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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
i liked this one so much and then none of the other books i've read by this author have been up my alley at all
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Amazing book. I was utterly gripped by Wilder’s story. I could barely put it down.
Even part one, just the summer on the beach was engrossing. What amazing writing and complex characters.
Both of her books that I’ve read have just left me sitting stunned. Figuring things out in my head… in a good way!!
Even part one, just the summer on the beach was engrossing. What amazing writing and complex characters.
Both of her books that I’ve read have just left me sitting stunned. Figuring things out in my head… in a good way!!
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There is a tension inherent to horror fiction. Horror literature and film are dependent on a cycle of tension and release—but the more cathartic the release, the harder it is to return to a satisfying, unsettling level of tension that is key to a successful horror work. The spell can be broken, and it is not trivial to recast.
Looking Glass Sound opens with a killer, ~100 page King-adjacent yarn about Wilder, Harper, and Nat, three kids who experience a life altering trauma in a coastal Maine town. This is peak New England horror, complete with complicated sexual dynamics, black magic, serial murders (or are they?), and teenage angst. The spell is in full effect in this first section; it would make for a pretty fun, if straightforward, novella or short story.
Unfortunately, things get more complicated from there. Wilder, who was documenting the events of that formative summer as they happened, goes off to college, where he meets rich kid Sky. Sky is sketchy from the jump, and—shocker—he’s a true crime head, only befriending Wilder to get ahold of his story. Soon after manipulating Wilder into telling him everything, Sky steals his notes on the murders, abandons him, and writes a fictionalized version of Wilder’s story.
This is where things take a turn into the Devil House/I Have Some Questions for You lane—suddenly, Looking Glass Sound becomes a cautionary tale about the co-opting of real world events for public consumption, with a dash of plagiarism thriller à la The Plot. For me, though, the tension that was so deliciously formulated in its first 100 pages had been broken, and Ward’s cursory examination of these themes did not make up for this change in atmosphere.
And that’s not even getting into the twisty final third of this novel, where it’s revealed that Sky himself is a fictional character dreamed up by real life college classmate of Wilder, Pearl, and that his fictionalization of Wilder’s experience is—bear with me—a book within a book within a book. This stinks of convolution for convolution’s sake, and I’m not really sure how it adds to Looking Glass Sound’s big ideas. Instead, it actively demolishes the versions of the characters that we thought we were getting to know. Turns out, they were all fictional constructs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Murder
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated