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The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
Aug. 8th, 2020 10:10 amThe Luminous Dead
3/5. A woman takes on a solo expedition into the depths of alien caves that have killed many before her. Her only human contact is her boss and handler, who may be lying to her.
Lots of ambition in this book, some of it fulfilled. If you want some harrowing survival adrenaline mixed with some serious business creepy crawlies, plus some mindfuckery of the is-it-real-or-is-she-hallucinating variety, here you go. All of that is operating to spec.
If you want two women building a messy, kind of terrible, kind of sweet, super intense relationship where they have to reach beyond their individual baggage to really hear and help each other under extremely difficult circumstances . . . well, this book is trying for that, but I am not buying, thanks. The author very badly miscalculates her monstrousness to redemption ratio. And – argh, antis ruin everything. They have stolen the word problematic. What they generally mean by calling a relationship problematic is that no one should be allowed to write about it or read about it, and definitely no one should be allowed to enjoy doing either of those things. What I mean by it is that this dynamic – built on gaslighting and dehumanization – is worth reading and writing about, but I am 100% not here for the romantic overtones, because yikes, no, dead dove, do not eat. And the book wanted me to eat, just a few bites, and nope.
Content notes: Oh man. Um. Body horror, psychological horror, a whole lot of corpses, self-amputation.
3/5. A woman takes on a solo expedition into the depths of alien caves that have killed many before her. Her only human contact is her boss and handler, who may be lying to her.
Lots of ambition in this book, some of it fulfilled. If you want some harrowing survival adrenaline mixed with some serious business creepy crawlies, plus some mindfuckery of the is-it-real-or-is-she-hallucinating variety, here you go. All of that is operating to spec.
If you want two women building a messy, kind of terrible, kind of sweet, super intense relationship where they have to reach beyond their individual baggage to really hear and help each other under extremely difficult circumstances . . . well, this book is trying for that, but I am not buying, thanks. The author very badly miscalculates her monstrousness to redemption ratio. And – argh, antis ruin everything. They have stolen the word problematic. What they generally mean by calling a relationship problematic is that no one should be allowed to write about it or read about it, and definitely no one should be allowed to enjoy doing either of those things. What I mean by it is that this dynamic – built on gaslighting and dehumanization – is worth reading and writing about, but I am 100% not here for the romantic overtones, because yikes, no, dead dove, do not eat. And the book wanted me to eat, just a few bites, and nope.
Content notes: Oh man. Um. Body horror, psychological horror, a whole lot of corpses, self-amputation.
