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The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
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The Luminous Dead (edition 2019)

by Caitlin Starling

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5923140,050 (3.54)5
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?… (more)
Member:taleszofwonder
Title:The Luminous Dead
Authors:Caitlin Starling
Info:Harper Voyager, Kindle Edition, 432 pages
Collections:Your library
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Tags:to-read

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The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

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» See also 5 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 31 (next | show all)
4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t wait to return to it each night. It’s stressful and claustrophobic but considering there’s only 2 characters interacting throughout the book, there was an excellent story. Highly recommend! ( )
  HauntedTaco13 | Dec 29, 2023 |
Creepy book but I did think the first half was slightly better. There came a point for me that it felt like we were going over the same ground. ( )
  cdaley | Nov 2, 2023 |
DNF at 23%. Boring and repetitive.
  LynnMPK | Jun 28, 2023 |
What a fun, creepy, spooky ride. ( )
  xaverie | Apr 3, 2023 |
CW: lots of swearing, claustrophobia, paranoia. ( )
  Mrs_Tapsell_Bookzone | Feb 14, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 31 (next | show all)
Science fiction loves its stripped-down character list like high fantasy does the crowded dramatis personae. It has a streak of rugged individualism that's been around since the good old days, a vestige of its roots in the westerns, Golden Age sci-fi libertarianism and after-the-bomb freak-outs. To really squirm into someone's head, sci-fi says, you gotta get 'em alone against the world. Anything else is just opera....It is a haunted cave story. A psychological nightmare yarn spun between just two characters. There's Gyre, the young caver who desperately lied her way into a risky, high-paying job exploring an underground system, and there's Em, her handler, the voice in her ear, her only connection to the outside world. Thus, it is a universe contained completely within the heads Gyre and Em. Trouble is, Em is crazy. Trouble is, so is Gyre....t is a torturous book. Horrifying in small, cutting, personal ways, and in the more classic scare-in-a-dark-room way. But there's an iron rod of panicked strength that runs through the middle of it. A will to survive that is palpable. And by the time it is winding toward its conclusion, all the lies, the nightmares and the psychological games fall away and The Luminous Dead simply becomes a bloody race to the surface.
added by Lemeritus | editNPR, Jason Sheehan (Apr 7, 2019)
 
Starling’s riveting near-future debut depicts an intense psychological battle of wills between two damaged, deeply flawed women who forge an unbreakable connection in the dark....Both women can be messy, cruel, and selfish, and Starling disregards conventional notions of such women seeking or needing absolution. This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Andy Weir’s The Martian.
added by Lemeritus | editPublisher's Weekly (Dec 10, 2018)
 

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Caitlin Starlingprimary authorall editionscalculated
B/Shutterstock, BrandonFrontispiece imagesecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Colucci, AlejandroCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Corrigan, OwenCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hall, MikeMapssecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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For my mother
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She'd never gone this deep.
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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?

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