Scan barcode
lizbiz2513's review against another edition
Plot was confusing and hard to follow, will not be trying to finish in the future
brendalovesbooks's review
4.0
I can't say that I really enjoyed reading this. It was pretty depressing and not a happy story. It was compelling, though, and I was always anxious to see what happened next. It's definitely not one I'd want to read again though.
mollyvh's review
4.0
4.5 rounded down. This one is going to take a while to digest, in the best way.
bargainsleuth's review
3.0
For this and other book reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com
I don’t request a lot of ARCs from publishers because I have reading whims that take me in different directions than what I had intended. This happens a lot. Once in a while NetGalley has offered me books without having to go through the request process, and Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone must have been one of them. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC so I could offer my honest opinion of the book.
Triggers warnings: Emotional and physical abuse of adults and children. Lots of it.
I don’t normally read psychological thriller or magical realism and Mirrorland was a combination of both mixed in with a bit of a horror story. Whoa! What a rough start. The book’s world building was a bit much for me, There was so much magical realism at the beginning, which I understand was necessary, but I wondered what I had gotten myself in to. After all, Stephen King wrote a positive review and I used to love reading King’s work when I was younger. Luckily, about a 1/3 of the way in, things started to pick up and I wasn’t as confused about the world.
There were parts of this story that were really suspenseful involving El’s disappearance, but the whole Mirrorland other world elements were too fantastical for me. The less I read about Mirrorland, the more I liked the rest of the story. Estranged identical twins, one disappears and the other sister comes home to find her, and the childhood friend who loved both sisters but married one, a creepy Gothic house that the girls escaped when they were twelve, only to have one of the sisters buy the house when she grew up and set it up almost exactly like it was when they were growing up. That’s some twisted thinking.
Mirrorland had multiple endings. There were several times when I was just so happy to have the story be done, because there was a satisfying conclusion, only to find out that there was more to the story. This happened several times. At first I thought “Enough already” but still felt compelled to go on. Having finished it, I can see how/why the story was plotted that way. It makes sense. And even though I don’t normally read psychological thrillers, I totally saw the ending coming a mile away. Maybe that’s from picking apart Nancy Drew mysteries, but it seemed fairly obvious to me. I knew the who, what, where and why, but not the how.
Mirrorland goes on sale April 20, 2021.
I don’t request a lot of ARCs from publishers because I have reading whims that take me in different directions than what I had intended. This happens a lot. Once in a while NetGalley has offered me books without having to go through the request process, and Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone must have been one of them. Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for this ARC so I could offer my honest opinion of the book.
Triggers warnings: Emotional and physical abuse of adults and children. Lots of it.
I don’t normally read psychological thriller or magical realism and Mirrorland was a combination of both mixed in with a bit of a horror story. Whoa! What a rough start. The book’s world building was a bit much for me, There was so much magical realism at the beginning, which I understand was necessary, but I wondered what I had gotten myself in to. After all, Stephen King wrote a positive review and I used to love reading King’s work when I was younger. Luckily, about a 1/3 of the way in, things started to pick up and I wasn’t as confused about the world.
There were parts of this story that were really suspenseful involving El’s disappearance, but the whole Mirrorland other world elements were too fantastical for me. The less I read about Mirrorland, the more I liked the rest of the story. Estranged identical twins, one disappears and the other sister comes home to find her, and the childhood friend who loved both sisters but married one, a creepy Gothic house that the girls escaped when they were twelve, only to have one of the sisters buy the house when she grew up and set it up almost exactly like it was when they were growing up. That’s some twisted thinking.
Mirrorland had multiple endings. There were several times when I was just so happy to have the story be done, because there was a satisfying conclusion, only to find out that there was more to the story. This happened several times. At first I thought “Enough already” but still felt compelled to go on. Having finished it, I can see how/why the story was plotted that way. It makes sense. And even though I don’t normally read psychological thrillers, I totally saw the ending coming a mile away. Maybe that’s from picking apart Nancy Drew mysteries, but it seemed fairly obvious to me. I knew the who, what, where and why, but not the how.
Mirrorland goes on sale April 20, 2021.
rebelkiss's review
4.0
This book was a wild ride. It gives you love, betrayal, mystery. It did take me some time to get invested but once I did, I had to k ow how it ended!
carolyn0613's review against another edition
5.0
With nods to Perter Pan and treasure Island, this is a heartbreaking story of twins, Cat and El, growing up in the confines of their large house where the basement is their play area and is transformed by their imagination into Mirrorland where they rule the high seas and the prison in Shawshank Redemption. The story opens with the news reaching Cat that El has died. They haven't spoken to each other for years and the story unfolds to reveal what went on between them in Mirrorland.
It's quite a dark and disturbing tale with very well written character and plot twists which I did not see coming. Very good book.
It's quite a dark and disturbing tale with very well written character and plot twists which I did not see coming. Very good book.
thejejo's review
3.0
I picked up and put down this book a few times. I thought THIS IS IT, either I read it now, or let it go out of my want-to-read list. The beginning was a bit slow, and there was a lot of backstories that felt dragged on a little longer than necessary, but it definitely warmed up. Lots of twists and turns, and
'OMG I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING' moments.
'OMG I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING' moments.
katewutz's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-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
4.0
A few pacing issues, a few hand-wavey parts where you can see the seams, but HOO BOY. Trauma house indeed.