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3/5

This book had a lot of promises but unfortunately did not deliver in a way that really worked for me. I was definitely expecting more of a ghost story, which was not quite accurate and a there was a bit of a strange twist. Had I known what the core paranormal piece was I’m not sure I would have picked it up.

The pacing as well was quite slow. We spend so much time doing mundane things around the house and not nearly enough exploring or learning about the house and it’s precious occupants. The creepy encounters were few and far between, though enjoyable when they finally came. It was not until almost the last quarter of the book that things finally picked up. The ending also had a rather large info dump that far too neatly explained away everything which just felt cheap.

Overall there were some good parts when strange and unexplainable things started to occur, but there were also a lot of uninteresting sections between them as well. It was an okay read but I wish there was more substance there and more of a mystery that unfolded rather than just being handed an explanation at the end.

3/5

The Lost Village started out with a promising setup of a young girl wanting to make a documentary about an abandoned village. I really liked the concept of urban exploration in an isolated abandoned town and slowly piecing together what had truly happened there as all the residents disappeared many years prior.

The atmosphere was eerie and I liked the progression of odd things happening around them. I do kind of wish the book leaned even more into the creepiness factor, it had a great setup after all. However I can’t help but be disappointed at the final reveal. It just felt rather unsatisfying unfortunately. It’s a shame but I think it was still worth the read.

The only truly annoying part of the book was all the Americanisms. It takes place in a Swedish town, with Swedish people. Why is everyone using miles, feet, inches and Fahrenheit? Why are they counting seconds in ‘Mississippi’s? Really strange choice there that always threw me.

Overall though I liked the creepiness and buildup a lot, I just wish it wasn’t afraid to really push more into it. It was still a fun read though!

DNF @ 30%

I didn’t really connect with this book and it had just a few too many negatives for me to want to continue. One of my biggest issues was that it just felt underbaked. It could have greatly benefitted from being edited more, especially since it felt like everything was told to me directly instead of letting the reader figure things out themselves more.

None of the characters really spoke to me either. Just got a general meh vibe from them all, giving me no real desire to continue. And that just really sucks because I think there are some really cool ideas there. Just again underbaked and not fleshed out enough.

The world itself was interesting, with lots of open concepts of rebirth of the main characters and the psychic powers of the police force. I also think the concept of having what seemed like one person split across multiple bodies, but none of them felt like full people for that exact reason I think. Which is a shame.

Overall I just didn’t feel like I cared enough about anything or anyone and so I put it down.

4/5

Ahh Nona. So naive and child like, so curious and loving and yet also slightly annoying at how little she understands. She was a very different character compared to Gideon and Harrow, essentially their opposites. It was a fresh take on the world to see everything in such a light and it made it a lot easier to follow.

Once again though we go through the story with the perspective of someone who had very little understanding of what is happening and it leaves it all up to the reader to figure out. I enjoyed the puzzle though, there were enough clues to figure out quite a bit. Though I still have many questions, so hopefully the next book will wrap things up well.

Overall it felt like a very long setup for a grand finale. I’m not sure it was all necessary, but it was a good book regardless.

4/5

I must say that I didn’t love this one as much as I loved Gideon, it was a crazy mess of different timelines, weird perspectives and false memories. There were pieces I felt I understood where it was going at least and others I had no idea what their meaning was at all.

It did come together in the end which was cool and did leave even more questions for the future. Though I’m not sure I love where it’s going? I liked the low scale necromancy a lot more than the multi-world scale it seems to be taking off into, but I will see how the next book goes.

Overall I did enjoy it, despite it trying a little too hard to obscure its own story. It was certainly not an easy read but it took a lot of skill to make a book this confusing and yet still super enjoyable.

5/5

This book was an absolutely wild ride. It certainly did not hold your hand through it and thrust you deep into the necromantic world filled with a deep magic and many complex character relationships.

There were many, many characters to keep track of and honestly this was one of the bits I didn’t love as much. Why were there just so many of them? And they each brought many complexities and interpersonal conflicts with them too that just made it all very hard to juggle. I almost was happy to see them start dying off just so I didn’t need to track them all in my head!

Really the two most important characters were Gideon and Harrow and their relationship was very well developed. It was really interesting watching how they went from pure hatred in the beginning to the changes at the final end. I really liked them as a team as well!

Gideon has such a distinct personality that was also quite fun as a POV. She truly was a meathead in a room of smart people and it was really interesting to pick up clues of what was happening when she herself did not quite understand.

The world itself was rather vague to be honest but with lots of promises which is why I did not mind they being stuck in one location throughout the book. It feels like you just scratched the surface of what’s out in the world and I’m all for it.

The bits I did have a harder time with was the prose being particularly wordy and rambly and honestly it’s the dialogue tags that made me have to reread some parts. The tags were always so vague and keeping track of who was talking when there were more than two people was hard. Very hard when all the characters were in the same room and having group discussions.

Overall though, just wow. Loved it. Despite the flaws and confusion, the strangeness and just complex world, it was a great book.

3/5

I had a really tough time with this book and I am very glad it was not very long and I read it in one sitting. The prose is very difficult to get through but I was able to at least get the atmosphere and the general vibe of what was trying to be conveyed.

There were certainly many spooky parts to the book and I think there were some great passages in there as well but there were also large sections I just had no real idea of what was happening. The ending too was rather abrupt and I almost thought I had somehow missed a part of the book.

Overall I’m not entirely sure of the overall meaning behind the story but I do think that it was able to capture a certain dread and terror as the ghosts come and go haunting the woman and the eerie ignorance of the children.

3.5/5

This book was a lovely and funny and strange read all in one. The prose itself took a bit of time to get used to but once it clicked it was rather smooth and humorous at the same time.

Delly was a really great character and I loved her transformation from street kid to almost respectable lady who still swore like a street kid. I loved the sense of humor in the book that she provided and there were so many great lines.

The story however did get a little dragged on after the half way point. I would have loved to have the bodyguard and mystery part of it be a better focus instead of the laboratory scheme afterwards. It just felt more fun and interesting.

The other characters were also a bit of hit and miss. Winn and Dok were great but I feel like the rest of the crew were not as interesting. There was just so many of them unnecessary. Their relationships between each other were a bit strange too, I couldn’t quite figure out if they did or did not like each other sometimes honestly.

Overall though it was a fun read between serious books.