Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Harrow Lake

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

8 reviews

herelieshenry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The first 75% is okay, the mystery being compelling enough to keep me from DNFing, but the characters are all rather unlikable and the writing is somewhat repetitive. However, the last 25%, and the ending in particular, are REALLY strong. I also think the unlikability of the characters was intentional, but I wish they had been made a bit easier to root for, especially Lola, in the beginning. I wouldn’t mind trying out the author’s other work in the future, provided the premise was interesting, but I don’t think I’ll actively seek it out.

Overall, I think the book pulled off what it intended to do.

I found the usage of three different characters suffering three distinct forms of abuse at the hands of a parent—Lorelei having experienced childhood sexual abuse, Lola being emotionally abused by Nolan her whole life, and Carter experiencing physical abuse from his mother—very effective, tying well into the themes of unreliability and of abuse taking many different forms, both layered into the potential supernatural elements as well.

I do wish the interview framing element had been utilized a little more, rather than just as book-ends, maybe even just one more segment of it in the middle of the book. Ultimately, I think this is a solid horror-adjacent YA mystery/thriller novel with some dark themes and heavy unreliability.

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courtney_scott1025's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I liked this book and am a sucker for a book set in Indiana as I grew up there. It just kind of fell flat in certain areas. I don't regret reading this, but I thought some of the ideas could have been a little better fleshed out. I also did not realize that this was about a teenager, and I wasn't super into the young love scenes.

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catriona176's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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ruthmoog's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.25

Really gripping from the beginning, this had a quite unique setting and I was into it!

But in the end it was less of a horror spectacle than just a really sad story.
The repeated use of "optimal" was irritating, I had thought Lola's behaviours were pointing to some neuro-spiciness but by the end I thought not so much. And still some mysteries were unanswered.
Loved the descriptions of the tree and the Jitterbugs.

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