Reviews

We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu

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bethwodzinski's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

elizea's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

litwithlaurenn's review against another edition

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2.0

I was very intrigued with this book, but it unfortunately fell flat for me. The mysterious circumstances surrounding Link’s death had so much potential but it was bogged down by some weird happenings in the book, including a little romance between step-siblings? By about 40% in I was just speeding through it to get it done. There were a couple fantastical pieces that I thought kept me engaged a little, and without them it likely would have been a DNF for me. I listened to this book, and though the narration started very dry and slow, I got into the groove with it about halfway through. Unfortunately just a little too late.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an audio ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

nerp's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

0hwell00hwell's review

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adventurous mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.25

lesbrarycard's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No

3.5

i picked this book up because it had a similar premise to the book i'm working on, and i'm always curious to see how texts in my genre are playing out rn.

We Were Restless Things is a slow story with a wide cast of complex characters that i found to be almost impenetrable. while the prose was absolutely beautiful, i wanted to feel closer to our characters - if we're supposed to believe that they have these tangled interpersonal relationships, i want brutal vulnerability that hurts to read. while i didn't mind the slow build so much (i think listening to the audiobook definitely helped me here) i found the ending to feel lackluster and i wanted more of a payoff. however, i did enjoy the ace rep and the wlw relationship on the side, though i found it hard to believe that every single boy in the story was head over heels for Noemi.

brittradomski's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

readwithholls's review against another edition

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2.0

Yeah this was a no from me. I wanted to like this but honest to god I am so confused on what the hell happened. I hated Noemi. Jonas deserved better and her friends definitely did too. This story felt like it was just going on and on with no plot. The ending I still have no clue what caused the lake, why she survived, and what happened to the lake.

noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

This review was first posted on my blog...

Content Warning:
-Drowning
-Mention of childhood abuse
-Bullying
-Loss
-Self-harm mentioned
-Suicidal thoughts mentioned

Last summer I saw this book, and its beautiful cover, online and decided to pick it up. The summary seemed somewhat mysterious and magical which always catches my interest. Sadly, like many books I buy, it sat unread on my shelf for months. Over the last few months, I’ve drastically reduced the number of books I buy so that I’m reading more books that I already own.

A few days ago I was scrolling through book Twitter and saw a post by the author, Cole Nagamatsu, where they stated they were harassed for the Ace rep in this book because they weren’t publically out as Ace. This bully forced them to come out before they were ready. I can’t imagine how hurt they were having someone accuse them of adding Ace rep as a money grab when it’s still something, of themselves, they’re still coming to terms with. After seeing that tweet I decided to bump this book up in my TBR pile…and I’m so glad that I did.

This book bounces between a few different narratives, as well as some dream journal entries, which gives it a very “peek into the life” of all the characters involved. We get to see how Link’s death has affected each character including Jonas Lake who only just got to town. This book is full of honesty, self-doubt, concern, love, and understanding. We get to see all these different people for who they are as well as who they feel they are. I honestly love stories that are like this, ones where it feels like we’re just peeking into a life.

I found the way in which one of the characters opens up about being Ace, and what that means for them, to be so beautiful. It can be so scary to open up about something so deeply personal and I found the way Cole wrote it to be so honest and pure. Sexuality is a spectrum that varies from person to person.

Until I read my first Ace character and saw more videos on Tiktok about being Ace, I didn’t realize there was a difference between aesthetic/physical/emotional/sexual attraction. Growing up I’ve always found a lot of people aesthetically attractive like walking pieces of art but that’s literally all I saw them as…walking art not people I wanted emotional/physical/sexual intimacy with. I’ve always loved hugging, cuddling, and just touching but for me, it isn’t sexual it just brings me emotional comfort but I’ve avoided it a lot due to fear that others would misinterpret it as sexual. The more introspection I’ve done, over the last year, I’ve realized so much about myself and where I fit within the spectrum. I’m so happy to see more Ace rep out there in the media because for some of us it takes seeing it to start to really understand ourselves.

I just now, about ten minutes ago, finished reading this story and the ending almost had me in tears. Not tears of sadness more like tears of hope in regards to the future, which is unknown. Although this is a YA book, I feel like many people, of all ages, could relate to some of the character’s feelings, either by reminiscing of their own adolescence or even seeing things in themselves they never noticed before.

This book, although very different in content, reminds me of how I felt after finishing “The Hunger” by Alma Katsu. Neither are fast-paced books, but both had me feeling like I was just peeking into a certain point in time and had me wishing I could see and know more. Realistically it wouldn’t make sense to have a sequel, for either book, so I’ll just daydream and imagine what the future holds.

Content Warnings

romanticparvenu's review against another edition

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5.0

Literary magical realism for the YA crowd + respectful asexual rep; good readalike for fans of Nova Ren Suma.

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