The Luminous Dead

A Novel

By: Caitlin Starling

Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo

Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

"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)

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 that 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?

©2019 Caitlin Starling (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Decent but frustrating

The story was good enough to keep me listening until the end, and the narration is quite good given kind of weak material.

The book is frustrating because it is somewhat like the Martian, except the characters have the emotional maturity of drunk adolescents and respond to every adversity with some combination of panic, recrimination, and suicidal impulses.

Characters oscillate between love, hate, contempt, distrust, trust, respect, despair, you name it. Huge minute-by-minute swings that seem arbitrary and disappear as quickly as they appeared.

It’s a good premise for a book, but it’s not a great book.

Ridiculously good sleeper hit

I want to see this as a movie. This book was pretty thrilling and kept me guessing all the way through.

Yawn…

This had a really cool concept, but it just never got going. The pace all felt the same so even when something did happen, it fell flat. The story was interesting enough but it left me unsatisfied in the end. Adenrele Ojos narration was good and helped me push through.

Better to Read??

This may be one of those books that’s just better to read, because it feels as if the writing was good. It was the plot and narration that didn’t work for me. The story felt like a cycle of rinse and repeat - the same premise happening over and over again.

The narration just didn’t work at all for me. Every sentence was delivered almost as an interrogatory; with this uplifting of tone that made no sense at all. It made it feel like a fairy tale or fable, not a claustrophobic and dark book.

I’m left at the end of the book not feeling that realistic growth occurred in any of the characters and not feeling that it was a taut ghost story. I just feel - so what?

Pleasantly Surprised!

Going into The Luminous Dead, I expected a Descent style horror story featuring monsters or cave zombies. While there IS a little bit of that here, I did not expect to become so invested in the story's two characters: Gyre Price*, an amateur spelunker all alone in an alien cave system, and Em, the voice on Gyre's radio who might be more - or less - than she first appears.

Their tumultuous relationship as it slowly evolves and twists is the real star of the book, but the intensity and isolation we experience locked in Gyre's perspective is worthy of praise, as well. I listened to this audiobook to go to sleep, and there were multiple instances where I would find myself too keyed up to rest. I couldn't leave Gyre in that situation and just go to sleep; I HAD to finish the chapter.

I've recommended this book to five of my friends and all of them loved it, so I feel confident recommending it to anyone who loves character drive horror or queer fiction. I was very satisfied on both counts!

* Could this possibly be a Life is Strange reference? I hope so!

really cool concept!

The overall concept for the book was very unique, I just think the writing itself was a little lacking.

slow burn, character driven horror

the two leads are messy, toxic women stuck in a nightmare scenario. they felt so real and human, and i loved how they grew together. it made the horror that much scarier, too.

the book takes its time, and there’s plenty of caving minutiae, but the characters are worth it.

huge props to the narrator as well. the emotion she put behind the voices especially was spot on

Surprisingly enthralling and beautifully dark

To be totally honest, usually I don't take time to review stories. But this one definitely deserves some props. There are only two characters, and the whole story takes place inside of a dark cave with just the main character, Gyre, there alone with only Em's voice to guide her. 

The author does an amazing job of painting a vivid scenery, as well as entangling you deep into the twisted confusion of Gyre's mind, as she struggles to keep herself from crossing the line between caution and paranoia. 

There are so many twists, and the story is a great dark and creepy narrative to listen to. The narrator does a great job of bringing Caitlin Starling's words to life. 

All in all I will say this: I returned no less than THREE other books before getting this one, because I was not getting drawn into the stories. I was sure this would be a fourth but it managed to win me over and suck me in till the very end. 

P.s. Also love the gay tie in, it's so refreshing to see more LGBTIA+ representation, and not in the cliche way.

Great journey! Slightly subpar ending

Honestly a great thriller! Very spooky, very tense the whole time! I do wish the author engaged more with anti-capitalist themes they were hinting at through the story and parts of the ending seemed… a little off base, but all in all I was in love with the journey and characters! Do recommend listening!

Pretty good, despite unreliable narrator

I hate unreliable narrators, but enjoyed the imagery enough. Was not into the Jane Lawrence book at all, so almost skipped this one. Glad I went ahead and got it.

Narrator is good.