Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Other Valley

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

16 reviews

kelly_e's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-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? Yes

3.25

Title: The Other Valley
Author: Scott Alexander Howard
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: February 27, 2024

T H R E E • W O R D S

Speculative • Thoughtful • Bittersweet

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she’ll decide who may cross her town’s heavily guarded borders. On the other side, it’s the same valley, the same town. Except to the east, the town is twenty years ahead in time. To the west, it’s twenty years behind. The towns repeat in an endless sequence across the wilderness.

When Odile recognizes two visitors she wasn’t supposed to see, she realizes that the parents of her friend Edme have been escorted across the border from the future, on a mourning tour, to view their son while he’s still alive in Odile’s present.

Edme—who is brilliant, funny, and the only person to truly see Odile—is about to die. Sworn to secrecy in order to preserve the timeline, Odile now becomes the Conseil’s top candidate. Yet she finds herself drawing closer to the doomed boy, imperiling her entire future.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Next up on my quest to complete the 2025 Canada Reads longlist before the debates occur in March: The Other Valley. by Scott Alexander Howard. I was drawn to the concept of parallel lives, and the fact this is his debut novel. It is is one of the 15 books, I thought for sure would ended up on the shortlist - but I was wrong.

Told is two distinct parts, I found them vastly different from one another in both tone and pacing. In Part I, the reader is introduced to 16-year-old Odile, the various valleys, and an incident that will set the stage for the second part. I found this part to be much more engaging with a steady, albeit slow, pacing. I was invested in the developing relationships, particularly Odile's growing friendship with Edme and her journey in the vetting program. Part II begins with a 20 year time jump and the reader seeing what Odile's current life looks like - a complete 180 from what I'd expected. The tone shifts to something more somber and it seems to contain a lot of useless scenes given the readers knows there the story is heading.

Howard's writing is so strong and deliberate, so I was not surprised he has a PhD in philosophy with post doctoral work focusing on the relationship between memory, emotion, and literature. This book explores those topics in various ways. However, he has chosen not to use quotation marks and I was curious as to why. No reasoning is provided on him choosing to forego them and it made for more confusion than was necessary. Or maybe it was just me who was a little lost at times.

The Other Valley is one of those books where there were individual elements I loved, yet there were other aspects I could have easily done without (or done with in the case of quotation marks) or changed. It certainly offers a unique set-up when it comes to the time travelling trope and made me reflect on the intersection of free will and destiny. It is not a book I would have picked up outside of the 2025 Canada Reads longlist, yet I am glad I picked it up. Scott Alexander Howard is a Canadian author to watch, although maybe not one for my tastes.

📚 R E A D • I F • Y O U • L I K E
• contemplating fate versus free will
• discovering new Canadian authors

⚠️ CW: death, death of parent, child death, grief, gun violence, murder, classism, alcohol, alcoholism, misogyny, sexism, bullying, classism, cursing, sexual harassment, blood, domestic abuse, police brutality

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Sometimes what was necessary was also what was natural."

Content Warnings

laurenmcnamara's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

cattpurrson's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

ragingbelgian's review

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mysterious

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

4.0

Content Warnings

jillaay_h's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

staysound's review

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adventurous dark reflective sad tense 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

2.0

So much potential but fell short for me. Hoping the television adaptation is more exciting.

The main character’s voice didn’t read authentic. I was annoyed by their inconsistencies - using flowery, poetic language about the natural world around them but having simplistic thoughts about their object of affection and their aspirations. It felt like the book could’ve benefitted from being written in the 3rd person. I also didn’t really believe the main romantic plot. I think this story could’ve been just as - if not more - powerful if it’d just focused on a platonic friendship.

Content Warnings