The Luminous Dead

am in a very strange relationship with this book. It goes back and forth between like and dislike. I do like this book, it is written well but it feel like so much more is missing (to me). I mean the premise of the book is a very repeated story plot. A desperate person (a woman this time) wanting to leave her place of residency (her planet) by any means necessary, that tied with a rich employer (psycho) chasing an obsession with deep pockets. Not the first story like this, and not the last I am sure. It is a good book for spacey cave diving exploration, but for thriller it was a hit and miss. The main character isn’t super likeable, I wasn’t very invested in what happened to her. I wanted to see how the book ended, and even with that I wasn’t satisfied. Still a solid 3 out of 5, it had good points.

I purchased this book with very little interest in reading it as a whim. When I did finally pick it up I was obsessed. It kept me at the edge of my seat the entire book.

Great, queer, engaging sci-fi horror with a heart. One thing to be aware of -- you may be a little disappointed if you're hunting down a creature feature in the vein of Alien or The Descent. The Luminous Dead isn't a story about monsters (though some play a MINOR role). It's a psychological horror, and a lot of the fear is derived from isolation, uncertainty, and forced intimacy. It plays with the narrators conceptions of the world around her, and her ability to trust anyone outside of herself. For anyone who has experienced the isolation that can follow a serious trauma, this will ring true.