Reviews

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

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alyssereads's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

nancykz's review against another edition

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4.0

I finished this a few days ago and was pleased. It was so outside of what I usually read, but I enjoyed it. For some reason I have a thing about when books switch between the past and present -- I just love it... and this book did a great deal of that. The ending surprised me... I didn't see it coming.

agoodaudiobooklistener's review against another edition

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Skipped to the end

magnetgrrl's review

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5.0

I liked this book a lot; unreasonably so perhaps. Several things just really worked for me and I'm not entirely certain I could pick them apart. Some elements were no surprise, and I could see where the author was going even before she started purposefully laying hints about going there. But I suspect that really I enjoyed this book for its subject matter and for its haunting tone, which despite all the ice imagery seemed to me very autumnal. This is one of those books that upon finishing, I became sad that I couldn't erase it from my mind somehow and then experience reading it again. I think this is a perfect book to read on a crisp October afternoon, sipping tea and looking out at a lake. Take it camping with you.

alliepeduto's review

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3.0

DNF...honestly, this wasn't bad, per say. It's just that I felt like I read this book before. In the blurb, it is mentioned that this book is "evocative" of The Secret History. The problem is, it's not just evocative, it is a gender swapped retelling of The Secret History. All the elements are the same, just a slightly different twist. Again, I liked The Secret History, but I didn't like it enough to reread, and certainly not to reread as a different book.

lillie_bird16's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

hollowbound's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Please don't let the rating fool you, I wouldn't say the book is poorly written at all. But, I found it to be...rather boring. The protagonist is passive—with the few times she takes some initiative leading only to right-place-right-time occurrences rather than any plot-driving action. Scenes that could be brief are drowned in arbitrary details, turning them into multi-page affairs; whereas scenes where you want more detail are skeletal. Most of the "twists" you can see coming a mile away (unfortunately the identity of the antagonist being a big one). I really don't hate it, but the book has just too many pitfalls to rate any higher, in my opinion.

jscearce's review

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dark mysterious

4.25

bunsolved's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

aileron's review

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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