I want to begin this review by pointing out the fact that I'm a sucker for books with this kind of theme. The plot of THE LUMINOUS DEAD is one that takes place on a planet rich in mineral deposits and a "caver" is exploring one such location while also possibly being stalked deep within the bowels of said cave. Anything that involves some sort of exploration on a distant planet or an archaeological angle and I'm usually all in. So when I had the opportunity to receive an advance reader copy of the book from the publisher, I couldn't download it fast enough.
I hadn't previously heard of the author Caitlin Starling before and this is apparently her first novel, so I was excited to see how this story would unfold. I had seen the comparisons to The Martian in that the story is told mainly through internal dialogue and conversation with only one other main character who serves as "mission control" of the expedition. You don't see too many books use this type of narrative device, so I was intrigued to get started. Now on to the book and my subsequent thoughts about it.
The main character in THE LUMINOUS DEAD is Gyre, a caver who signs a contract with a private mining company for what she believes is just another expedition to gather valuable ore deposits. Gyre is not totally forthcoming about her background and motive when she signs on with the company, which is to score a quick payday so that she can keep looking for her mother who abandoned her years ago. Gyre has been obsessed with finding out what happened to her mother and she sees this job as nothing more than a means to fund her continuing efforts going forward.
What Gyre doesn't know yet is that her contractor and only lifeline to the outside world Em has motivations of her own that aren't simply mining for ore. Gyre and Em are connected via a communication device located inside Gyre's suit where Em can also monitor every aspect of Gyre's physical health. Their relationship starts out as a combative one as Gyre suspects that Em may be hiding something from her and not being completely honest about the job that she has been asked to do. It turns out that Gyre's suspicions are not entirely unfounded when she is able to access a video from her suit that shows a previous mining party who experience an incredible tragedy while exploring the same cave that Gyre is now embedded deep within.
When Gyre lashes out at Em and threatens to quit and turn back, Em is forced to reveal that her parents were the ones in the video along with a few others. Something terrible happened to the party that Em has been struggling to discover the answer to. It turns out that she has sent dozens of other cavers on the same mission as Gyre with most of them dying in the treacherous tunnels trying vainly to reach the area where Em's parents were last documented to be alive. As Em continues to open up about what happened to her parents and their family business, her relationship with Gyre starts to change. It begins to become one of mutual understanding as they both are in similar situations: trying to find answers to missing family members. It also becomes a borderline romantic relationship of sorts. Eventually things really start to change as Gyre both sees and hears signs that she may not be alone inside the cave. Could it possibly be someone from the original doomed crew? Em's mother? Or could it be something far far worse that is now stalking Gyre as she tries to survive and find a way out of what could be her ultimate resting place?
My first feeling about THE LUMINOUS DEAD was that the story is of a style that I like based on similar novels that I've previously read, one being The Descent by Jeff Long. Admittedly that one didn't take place on another planet, but the feel of it was much the same initially and the cave exploration aspect was as well. There were a few things that I really liked about this book. One being the mystery behind what happened to Em's parents and also Gyre's mother. I thought that was handled deftly as well as the additional mystery of whether what was also present in the cave was a person or a monster of some kind. The suspense of these two questions kept me wanting to read further.
The characters of Gyre and Em were well done with both of them having their own demons driving them to find out what happened to lost loved ones. I didn't mind the fact that there was only a two-person dialogue for the entire book either, but at times it did get a little draggy for long stretches as the dialogues were quite frequent and went off on some lengthy tangents. This is ultimately where I found myself not being as into the book as I could have otherwise. For me the book seemed to take a long time to develop and for about the first 70% of it all we really get are conversations that sometimes are relevant to the story and sometimes not. I definitely enjoy when a story builds slowly to a crescendo, but I thought that this one took a little more time than most to get going.
When the climax happens, it does so with a bang and it is very satisfying, but unfortunately the journey to get there is fraught with long periods of not much happening. So I have to say that I liked THE LUMINOUS DEAD, but fell just short of loving it. That being said, others may have a vastly different opinion and you should give this one a try if you enjoy books with cave exploration and mysterious things that go bump in the dark. In the end it was a solid book that I think offers a good enough amount for readers to enjoy. But you'll have to wait until April of next year to purchase it as that is when it is slated for release in the U.S.
(My Rating: 6.5/10)
Ahh too long for its own good. Great review nonetheless! It does sound like it has a fun premise though!
ReplyDelete