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wisecraic's review against another edition
dark
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? Yes
3.5
kattra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
booksthatburn's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
WE WERE RESTLESS THINGS is about the strangeness of grief, of continuing after someone else has stopped, and the impossibility of keeping someone happily where they don’t want to be.
Link died before the book opens, drowning in the woods, dying in a camera-shy lake that’s only sometimes there. His sister and friends slowly move into new configurations in his absence, jostled by the void he left behind. Complicating thing is the new kid, Jonas, who didn’t ask to fill Link’s seat but nevertheless must answer the implicit question of replacement.
By switching perspectives throughout, no one character takes over the narrative, and every one of them is described at least once through someone else’s understanding of them. One of the characters is working through her wants and needs as far as a romantic and/or sexual relationship, including whether she wants either, neither, or both of those things. It’s refreshing in a way that simply declaring a label at her introduction wouldn’t be. She has important conversations with other characters where they discuss the particulars of what any of this means for her, what their own desires mean for them, and it feels like it would help a reader maybe untangle some of their own thoughts on love and sex, including when and whether they’re separate. By the time more precise terms are used they get to be a succinct way to label what her words and actions have already made abundantly clear.
By the end I think Gaetan became my favorite character. Early on he’s shown from the perspective of characters who don’t understand him. When so much of the early book is through Jonas who just met him it means that the reader takes a long time to learn anything about Gaetan other than his bleeding edges which are sharp enough to cut. Jonas is sweet but aimless, bumbling into existing dynamics without pausing to assess the space before entering it. He tends to notice that his presence changed things, but often takes a long time to ask what was there before. By the time he does, the others have moved on to react to the new status quo.
I love the ending. It leaves the characters in a place that’s better than where they started, but without trying to fix everything that is wrong.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Bullying, Body horror, Vomit, and Misogyny
Minor: Confinement, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Self harm, and Suicide
pollylollies's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-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? No
2.0
stormingbananas's review against another edition
3.0
This may be a touch spoilery so proceed with caution.
I'm not sure at all how to describe this book because I thought it was going to turn into such a better story with depth. It wasn't. You know those troupes where everyone is in love with the main girl? Well.... this book takes that troupe to a whole new level.
I was enjoying all the characters and everything going on and I was intrigued to get to the bottom of everything, it could have so headed into a 5 star with an ambiguous ending but even though that end was just terrible I enjoyed it up until that point, that's why it gets the 3 stars that it does.
For the last 20 percent of the book I listened through audio - as narrators they were mediocre. I did like how the male put on a boyish quality to his voice and how the female fluctuated hers.
I'm not sure at all how to describe this book because I thought it was going to turn into such a better story with depth. It wasn't. You know those troupes where everyone is in love with the main girl? Well.... this book takes that troupe to a whole new level.
I was enjoying all the characters and everything going on and I was intrigued to get to the bottom of everything, it could have so headed into a 5 star with an ambiguous ending but even though that end was just terrible I enjoyed it up until that point, that's why it gets the 3 stars that it does.
For the last 20 percent of the book I listened through audio - as narrators they were mediocre. I did like how the male put on a boyish quality to his voice and how the female fluctuated hers.
so_brookeish's review against another edition
4.0
You know those books that are odd little ducks? Stories that feel like you either love the book or you just really don’t!? I feel like this little weirdo is one of those! Luckily for me I landed solidly on the LOVED THIS side of things!
We Were Restless Things is a bit of a paranormal mystery, a bit of a coming of age story, add in a touch of magical realism, a rag tag group of friends, some fantastic LGBTQ rep with an Ace main character & a wlw side story!
In a similar vibe to TRC this is a primarily character driven novel that relies heavily of the tiny details of the lives of the characters to propel the story along! This books is atmospheric, lyrical, slow-paced and spanning a year, hauntingly beautiful, and peculiar! The characters live in the fictional town of Shivery, where strange things happen, creatures lurk in the forest near the town, and a massive lake exists that only some people can see. This books is a whole mood y’all!
My only complaint is that we had a bit of the “every guy falls in love with the MC” thing going on. That’s never my favorite. But all in all this is a solid 4 unique stars for me!
We Were Restless Things is a bit of a paranormal mystery, a bit of a coming of age story, add in a touch of magical realism, a rag tag group of friends, some fantastic LGBTQ rep with an Ace main character & a wlw side story!
In a similar vibe to TRC this is a primarily character driven novel that relies heavily of the tiny details of the lives of the characters to propel the story along! This books is atmospheric, lyrical, slow-paced and spanning a year, hauntingly beautiful, and peculiar! The characters live in the fictional town of Shivery, where strange things happen, creatures lurk in the forest near the town, and a massive lake exists that only some people can see. This books is a whole mood y’all!
My only complaint is that we had a bit of the “every guy falls in love with the MC” thing going on. That’s never my favorite. But all in all this is a solid 4 unique stars for me!
readwcarol's review against another edition
3.0
it’s not what i was expecting but it’s still a really good book and definitely worth the read.
anniereads221's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Death
Drowningbookschief_managed's review against another edition
4.0
A huge thanks to NetGalley, Cole Nagamatsu, and RB Media for providing me with an audio-ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
Wow. I honestly didn't know what to expect going into this book, but it intrigued me with the cover and the premise. It was definitely a ride and I liked it a lot more than I would have guessed. The characters in this book were fascinating to me and I loved watching their story unfold, though it was a slower story. This wasn't an action-packed story by any means, but it was perfect to listen to on audio. The description throughout was so vivid, I could actually envision what Noemi was dreaming and loved seeing her recreate her dreams with her friends in the forest.
There was Ace representation in this book and I feel like it was done properly, I loved seeing that discussion, It was such an important, powerful moment.
Jonas was a great character as well and I loved the dynamic he and Noemi created for themselves.
The story had a decent pace, though I will say the only thing that makes it not earn an additional star is that things wrapped up a little more nicely than I would have wanted. It was a good read though, and the perfect slightly spooky story for this time of year.
Wow. I honestly didn't know what to expect going into this book, but it intrigued me with the cover and the premise. It was definitely a ride and I liked it a lot more than I would have guessed. The characters in this book were fascinating to me and I loved watching their story unfold, though it was a slower story. This wasn't an action-packed story by any means, but it was perfect to listen to on audio. The description throughout was so vivid, I could actually envision what Noemi was dreaming and loved seeing her recreate her dreams with her friends in the forest.
There was Ace representation in this book and I feel like it was done properly, I loved seeing that discussion, It was such an important, powerful moment.
Jonas was a great character as well and I loved the dynamic he and Noemi created for themselves.
The story had a decent pace, though I will say the only thing that makes it not earn an additional star is that things wrapped up a little more nicely than I would have wanted. It was a good read though, and the perfect slightly spooky story for this time of year.
finedanddandy's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted so badly to love this. The premise was promising, the cover immaculate. Unfortunately, something about this novel just didn’t work for me. The characters were one dimensional and blended together throughout the book. The blurb made it sound like we were getting a mystery, but there wasn’t much of a mystery to be solved, and what little there was was explained too quickly. The plot was meandering and though I loved the dream chapters, I feel like we could’ve done without. I did love the setting and landscape descriptions, they were eerie and perfectly magical. I will absolutely check out this author’s future works.