Book Review
Oct. 23rd, 2024 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Luminous Dead
by Caitlin Starling
This sci-fi horror novel was both really interesting and fairly unsatisfying. It's told from the perspective of Gyre, a young woman exploring a cave system on a distant mining planet. She is on a solo mission, her only human contact is Em, her handler and guide on the surface. Gyre is encased in a high-tech suit designed to assist her and keep her alive as well as receive data feeds and communication from Em. Gyre must deal with the natural hazards of the caves, including the mysterious creatures known as Tunnelers, as well as the feeling that Em is not entirely honest about the mission. Plus, Gyre starts to get the feeling that there is something else in the caves with her.
The premise of The Luminous Dead was fascinating and had so much potential for various kinds of horror. Gyre and Em were interesting characters, each having their own inner demons to conquer, and their relationship takes some unexpected turns. However, Starling just couldn't deliver when it came to suspense and dread. Even the scariest stuff didn't really frighten or creep me out the way I'd expect. Plus, one of the biggest horror elements of the story was not given enough weight or tension. There wasn't quite enough horror in it for a horror novel, and too much horror for it to be anything else.
by Caitlin Starling
This sci-fi horror novel was both really interesting and fairly unsatisfying. It's told from the perspective of Gyre, a young woman exploring a cave system on a distant mining planet. She is on a solo mission, her only human contact is Em, her handler and guide on the surface. Gyre is encased in a high-tech suit designed to assist her and keep her alive as well as receive data feeds and communication from Em. Gyre must deal with the natural hazards of the caves, including the mysterious creatures known as Tunnelers, as well as the feeling that Em is not entirely honest about the mission. Plus, Gyre starts to get the feeling that there is something else in the caves with her.
The premise of The Luminous Dead was fascinating and had so much potential for various kinds of horror. Gyre and Em were interesting characters, each having their own inner demons to conquer, and their relationship takes some unexpected turns. However, Starling just couldn't deliver when it came to suspense and dread. Even the scariest stuff didn't really frighten or creep me out the way I'd expect. Plus, one of the biggest horror elements of the story was not given enough weight or tension. There wasn't quite enough horror in it for a horror novel, and too much horror for it to be anything else.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-24 06:56 am (UTC)Huh. Was it the content of the scares, or the way they were portrayed?
Plus, one of the biggest horror elements of the story was not given enough weight or tension.
I am spoiler-indifferent and curious.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-24 01:03 pm (UTC)One of the biggest horror elements was that Gyre kept seeing the ghosts of cavers who had died on previous missions to the cave system, and those ghosts may have been trying to trap Gyre in there with them. The ghost sightings were not timed or paced well, and were not very consequential to the story until one short scene at the end. It just didn't work to have potentially malevolent ghosts in the story but yet have them not matter all that much. I should have cared about them more.