During this she is watched by her handler Em, who is tasked with ensuring that Gyre remains safe and calm via the administration of drugs or other methods.

When writing The Luminous Dead Starling wanted the story to rely on more than "alliances and subsequent betrayals to keep the landscape ever-changing", as she had "fewer of the traditional tools available to ratchet up the tension" due to the setting and limited cast.

[7] Writing for Locus, Tim Pratt noted that the "prickly relationship" between Gyre and Em was "the heart of the book – a spiky combination of dependence, mutual suspicion, frustration, and fleeting moments of connection.

"[8] This relationship was also highlighted by other reviewers such as Nibedita Sen for Strange Horizons, who wrote that it was very human as it was "a fascinating, nuanced exploration of what kind of bond—if any—can form between two queer women under conditions of constant stress, terror, and isolation, and with an extreme power differential thrown into the mix.

The result is neither good nor bad, it just is: complicated, messy, potentially unhealthy, occasionally touching, sliding back and forth between hurt, betrayal, and attempts at recompense.