Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Our Last Echoes

I did like this a lot better than Rules for Vanishing. I liked that not all of it took place in spooky land because that’s what I didn’t like about RFV.

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girlonbooks's review

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

📹📹📹 Three stars (as rated in all the clues on Abby's camera)

It's been years since Sophia's mother vanished into the Alaskan mist and no one seems to know exactly what happened. All Sophia has are fragmented memories and a story that doesn't make sense. Posing as an eager, bird-loving intern, Sophia makes her way back to the remote refuge of Bitter Rock - a bird preserve shrouded in constant cover of a nearly anthropomorphic mist. But with the answers she's sought for decades almost in reach, Sophia realizes that this truth comes at a price that isn't hers to pay.

“What’s down there?” she asked. “A crack in the world,” I answered automatically."

I was excited to finally be getting to this one as it was the Cancer pick on my new release book rec list for the month March. Not that it matters that much, but I stand by my designation that this is a total book for Cancers. It's actually a bit ridiculous how much of a water sign book this is. 🌊🐟**

What I enjoyed most about this book is that I went into it with a certain idea of what was happening, and while that misconception crumbled beneath me the plotline that took it's place ended up being 5x better. Kate Alice Marshall brings a nice dose of originality to the "something lurking in the mist" trope and I rather enjoyed that.

✨ Reasons to read (or listen to) this book: diverse cast of side characters that are not stereotypical or problematic (an apparent feat for white authors, let's be real), Native American voice actor

✨ Content warnings for this book: murder, violence, death, blood, spooky and unsettling themes, vomit

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colleensreadingadventures's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

Doesn’t this cover scream creepy scary good?! That’s what I thought, and I’m a huge fan of thrillers and horrors so I was pretty excited to read this. I even read the book prior, Rules For Vanishing because I’ve heard they correlate without actually being a part of a series. I hate to say I did not really enjoy either book. ⁣
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Kate Alice Marshall has a wonderful writing ability that much is clear. She set the tone perfectly for a creepy, chilling book. But it didn’t follow through. The characters fell flat, I didn’t really care either way what happened to the them, they just didn’t seem to have a real enough quality and I felt no connection. So suffice to say the romance involving Sophie the MC was something I could not get on board with. ⁣
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I think the way the story unfolded told from video recordings of the events and then to the events themselves as they happened intermittently made it feel like a documentary or a story being told, not like something that was/had actually taken place. Maybe too much video recordings I’m not sure, but it took away something from the story, for me at least. It does seem like a lot of people really enjoyed that aspect. Also I thought there was way to much action. It was a bit overdone. Not enough time to absorb what was going on. ⁣
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The plot also just didn’t gel with me. This is why I don’t like Sci Fi. That is not the main element but there definitely were traces of it. The way everything was explained kind of confused me. Maybe I’m just not smart enough to get it! That is a definite possibility! 😂😂⁣
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I hate to slam a book this hard but I want to be honest about my feelings and I do believe Kate Alice Marshall has writing talent that needs to be explored. This book just wasn’t a hit for me. ⁣
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𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐄𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐬⁣

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lilyleia78's review

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Damn do I love these books. They're so atmospheric and creepy. I love the format and that the investigators are getting character development and plot development.

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kalventure's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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aeeklund's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Okay, I, for one, am firmly a fan of Kate Alice Marshall’s particular blend of contemporary, horror, and supernatural. I really enjoy the epistolary nature of the Ashford Files books, as well.

Yes, that’s right. Ashford. Files. Books.

I started reading this one because I loved Rules for Vanishing so much, unaware that Our Last Echoes is a companion novel, the two linked together by an overarching mystery surrounding a minor character in both - a minor character who appears more in this story, and who very well may be the key to the next one (which I need RIGHT NOW).

Sophia Novak has arrived on a lonely island under false pretenses. Masquerading as a scientific research intern, she has come with one goal: find the explanation for her mother’s disappearance fifteen years ago, which will also hopefully explain why she has memories of drowning. Her mother is not the only one who has vanished from Bitter Rock: the island has a legacy of vanishings that spans decades, and no one will talk about it. Sophia must learn quickly who she can trust as she discovers that not everyone who was lost has stayed lost. Some of them have left echoes behind.

As I read Our Last Echoes, I found it reminiscent of Madeleine L’Engle—and I do not say that lightly, but rather almost reverently. There’s the brushes of the uncanny against the edges of our world. There’s the smart, lonely heroine discovering both those uncanny edges and herself. There’s the themes of courage, love, connection, knowledge, and of these things being humanity’s strongest weapons in the battles against darkness. There are other things I cannot say because < REDACTED >

Had I known this was a companion to Rules for Vanishing, I would have gone in with even higher expectations; those expectations would not have been disappointed. I really, really enjoyed this.

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juliezantopoulos's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

I adored Kate Alice Marshall's Rules for Vanishing when I read it as an ARC so getting the advance reader copy for this book really excited me. I dove right in and was pleasantly surprised to realize it exists in the same world as Rules for Vanishing (not a spoiler-if you read the synopsis well ...unlike me...you can riddle that out, too).

This story is spooky-like downright gave me nightmares and was difficult to read at night but I loved it. It wasn't my "perfect" Kate Alice Marshall because some of the themes weren't as "me" as Rules for Vanishing but oh my gosh did I love it, still. Her writing is amazing, the way she crafts a story and writes her characters is fantastic. There are a lot of people mentioned, so much like Rules for Vanishing, there is a lot to keep straight. I don't mind this, at all, as a full cast makes the world feel "real" for me.

This one does come with some creepy body gore and a lot of trauma and history with suicidal thoughts, mental illness, depression, and emotional repression. It's dark-her books tend to be, but nothing I couldn't handle. There is some mutations of people and animals and death of people and animals in the novel including a violent assualt on a child that is shown in flashbacks. Know yourself and if you can handle it...but it's fantastic.

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