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Book: The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer
Read From: 7th October - 14th October 2021
Rating: 3/5 stars
Summary: After the first settler on Titan trips her distress signal, two spacefarers from rival nations are sent on a rescue mission. But when they wake up in their conjoined ship, neither of them can remember the launch. Both Ambrose and Kodiak are forced to trust one another and work together, especially when they discover what they're truly up against.
Thank you so much @pridebooktours for including me on the tour and for sending me a copy of this book!
Clearly I've become a sci-fi convert as of late because I really enjoyed this book! Yes, it's a gay love story in space but it's also so much more than that. It's packed with plot twists that will leave you reeling, characters you can't help but fall in love with as well as themes of loneliness and grief but also hope.
Kodiak and Ambrose are the embodiment of the grumpy x sunshine trope and seeing their relationship blossom filled me with only the most happiest of emotions. While their love for each other was undoubtedly convenient as a result of the forced proximity (which was admittedly a worry of mine going in), their feelings, or at least Ambrose's feelings considering he is the narrator, still felt completely organic. It was done really well!
There are so many reviews out there to say that the marketing of this book doesn't do it justice and I can't help but agree. There are some light-hearted moments and great banter from the characters, but it is also goes so much deeper and will literally invoke an philosophical crisis within you. The less you know about this book the better, but just know that if you finish this book late at night, you will be awake until the early hours of the morning contemplating the meaning of life. Think along the lines of Scythe by Neal Shusterman, and then times it by 100.
If you usually steer clear of YA books I highly suggest not applying that rule to The Darkness Outside Us - the characters are a YA age at 17 but it's truly a book that could be appreciated by most adult readers also. Tensions are running high, it's emotional and it's equal parts character driven and plot driven - there's a lot to love in this book.