Reviews

The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

lillie_bird16's review against another edition

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

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 against another edition

dark mysterious

4.25

bunsolved's review against another edition

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 against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Toxic friendship, and Cancer

Minor: Car accident, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

nuriaelguezabal's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

anaundying's review against another edition

4.0

This book turned out to be darker than I expected, but despite that it intrigued me from start to finish.

jollymama's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.25

There was a theme to this book that was hard to get past. I may have enjoyed it without that theme. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Incest

Spoiler

There's an incestuous sibling relationship

celery's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Classism, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Abandonment, Body horror, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Medical content, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

leavingsealevel's review against another edition

2.0

I like her books, but I figured out what was going to happen way before the end this time :( As a result, I actually refrained from reading the end first.