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emilyb_chicago's review
3.0
While I enjoyed the expansion of the world of The Others, I just wasn't as attached to these characters as I have been to Meg and her cohorts. The writing was good. I loved learning more about elders and elementals and toward the end I was invested in all the characters. But ultimately this book was just easier to set down and leave for a while than the others of the series.
brendalovesbooks's review
4.0
I liked this for the most part, because I really like Anne Bishop's writing. It definitely wasn't as good as the first few books in the series, though. I never really felt a sense of urgency, or even fear for the main character. The reason is that the Others are super powerful (as we all know), and the bad guys were complete idiots. I mean, not one of them did anything that was remotely smart. It just took away any suspense there might have been. But it was a quick read, and I'll keep reading if there are ever more in the series.
busyknitting's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
shawniebooks's review
4.0
I so miss the original cast of characters, but by the end of Lake Silence I feel invested in the new humans and Others. I enjoyed the lodge and Lake Silence setting and look forward to more Vicki as The Reader.
bingley's review
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
(240401) I'm annoyed with myself, LMAO. Why'd I put myself through this again. What is it about this series that can frustrate me yet still feel 3% pulled to read it??
TLDR: this is pro-police propaganda wrapped in a thin varnish of Others magic.
The PROS and CONS of this spinoff are the same, if not exacerbated, as the PROS/CONS of the regular series.
-PROS: World-building is solid enough and mysterious enough to make me curious and want to stay in this story for longer. The Others characters are always a high point, they are the most interesting, partly bc they feel so real, as if I could meet them on the street, and they'd still retain their magic.
-CONS: plot developments (how characters react to certain plot points) and relationships btwn characters just either don't make sense or frustratingly shy away from established consequences. Inconsistent! AND the police are always portrayed as "good cops" like we're the good guys, here to "serve and protect" - grl, please.
I feel like Vicki is on the spectrum, I can totally see it. Her reactions, her words totally fit, a dash of neurospicy, if u will. But also REGARDLESS of that, she makes a few TSTL decisions sometimes!!
She's in a dangerous situation, and yet she still thinks "they wouldn't murder me, nahhh". Hello?? Miss! There is vast evidence to the contrary!
INCONSISTENT power description VS display!!! If the Others are really all that powerful and formidable, then they should have been able to punish the TCC adequately. Instead they're way too lenient, even when the TCC DO commit crimes, and they don't face any consequences. Ridiculous.
Hell, I can even think of a few: attempted burglary, breaking and entering, conspiracy and contempt, attempted murder, emotional abuse. All of these are proven, and yet Ilya is forced to accept that the human judge can't give any other punishment when ALL THOSE OPTIONS ARE RIGHT THERE.
POV: multi, third person
SPICE: not that kind of book, also no romance
FATPHOBIA: Vicki is struggling with body image, and if you want an empowered woman healing from a past abusive relationship who learns to embrace her body, this is NOT it. Even Author's tone of voice does not describe/view "plump" with any kindness or grace.
TLDR: this is pro-police propaganda wrapped in a thin varnish of Others magic.
The PROS and CONS of this spinoff are the same, if not exacerbated, as the PROS/CONS of the regular series.
-PROS: World-building is solid enough and mysterious enough to make me curious and want to stay in this story for longer. The Others characters are always a high point, they are the most interesting, partly bc they feel so real, as if I could meet them on the street, and they'd still retain their magic.
-CONS: plot developments (how characters react to certain plot points) and relationships btwn characters just either don't make sense or frustratingly shy away from established consequences. Inconsistent! AND the police are always portrayed as "good cops" like we're the good guys, here to "serve and protect" - grl, please.
I feel like Vicki is on the spectrum, I can totally see it. Her reactions, her words totally fit, a dash of neurospicy, if u will. But also REGARDLESS of that, she makes a few TSTL decisions sometimes!!
She's in a dangerous situation, and yet she still thinks "they wouldn't murder me, nahhh". Hello?? Miss! There is vast evidence to the contrary!
INCONSISTENT power description VS display!!! If the Others are really all that powerful and formidable, then they should have been able to punish the TCC adequately. Instead they're way too lenient, even when the TCC DO commit crimes, and they don't face any consequences. Ridiculous.
Hell, I can even think of a few: attempted burglary, breaking and entering, conspiracy and contempt, attempted murder, emotional abuse. All of these are proven, and yet Ilya is forced to accept that the human judge can't give any other punishment when ALL THOSE OPTIONS ARE RIGHT THERE.
POV: multi, third person
SPICE: not that kind of book, also no romance
FATPHOBIA: Vicki is struggling with body image, and if you want an empowered woman healing from a past abusive relationship who learns to embrace her body, this is NOT it. Even Author's tone of voice does not describe/view "plump" with any kindness or grace.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia
sophiarose1816's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I was thrilled that the author continued writing in the world of the Others because I definitely wasn't ready to say good-bye to the series. This is a different setting within the world and a different cast of characters. I didn't mind that since the author had introduced other settings and characters in the earlier Lakeside series arc. A murder and a plotting group of humans made for an exciting new series story.
Lake Silence is the sixth of The Others series and the first of the World of the Others continuation. It's tricky to say whether it can make a good place to jump in or not. In one sense, its a new story arc, new setting, and new characters so its very much a doable thing to jump in here. However, the reference to other places, the blood prophets, the Humans First and Last, and the war between humans and the Others are what are at the foundation understanding of this next series arc so missing all that means missing some big pieces in understanding.
The story starts out on a gritty amusing note when Vickie's boarder proves she's not human at the same time a murder is discovered. This sets in motion a chain of events for several people: Vickie the downtrodden new owner of a dilapidated resort property on Lake Silence that she got in her divorce, Officer Grimshaw who doesn't want to deal with people though he wants to serve and protect, Julian the mysterious bookstore owner who came to the small village out in the Wild Country for peace, Ilya Sanguinati who is the Others administrator of this village of humans and now has to come forward out of the shadows when human mischief arises to distract the Others' plans, and Aggie, the Crow who moved into the cabin at Vickie's resort and has enjoyed learning human ways from the crime show and thriller book-reading Vickie.
Alongside this group who just want to figure out what is happening and set things straight so they can get on with living, there is a group of greedy humans who have a greedy plan of their own and will stop at nothing to achieve it. They think they can outsmart the Others and they know they can cow the fragile, panic attack ridden resort owner.
Lake Silence, like the rest of the series, builds slowly and had the job of introductions. But, while it got rolling, intense incidents were taking place and building the suspense of the story. Vickie was terribly abused by her ex and never got help for it. He never physically abused, but emotionally and mentally ripped her apart and made her buy into his version of her- an overweight dolt who is incapable and weak. I was angered and sad for her. Her weakened mental state when it comes to fear of men and struggles with self-esteem are extreme, but she had a better support unit of humans and Others around her to help her cope and heal. I did feel that she needed professional help, but there were hints that Ilya was on that for her.
Vickie was the focus, but there were actually a few main characters to add their perspective to the story which I appreciated. It was fun getting to know the Sanguinati and Crowgard better through Ilya and Aggie's points of view. I liked that Julian was Intuit and Grimshaw was fun to me in his gruff, crabby 'I hate dealing with people problems' way.
The villains were properly vile and I was so impatient for the Elders and Elementals and lesser Others to help them meet a bad end. Humans can be so arrogant and obtuse about who are really at the top of the food chain even after empirical proof was given them.
It got exciting and twisting there in the last quarter of the story and I was flipping pages madly. But, in the end, I felt like I do when a book is at the beginning of a series. It finished up all the immediate plot threads with no cliffhangers, but didn't have a standalone feeling either. However, I know that the next book moves to a new setting, new characters, and new plot so I do have a little disappointment in that minor nagging feeling of needing more with the Lake Silence people. On the other hand, I will be simply grateful to be getting more stories in this world. Period.
This is only my second opportunity to listen to the audio of this series and I was just as enamored as ever by Alexandra Harris' fabulous work narrating this story. She had a large cast of characters and several narrators both male and female which he deftly handled. I love what she brings to a story.
So, Lake Silence built and built into a riveting story that I was not ready to put down when it finished. I am still amazed with the Others world and can highly recommend this alternate earth urban fantasy series.
Lake Silence is the sixth of The Others series and the first of the World of the Others continuation. It's tricky to say whether it can make a good place to jump in or not. In one sense, its a new story arc, new setting, and new characters so its very much a doable thing to jump in here. However, the reference to other places, the blood prophets, the Humans First and Last, and the war between humans and the Others are what are at the foundation understanding of this next series arc so missing all that means missing some big pieces in understanding.
The story starts out on a gritty amusing note when Vickie's boarder proves she's not human at the same time a murder is discovered. This sets in motion a chain of events for several people: Vickie the downtrodden new owner of a dilapidated resort property on Lake Silence that she got in her divorce, Officer Grimshaw who doesn't want to deal with people though he wants to serve and protect, Julian the mysterious bookstore owner who came to the small village out in the Wild Country for peace, Ilya Sanguinati who is the Others administrator of this village of humans and now has to come forward out of the shadows when human mischief arises to distract the Others' plans, and Aggie, the Crow who moved into the cabin at Vickie's resort and has enjoyed learning human ways from the crime show and thriller book-reading Vickie.
Alongside this group who just want to figure out what is happening and set things straight so they can get on with living, there is a group of greedy humans who have a greedy plan of their own and will stop at nothing to achieve it. They think they can outsmart the Others and they know they can cow the fragile, panic attack ridden resort owner.
Lake Silence, like the rest of the series, builds slowly and had the job of introductions. But, while it got rolling, intense incidents were taking place and building the suspense of the story. Vickie was terribly abused by her ex and never got help for it. He never physically abused, but emotionally and mentally ripped her apart and made her buy into his version of her- an overweight dolt who is incapable and weak. I was angered and sad for her. Her weakened mental state when it comes to fear of men and struggles with self-esteem are extreme, but she had a better support unit of humans and Others around her to help her cope and heal. I did feel that she needed professional help, but there were hints that Ilya was on that for her.
Vickie was the focus, but there were actually a few main characters to add their perspective to the story which I appreciated. It was fun getting to know the Sanguinati and Crowgard better through Ilya and Aggie's points of view. I liked that Julian was Intuit and Grimshaw was fun to me in his gruff, crabby 'I hate dealing with people problems' way.
The villains were properly vile and I was so impatient for the Elders and Elementals and lesser Others to help them meet a bad end. Humans can be so arrogant and obtuse about who are really at the top of the food chain even after empirical proof was given them.
It got exciting and twisting there in the last quarter of the story and I was flipping pages madly. But, in the end, I felt like I do when a book is at the beginning of a series. It finished up all the immediate plot threads with no cliffhangers, but didn't have a standalone feeling either. However, I know that the next book moves to a new setting, new characters, and new plot so I do have a little disappointment in that minor nagging feeling of needing more with the Lake Silence people. On the other hand, I will be simply grateful to be getting more stories in this world. Period.
This is only my second opportunity to listen to the audio of this series and I was just as enamored as ever by Alexandra Harris' fabulous work narrating this story. She had a large cast of characters and several narrators both male and female which he deftly handled. I love what she brings to a story.
So, Lake Silence built and built into a riveting story that I was not ready to put down when it finished. I am still amazed with the Others world and can highly recommend this alternate earth urban fantasy series.
loranmar000's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
I just want to read these books over and over and over again
aprilinwichita's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
diandra_s's review
challenging
mysterious
slow-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
3.75