Jess’s Reviews > The Luminous Dead > Status Update

—actually being a mystery at all. Still good! The yuri wasn’t totally doomed… although it was a wee bit 🫪 toxic… they’re healing guys dw 😛

—by things we don’t really see on page was a bit underwhelming, ngl. I suppose the whole mission was pointless, which the characters themselves determine & conclude the novel by trying to work on themselves (it will be a long process with lots of effort, lol). This seems like a good book for horror tension & character buildup, the mystery didn’t really unravel the way I was hoping since there ended up not—

I liked this overall; its strengths were in its atmosphere & characterization for me. Even the parts where I felt a little tired of reading about the descriptions of Gyre’s climbing/diving, I still felt invested enough in the characters of Gyre & Em. I wish the novel was condensed/edited just a bit! All of the creepy presences, the missing cache, & suit glitch (breaking battery, no comms) being explained away—

—It’s still exciting, but I would love to dive deeper (no pun intended) into some of the answers (or rather, hints at answers) to the mystery 🫣

As anticipated, this novel is keeping me on the edge of my seat 🫪 Another day of over 200 pages, thanks to Caitlin Starling!!! That being said, I do feel that the pacing could’ve been slightly tweaked in this one. It’s dragging just a hair. Not by that much; I’m still hooked & enjoying it. However, there’s not as much potential for varied action here—