The Luminous Dead
A Novel
-
-
4.1 • 189 Ratings
-
-
- $13.99
Publisher Description
Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best First Novel!
"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)
The thrilling, atmospheric debut from the author of The Death of Jane Lawrence, a novel 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?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Caitlin Starling’s gripping science fiction thriller instantly enters the canon of great novels about exploration and survival. A brilliant departure from the typically macho space-mining adventure, the book features two main characters who are women of color: cave spelunker Gyre Price and her aboveground guide, Em. Em is blindingly rich, while Gyre is poor and desperate to leave her violent home planet; the power imbalance between the two women creates a deeply toxic dynamic. Starling’s world-building skills and exquisitely crafted plot serve her intrepid female characters well, putting this book in the same league as Annihilation and Alien.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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. Gyre Price, an amateur caver from an impoverished mining world, is desperate to earn enough money to discover the fate of her mother, who abandoned their family when Gyre was young and she isn't above falsifying her qualifications to get the high-paying job she needs. Aware of Gyre's deception, Em, Gyre's controlling, manipulative handler, guides her on a harrowing journey into the depths of a rarely explored cave system on some unexplained, ill-fated errand. To survive the darkness and the threats concealed therein, Gyre must confront monsters from her own imagination as well as those from Em's bloody past, and defeat them both. 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.
Customer Reviews
Comparison is the death of joy
I know publishers have to sell books. I know marketing teams have to plan winning campaigns.
But we gotta be more imaginative than just saying "Y is like X!" I get why you'd compare this to Annihilation; not every scifi horror with a leading lady automatically needs that comment.
It is its own thing. And it succeeds at being its own thing. If I had to say it's like anything else, Luminous Dead felt more like a novelized Junji Ito. Slow burn, great last 100 pages.
Caves are terrifying. Alluring. Whether Ted or Floyd, some man turns a cave into their tomb.
But what happens to the people who come looking for them?
Couldn’t put it down
Never had read a “horror” book before until The Luminous Dead. I always thought “how could a book be scary?”
But ended up being surprised with the very eery and creepy moments that almost made me turn my lamp on as I read it in a dark room. Somewhat a slow start to the story; took me a week to read the first 200ish pages but once I got around 300 I couldn’t set it down and finished the rest of it in a day. The author does a great job of describing the setting and mood throughout. Also gotta love the added touch of the map of the cavern at the start of the book as it really helped me understand a few chapters. Overall a great read and excited to read more from this author.
First Horror Book
This is my first horror book. I don’t know if others would classify this as a horror, but it was for me. Some parts were downright creepy, and I was at the edge of my seat wanting to know how it would all end. The story was great, but the ending was pretty bad. I was very disappointed in the ending. It did not equal the tension and suspense of the overall book. Definitely lack luster and weak. The book should have been a tragedy, with Gyre succumbing to the cave. That would have been a creepy, but satisfying ending.