I will never stop being ridiculously thrilled whenever I luck into a physical ARC, y’all. Granted e-ARCs are definitely a blast to get, but maneuvering them in such a way that I can read them anywhere instead of just on my Kindle (not even my Kindle app sometimes which I don’t understand but oh well) sometimes gets tricky. And with my habit for leaving the Paperwhite at home now that I’ve gotten used to reading on my phone, those poor e-ARCs get a little more neglected than I’d like.
But physical ARCs? Oh man do they ever stare at me from the top of my TBR. It’s only in very rare instances that I haven’t gotten to a physical ARC immediately, and I feel super guilty every time life or writing or other books I’ve been waiting on and craving get in the way of me getting to those ARCs.
LAKE SILENCE was one of those ARCs that I legitimately squealed in glee over when I opened the mail. Anne Bishop is one of my insta-buy authors, and her Others verse is one of my very fave things she’s ever written, which trust me is saying a lot. So when I heard there was going to be a new standalone in that world, I preordered immediately and then flailed when I was offered a chance at an ARC. (I’m not cancelling my preorder, by the way. All this meant was that I DEFINITELY need a hardcover all my own LOL).
Before I get started on the good points – I do want to mention that there was a LOT of fatphobia/ fatmisia in this book, most of it from the baddies, but the main character also had a ton of internalized fatmisia due to a past relationship w/one of the baddies. It made sense with the plot and backstory, but I won’t lie – it sucked to read the negative words about chubby women over and over again. So read at your own risk, I guess. I mean, on the one hand: yay for a main character who is short and chubby – that’s the closest to me being on the page I’ve gotten in a while. But blah for the constant negative comments about said chubbiness.
Also she has a fair amount of anxiety about relationships in general, up to and including at least one panic attack. I have very mild untreated anxiety, so I don’t know that I can comment on the rep.
Anyway, those aside, I actually enjoyed the hell out of this book. We got a new setting that still had connections to the original setting both on the map and in mentions of different people’s connections to the previous books characters, plus oh holy the expansions into the different ‘species’ of Elders and the Lady of the Lake herself. The sproingers will never not be my favorite “fantasy” creature – I gotta be honest LOL.
Also the plot really worked with me here, as did the setting. I heart Bed and Breakfasts / running hotels as plots for some reason, and seeing that through the eyes of the Others series and why the terra indigene themselves might be concerned with said inn was really cool. I legit would make a reservation at The Jumble today. No lie.
Also, the pacing of the plot flowed great. My one complaint with the original series was just how long things seemed to take (hello slowest burn to ever slow burn Simon/Meg much? LOL), and while we did have overarching plot things happening, they still were five count them five books all in the 400 to 500 page range that just seemed to never quite reach the “end” (or the expected end) of the individual book plots. Granted, the pacing of each worked really well considering I never would have believed just how long they were until I looked at the page numbers, but I still felt almost as if each one was unfinished when I hit the last page.
Not so with LAKE SILENCE, and that may be my fave part of this. It’s a single self-contained standalone that *shocker* can ACTUALLY STAND ALONE. Yes, I could see there being a sequel considering the hints at a romance if the main character can move past her trauma, and lord knows there’s a huge cast of characters and world to work with, but I didn’t finish the book and immediately have to look at when the sequel would drop to answer questions, if that makes sense. The original Other books were almost painfully a series that I honestly feel require binge reading to make sure I don’t miss plot points. LAKE SILENCE – I could happily read and feel satisfied with the ending. And that’s a huge plus in my book.
Are any of you looking forward to LAKE SILENCE or have you read any of the Others books? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter to chat about it - @C_L_McCollum.