a book that is super focused on the setting -- the caves themselves seem to nearly be a menacing character on their own, taunting Gyre and driving her mad. Starling does a great job of making the caves seem more and more alarming as the book progresses and as Gyre's mission gets more and more dangerous. I did, however, think that the hyper-focus on the setting did create some pacing issues in the book -- we got incredibly tense horror elements interspersed between fairly lengthy and quiet passages about caving techniques. While the descriptions of caving were interesting, there was quite a lot of them!
This book is also incredibly character-focused, as it is pretty much just Gyre on her own for the entire book in near-complete isolation. Her only contact with the world outside the caves is Em via voice and video links, and Em doesn't prove to be the most supportive person. What this book does best is charting Gyre's descent into paranoia, mistrust, and possible madness as her journey deeper and deeper into the caves progresses and she gets further away from the world outside. She's a character I both liked and was frustrated by in equal measure. I loved her pride, determination, and independence, but often found myself questioning her intense reactions and her extreme mistrust of Em -- although to be fair, Em doesn't do much to earn Gyre's trust. As the mission continues and secrets are ferreted out, I found Gyre's continuing stubbornness and attitude strange, so much so that I actually thought the book was going in a completely different direction and the ending left me feelin a little blindsided.
I think ultimately I liked this book, but I expected a little more from the set-up and execution. The ending left me feeling a bit dissatisfied, as I felt there could have been a number of more interesting conclusions to the plot of the book. However, it was still a good and compelling read!
3.5 out of 5 stars