Name: Nik ✨'s review of The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
Item: The Luminous Dead
Rating: 2
Author: Nik ✨

Caitlin Starling

"This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Andy Weir’s The Martian." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) *** A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival. When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane. Instead, she got Em. Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . . As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head. But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?

A Novel

The Luminous Dead

Jenna Whitlow

I think the length of this book was my biggest obstacle because it would’ve thrived as a short story or novella. The pacing was all wrong with so much uneventful storytelling happening in between beats of action. If it was condensed, I would’ve had a much better time and wouldn’t have fought myself to pick it up. Seeing that it was a horror, I expected more horror elements, which is not what I got. I’m new to the genre, so that could just be something I need to become more educated on. However, nothing about this gave horror. Without spoiling the plot, I also struggled slightly with the motivations of the two main characters and their connection. Honestly, without the pacing issues, I was ready to give this a 3 star review, but I simply can’t overlook how long it took me to read this book due to the dread I felt every time I even thought about diving back into it. 

Nik ✨

A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival. When Gyre Price lied her way into this expedition, she thought she’d be mapping mineral deposits, and that her biggest problems would be cave collapses and gear malfunctions. She also thought that the fat paycheck—enough to get her off-planet and on the trail of her mother—meant she’d get a skilled surface team, monitoring her suit and environment, keeping her safe. Keeping her sane. Instead, she got Em. Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . . As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, her control giving way to paranoia and anger, Gyre severs her connection with Em and the outside world. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown, Gyre must overcome more than just the dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground its home if she wants to make it out alive—she must confront the ghosts in her own head. But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?

big fan of female hysteria and toxic yuri and this book has plenty of both.

cloud

Aine Meehan

Read this nearly in one siting. It is very exciting and nail biting. Even though the physical setting and tech is all very alien to me, it is a testament to the writers ability that I was able to visualise everything. It reminded me a bit of an Andy Weir book, in that the main character had to problem solve and figure things out herself. Also, there were very few characters in the book. At times claustrophobic and scary, I found it to be more sci-fi or adventure than horror. Of course there were some horror moments, but in terms of genre I felt it was more sci-fi. I’ll be looking forward to more books by this writer.

Nessa Luna

Remind me to 1) never go into any cave ever again and 2) never wear a suit like Gyre did. Damn this book stressed me out SO MUCH.

Jack

Thrilling, shocking and heartbreaking. This story encompasses how you feel when you’re alone and the terrors the brain may create. Even if you don’t usually like thrillers, give this a read!

Colleen

3.5 Stars
 
*An atmospheric combination of survival horror and psychological suspense that dragged on a bit too long*


I’ve had The Luminous Dead on my TBR since it came out. But at the time, I wasn’t reading a ton of Science Fiction, so I kind of forgot about it. Then last year, I read The Death of Jane Lawrence which I was surprised to find was by the same author. I was curious to check out more of Starling’s work, and since I’ve been reading a lot more SciFi lately, I decided to bump this one up the list.

The Luminous Dead, not surprisingly, is entirely different from The Death of Jane Lawrence although they do both have suspenseful atmospheres.

In this story, a young woman named Gyre takes a lucrative job as a solo cave explorer only to discover that it was much more dire and deadly that she expected. I presume this story is set far in the future when humans have colonized other planets. But I’d barely classify this as SciFi – or at least what the mainstream thinks of as SciFi. Yes, there is some futuristic technology, and humans have colonized many planets throughout the galaxies. But in the end, none of that mattered much, because the whole story took place in that cave. And it only has two characters. So the outside world functions mostly as a catalyst for how Gyre ended up in that cave, but most of the worldbuilding trickles in secondhand. I’m not sure the planet name was even mentioned. If it was, I immediately forgot it.

The bottom line is that Gyre lives on a desolate mining colony world. The only way to get out of poverty and get a chance to leave the planet is to take a job as a caver. Desperate to get money to go search for her mother, Gyre lies about her experience level in order to get a lucrative caving job. But she quickly realizes that there is something strange about the job. And the farther she descends into the dangerous cave system, the more reasons she finds to be afraid for her life.

As I mentioned, this story is fairly light on the SciFi elements. That isn’t a good or bad thing; just something to be aware of depending on your preference. Most of the story revolves around Gyre’s struggle to stay alive through the type of scenarios that any solo caver would experience. But then again, the whole reason that the cavers have to explore solo is that human presence attracts mysterious, deadly creatures called Tunnelers. And then there is Gyre’s only link to the outside world: her mysterious hander named Em who clearly has an agenda other than finding ore deposits to mine.

The setup of the story was intriguing. For the first half, I was totally engrossed in the claustrophobic atmosphere of the cave. The various problems Gyre encountered made for gripping survival horror with the added psychological suspense of paranoia brought on by isolation and the struggle of whether or not to trust her handler. But then things just seemed to drag on. Without giving anything specific away, just when I thought things should be building up for the climax, I realized I was only just halfway through the book. And my intrigue in the story slowly trickled away until I wasn’t all that invested in the ending. I was definitely ready for it to be over. And while I liked a lot of things about The Luminous Dead, the ending felt anticlimactic after such a slow-burn build. It was still a decent read overall, but I’d probably only recommend it to the narrow niche of readers who like slow-burn lite SciFi survival horror / suspense. Oh, and who aren’t too squeamish about body horror. So if that sounds like your jam, give The Luminous Dead a try.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Sade A

Me to Caitlin Starlin:
 


  Also, never ever ever ever
, and i can't stress this enough, EVER!! in your life underestimate the tenacity of young adult writers to put in a love story in any book.
I was like:



  Anyways, this book is 432 pages of headache inducing pointlessness. 
Wouldn't recommend it.

Janice Hopper

Added 5/18/19: I've had some time to think about it and I've bumped my rating up another star. I think I was just so frustrated by this book when I finished listening to it that I was really harsh about it. I now think it's probably better than I thought, and I might try to eye-read it sometime and see how that goes. If I do, I'll update here then.

==============================================

Sometimes you see a book description and you think, Oh, that sounds good. I'll read that.

Sometimes you see that book in an audio version and you think, Snap, I'll listen to it.

Sometimes you think that you might have been better off eye-reading a book instead of ear-reading (listening) to it. That was the case with me here.

The narrator was doing so. Much. WORK. trying to convey the feelings of Gyre in the cave underground, and her mixed feelings about Em, her sole handler above ground. She did so much work, she made ME tired. And the narrator made me REALLY tired of these whiny characters. 

I'm probably guilty here of wanting a puppy when the author was actually trying to give me a kitten. I totally lost patience with both characters. I just hate-listened to the last few chapters, just to see what was going to happen. I haven't been this close to abandoning a book because I disliked it in ages. (I often abandon books that don't grab me. I just stop reading them. This was different.)

Granted, I've never been alone in a cave in the dark like Gyre was. And what she was doing was actually really beyond her training. She'd lied about her experience to get the job, but we're told a lot at the beginning how strong and capable she was. And honestly? I never understood why Em was so anxious to get down in the cave that she sponsored a crapton of expeditions, most of which ended with the deaths of the cavers. Seriously???

Not every book works for everyone, and this didn't work for me. I'm not sure if the author is a spelunker, but the descriptions of gear at the beginning seemed good to this person who knows nothing about caving/climbing. And it's moderately gutsy to have a story where there are essentially just two female characters talking to each other. Even though I found them to be annoying gits after a while.

Oh well. So it goes.

This book is a quick read and a good one! It is more like sci thriller or mystery than horror. I think what kept me from loving this was that I wanted more horror elements from it, but it is still a solid read.

She did a great job of building atmosphere and creating a claustrophobic feeling for the audience. Her descriptions of the setting were just enough to make you picture them in your head without spoon feeding you what the surroundings were. Would recommend!

This book is a quick read and a good one! It is more like sci thriller or mystery than horror. I think what kept me from loving this was that I wanted more horror elements from it, but it is still a solid read.

She did a great job of building atmosphere and creating a claustrophobic feeling for the audience. Her descriptions of the setting were just enough to make you picture them in your head without spoon feeding you what the surroundings were. Would recommend!

Kelsey Lynn

Good for a debut- but filled with amateur choices that will always make it a "Debut"

I picked this book up at random at my local book store (Mac's Backs in Cleveland, Ohio). Having been in a reading slump partially brought on by stress and being too busy, and partially because nothing was hooking me in this time of stress. Not even YA, my normal quick pointless drivel reading that always catches me and makes me yearn for the good stuff.

 I am ALWAYS looking for good sci-fi horror, they are so rare to find, and unfortunately, my bar is high with Richard Paul Russo's "Ship of Fools". I say this while wearing an "Alien" shirt. I also, weirdly, love cave stories, or stories about people dying in caves. Weird, I know, but I'm terrified of caves and so as an avid horror fan it always gets me going. This year I've read two cave stories, this and "The Anomaly" a BOTM choice I had. 

 I want to open with admission to some bias. I have a pet peeve about debuts. I feel we are to easy on them, and too often we forgive the unforgivable just because it's a debut. I also do understand that the first book, the first drawing, the first comic we make, will for the most part always be the weakest, but I also have read some damn good debuts. So, I review debut's the same way I review normal books. As an Illustration teacher, I spend a lot of time critiquing, and I feel it only can lead to growth. SO with that in mind, if anything I say seems harsh, know I mean it with the greatest intention of growth, as I'm not a writer (though I wish I was) and do fully respect and applaud everyone who attempts and succeeds to even have a debut. With that being said, I am not a writer, there will be grammar errors abound and a lot of stream of consciousness, and no guarantees of being spoiler-free, so you are warned.

 The Luminous Dead had an intriguing premise, mystery abound, a solo caver on an alien planet with an unknown goal. Alone, save for the questionable Handler on the other end of the line, and the mission being run in suspicious ways. I was sold. Bought the book even though I told myself I was there for only one book (which they were sold out of). This book did fulfill what I was looking for, it broke my slump and it hooked me. I bought it at 4 pm on a Monday and Finished it at 10 pm the next night. It hooked me. So in that way, the author was a glorious success. I read it on my breaks at work, I read it until 2 am. I took breaks only for work and dinner and the latest episode of GOT. Giving my boyfriend the obligatory amount of time for him to not feel too dejected when I fall into one of my book marathons that he's come to accept. I read it on the toilet, I read it in the bath. I devoured this book. So round of applause for Caitlin.
 
 However, whenever my boyfriend asked me if it was good, I found myself shrugging, and he'd merely reply "well it must cause you are destroying it". It was, enough, but I truly believe it could be so much more. Unfortunately, it fell flat on its main purpose, was derivative of other media and books, and had surprisingly awkward pacing. I also think it's map was wrong. I tried really hard to retrace the scenes on the map and even with shifts of the cave it just didn't add up. But, I digress.

 I think my greatest disappointment in this book, is that it is not sci-fi. At all. Yes, yes, the cave is located on a mining planet LV426 style called Cassandra-V. Your typical run of the mill harsh existence mining planet. However, beyond the establishment that our main character Gyre, wants OFF of this S***hole planet, that's where the alien world kind of ends. We have high tech, but we could easily have that be believable if it was set modern day one Earth, with a super rich investor with high tech next gen equipment. We also have an alien creature, a giant worm called a Tunneler which helps ground us a little bit in the sci-fi setting. But you easily forget this as they are mentioned few and far between, and the only real run-ins come much farther into the book.
 So, Scifi setting I would argue was a failure.
 The book immediately throws you in, which I appreciate, as I hate books with overly long exposition and build up and then have a let down in the actual plot. However, it may have been too fast, I was thirty pages in and I was starting to get concerned about how she was going to fill the whole book. Paranoia and mistrust were already established very quickly, and our mystery handler has been left a mystery for a very short time. This very quick pace continues throughout the book, and manifests in the wrong places, like the relationship between Gyre and her Handler. The things that deserved more build up, the paranoia, the relationship, the bumps in the dark, were handled just as quickly and never let that sense of dread build. The parts that could have been quicker, weren't, like the author's very extensive knowledge of caving.
 My second issue was with the relationship between Gyre and her Handler. Right off the bat, it was mysterious and wrought with tension, which I liked, but very quickly we had a name, Em, and we had a lot of conversation. We also had suggestions that Gyre is not mentally stable, though I think this was supposed to develop as she was isolated later, instead, it seemed there from the get-go, but it didn't feel like it was there on purpose. Gyre's reasonings for things come off unstable and just wrong. For example, Gyre is extremely upset to learn the purpose of the mission, extremely, as she should be. However, a single video explaining Em's weak reasonings, and I mean weak, to Gyre weren't weak at all and she even says "This situation would make anyone go crazy" but the situation wasn't thought out well enough, it wasn't good enough motive, and the motive is everything. Not only was it not good enough motive, but Gyre was convinced it was and it made no sense. There was also a scene where Gyre wanted to take a picture of something, but Em did it for her, I read this and thought "oh, Em knew she'd want this so she did it, that's nice" but Gyre took it as a complete betrayal of trust and example of not having body autonomy and seriously freaked out, to the point she wanted nothing to do with Em. A picture. When Em literally could administer drugs to sedate her, kill her, lock her suit. The picture was the straw that broke the camel's back, the reaction was so over the top it was laughable. If the author wanted the trust to be broken, she had a million better ways to break that camel's back. 
 Also, her mood swings, woof. This ultimate betrayal lasted all of a few pages and they were chummy again. 
 Another issue I had, was the lack of build up. We had maybe... 4 incidents of unease, of slow mysterious dread. The rest was a little ham-handed and easily explained away by Gyre's isolation. Making me not scared of what goes bump in the night. For A "Sci-Fi" Horror, minus the sci-fi, this is a huge hit, because your genre of horror is now failing. If these parts, as well as the unease with Em, were allowed to simmer instead of going full boil, turn off the heat, full boil, we could have had a really intriguing psychological thriller on our hands. But nothing ever really came to fruition. Every spoopy thing introduced was quickly pushed away or not utilized, lots of hints were dropped, but none of them were legitimate or pursued. Making everything shift to the psychological part, okay, no really spoopy things, so let's focus on the psychological factor. But this wasn't well thought out either. Gyre quickly went south, fast, quickly went from hating Em, to straight up loving her? Like, actually being in love with her.
 WHICH brings me to another issue. Beyond the obvious ham-handed "romance". I couldn't shake this whole thing feeling... familiar, no cave things have been like this, so why was it familiar. The answer came from my boyfriend, I was describing it to him, without mentioning the sense of deja vu, and he interrupts me and says "So this is Firewatch in a cave". He is 100% right. This is Firewatch, a game that came out in 2016, in a cave. We have someone solo, exploring, with their only connection to other humans being a voice on a radio, leading them. In the game, there are supply caches, sabotages done by an unknown person, and the sense of you being followed by someone hiding in the woods. This book, has someone solo, traversing a cave, with only a person on the other side of the radio. Sabotaged supplies, and the sense someone is also in the cave. They both also have the people falling in love over the radio, after a dislike and suspicion of the other person. They also ultimately become stories about moving on and letting go of your past. He was right, this was Firewatch. I shook it off though and gave it the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure plenty of things have followed that formula. But is that something to shake off? Or just a sign of doing something that's been done? Or utilizing an overused concept? Coupled with the Tunnelers just being the same alien as in Hugh Howey's "Half Way Home" which I LOVED, it just kind of killed the originality for me. I had already gotten over it not really being sci-fi, but the one thing connecting me to sci-fi being kind of uninspired, and the whole story being too similar to a game I literally marathoned a few months ago, I think it just... killed it for me. Probably unfair, but it did.
 I didn't feel connected enough with the world to warrant sci-fi, I didn't connect with the characters enough and the pacing wasn't right for Psychological Thriller, and I wasn't spooked enough for horror. So what was left was a quick paced, quick read with just enough to keep me interested, but not enough to make me think about this book in the future, or feel satisfied with its story. It left me yearning for an actual sci-fi cave story. 
 But, with all that critique, it had something, her writing was well done, and it hooked me, it was good on a technical level. But lacked the substance that will make it memorable, or fall on any lists of books you must read in the future. They always say, your FIRST will always be your worst. So I will absolutely read her second, I hope she learns and grows from this experience and her writing was strong enough to make me look forward to what comes next.

 My final complaint. Em's name... Emogene... I read it and was like " is this just a phonetic version of Imogen?" and even researched to make sure I wasn't just dumb. But all I could find was one character in Fallout 4 being called Emogene. I really hated how it was spelled in this haha. Super dumb, doesn't actually affect the quality of the book, but I absolutely wrote a note about it in my book journal.
 So, now that I'm done, I am inspired to read another book, YAY, but I'm also inspired to replay Firewatch.

Erin Russell

Me and psychological horror don’t normally vibe, but the combo of that with the spelunking sci-fi twist was doing something for me. Gyre and Em were interesting characters to follow. They were infuriating at times, but overall, very real feeling to me. This one is definitely going on the recommended list.

Grace O'Callaghan

Gyre has to get off this planet. Get off and find her mother that’s all she knows. So when an offer that seems too good to be true comes along she takes it. Lying about her credentials to get the job and get a lot of money for it, Gyre expects that she’ll have a whole team of people helping her with the caving expedition. That all she’ll have to worry about is the climb and how much gear she had left. But all she gets is Em. Someone who’s lying to her, can control her suit and drug her anytime she wants, and who doesn’t have the clearest motivations. The Luminious Dead is a psychological horror/thriller with sci fi elements that’ll leave you on the edge of your seat.

I cannot believe that this is a debut novel. Caitlin Starling is able to bring such complexity to a fairly simple concept. She’s also phenomenal at writing suspense and mixing in the horror elements leaving you questioning what’s even real.

With only having one setting and two characters I think any author would be scared on how to make an interesting story. But Starling pulls it off as we explore the minds of two flawed women. Gyre is determined and willing to do a lot of things to get what she wants. But when it comes to it she’s very compassionate about others feelings, even if she wishes she wasn’t sometimes. I won’t say too much about Em as part of the fun is finding out her motivations. All I’ll say is that she’s incredibly selfish, but you can understand why.

I’ll admit that the story did drag a little bit for me and perhaps could’ve done with being a little shorter, but that’s honestly a minor complaint. I found it so interesting as I do like to go climbing and caving is fairly similar. It seemed like the author knew what she was talking about. I also liked the looming threat of the tunneller and added another layer of suspense.

I did go into this thinking there would be more horror elements. But I think that’s on me as the synopsis doesn’t indicate that they’ll be anything like that. It’s more about the psychological horrors this cave has on Gyre, so please don’t go into this expecting classic horror.

Both women are also attracted to women and it’s not a huge part of the story but I really loved how it was explored.

Considering this is way outside my comfort zone as I never read horror or sci-fi, I am well and truly impressed. If you want to learn about two very complex women with some suspense thrown in there, this is the book for you. I can’t wait to see what else Caitlin Starling writes.

Content warnings below:
(view spoiler)[ small spaces, body gore/horror, bodies of water, claustrophobia, abandonment, death of loved ones, talk of suicide, bad mother-daughter relationships, self dismemberment  (hide spoiler)]

Rose Stanley

Book 10 of Whateverathon
Prompt: fit a TBR game prompt

This was...weird. But like the weird fungus that may or may not be making Gyre hallucinate dead cavers coming back to life, it grew on me. I finished it in two obsessive, one-more-chapter sittings. If this was a film, I'd watch it. I'd be creeped out (I'm an utter wuss over horror films), but I'd watch it.

Ren Christina

I was terrified of the ocean before.


Now I’m petrified.



4/5

Viry

Luna

what! the! fuck!!!


stop writing 400-page thrillers about a single mystery and then not solving the mystery!! i feel so cheated

Jill Swan

A really interesting read! It was hard to put down once I got into it, even though it's not my usual genre. It was great to read this at the beginning of the COVID quarantine- since the whole thing takes place in a cave, it didn't make me yearn for social normality. I recommend!

Katie

So here's the thing.

This gave me a lot of the same vibes as The Anomaly so I was expecting it to, at some point, have a paranormal/supernatural twist, but it didn't.

It was just a woman, alone in a cave, fighting to survive and keep her wits about her. My expectations were off, so I ended up not totally loving this. I was sufficiently scared during the second half, when you really couldn't be sure what was real and what wasn't. I ended up skimming some bits towards the end just because I was so freaked out and scared of what might happen, and I just wanted to get to the end.

Overall, this was a good read, but a little too introspective for my personal taste.

Jordan Robinson

Zoe Murphy

Anastaciya

2.5☆ liked the concept, not so much the execution. It all was very, I'd even dare to say, overdramatic, to the point of annoyance. It was hard to believe Em and Gyre's connection. It felt unhealthy, and I'm simply not in the mood for this young unstable nonsense 🤦🏻‍♀️
Quite spooky, though, true. 5 stars for the setting. Reminded me of the film Sanctum somewhat.

Léa Beauchemin-Laporte

Basy Nightshade

3.5
ok, i loved the " idea " of this book. loved the characters, the character dynamic and development, and the intense atmosphere through the whole book. my only problem is, it was TOO LONG . half of the monolog and events could have been taken out and the story itself wont get affected at all.
i like slow burn books but here it went so repetetive. i tired skimming and skiped from like, chapter 15 to chapter 23 i think ( before i felt bad and went back and read them ) and if i hadn't gone back. i wouldn't be missing alot and still would be on track .
i don't hate the book, i actually love it. but would have loved it more if it was a novella, would have been a 5 stars read for me .

Annabel Kanters

It was a little different than I expected but it kept me up and reading

Jenna Whitlow &
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

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