Reviews with content warning for Death - Looking Glass Sound

This book was a trip!! The setting and ambiance were exquisitely crafted—I think that was the best part of the book. C.W. pulls off the ‘story-within-a-story’ strategy well in a way that doesn’t bore or unnecessarily confuse the reader, and by the end of the novel this setup adds several brilliant layers to the (in my case) unexpected conclusion. The last 50 pages were pretty wild. Though I guess it’s technically a horror story, I didn’t find the book scary so much as haunting with a lowercase h.

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hannaheinhorn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I listened to this on Audible and really disliked the male narrator’s speaking style. This book reads a bit YA. I had seen this book talked about as “literary horror” and truthfully, I wouldn’t consider it “literary” in the sense that it wasn’t very sophisticated, which in this case, was something I was hoping for. I didn’t hate it, but the ending did cheapen it for me. I wanted much more story on the dagger man and cared so much less about the kids who were investigating the story.

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theliteraryhooker's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a tough one. The first 2/3 of the book was an easy 5 star. I love Ward's writing style and I was completely engrossed in the coming of age story tinged with murder. But then the plot jumps ahead and veers wildly away from the tone of the first portion of the book in the last 100 pages or so, and I just didn't care for it. I found it confusing and repetitive, and it took away a lot of what made the first 2/3 so impactful for me.

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foramen_magnum's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This right here is why Ward has become my favorite author since discovering Sundial last October. A gorgeous, breathtaking, mind bending book that necessitated a re read of certain chapters as soon as I finished the last page.

I wasn't into the first couple long chapters as I was reading them-- they read as almost childish, heavily reminiscent of Stephen King down to a Maine setting, a story of two summers told at warp speed. Turns out that was totally the intention, and I'm glad I kept reading. As Wilder & co get older, their stories become more convoluted, more entwined, and more inevitable, relayed through prose whose excellence peeks throughout the book but isn't wholly obvious until the last page.

This is a book best read with no expectations other than a commitment to stick with it to an ending so sharp that you won't realize how deep it's cut you, so I won't say much more... My advice: Embrace being confused. Go on the journey. Re-read.

The Dagger Man awaits.

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