The Luminous Dead: A Novel

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But Em will never let her go. Language: English Words: 2,002 Chapters: 2/2 Comments: 9 Kudos: 43 Bookmarks: 4 Hits: 222

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From the award-winning author of The Twisted Ones comes a gripping and atmospheric retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic "The Fall of the House of Usher." Follow Ariadne’s thread into the commodity supply chain as far as it goes, stopping only at the colonies, where mines and sweatshops hide in plain sight. This tether is inconspicuous, and every other year the giant-like tech companies are either in the news or on the trigger-end of an ethical lawsuit. In 2019, Apple, Google, Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla were asked to explain their involvement with Glencore, a UK-based mining company that employed children in their cobalt mines. More than 70 per cent of cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), used to mass-produce lithium batteries; worker and human rights abuse, coerced child labor, political corruption, and environmental destruction is linked to this extraction. Some time ago, I read a novel that promised to combine a man-vs.-nature survival narrative with a ghost story. It disappointed me, not delivering enough of either. When reading Caitlin Starling’s The Luminous Dead, I couldn’t help thinking that this book was what I wanted that one to be. The Luminous Dead succeeds at both the (wo)man-vs.-nature stuff and the eerie goings-on — not to mention a character study of two complicated, damaged people — and it all adds up to a truly gripping thriller. The Luminous Dead is a sci-fi horror that takes us deep underground with Gyre as she begins a solo caving expedition on a foreign planet.

The Luminous Dead” by Caitlin Starling started out interesting as it created an atmosphere around the main protagonist and her “controller” when it comes to cave diving/exploring. At first, I was pretty interested to see where it would go but my goodness, by the time anything remotely interesting happens, it took a ridiculously long period of time to get there. I’m talking at least 3 to 4 hours of reading annoying banter between these two characters.

The Luminous Dead - Spooky Reads! — Horror Bound The Luminous Dead - Spooky Reads! — Horror Bound

Having said that, the narrative too often felt repetitive; especially the interactions between the Gyre & Em and the cave climbing sequences. The romance between Gyre and Em felt forced. I felt the story could have been shorter. Also, more than a thriller, this is a character driven story. So if you are expecting a relentless thriller, it may disappoint you.The violence and horrors that Gyre experiences are both epistemic and archival. The history of the cave haunts Gyre. Elusive references to a past knowledge lead to Gyre losing her way. The continued persistence of Lethe, demanding that she forget the earthly things, makes her desire corporeality instead. Towards the end of the novel, Gyre is digging into the entrails of a corpse before following the figural images in her line of vision. Except it's not really the suit keeping her alive. It's Em. It's always been Em. And there's always been secrets. What's a few more, if it means Gyre lives?