Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Lamplighters

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

78 reviews

kcmg710's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I absolutely loved this book. And it’s only 4* because I’m a sucker for happy endings. AND EVEN THOUGH I went into this aware that it probably wasn’t going to be a ‘proper happy ending’ I still got my hopes up and thought there was a chance that

the ‘Truth would come out’ or they’d all reunite or something

and of course I’m absolutely gutted that it didn’t. It’s completely my fault of course but idc I apologise to the author but I just cannot wholeheartedly give it a 5* because of this fact 😂🤦🏽‍♀️

I’ll be honest I’ve not given lighthouses, as a whole, too much thought. Eg; the interior of them, the challenges for the keepers and their families, the workload, the relief, free time ect. I just kinda assumed there’s the lighthouse and in them are probably just a ladder to get up to the top and every so often somebody would go and check on it. Which now with technology and stuff might be the case but this book just opened my mind completely.

I felt like a fly on the wall watching the keepers go about their day and I LOVED IT. I am super nosy and especially the little details l, I just absolutely lapped up because I want to know every single process/action/thought ect that a character might have/do. The little details are what matter to me (personally) as a reader and I thought Stonex did a great job of that.

The characters as a whole I’m so attached to them

(except bill, f*ck bill 😑)

even the ones I didn’t really get on with, at points my heart broke for them and I was like I get it that’s why they’re f*cked, I understand. They are so well written and again I’m nosy so I loved the snippets of backstories for them all (even with how heartbreaking some of them could be).

Again the only thing I hated was the fact that Arthur died thinking Helen didn’t love him anymore and was in love with scumbag Bill and that she majorly betrayed him (she kinda did but not at the level Jenny and Arthur were convinced of) She didn’t get the chance to explain to him and work things out.

I hate how unresolved it was. Even though I knew there could be a chance it would end that way, I still hate it. And I hate the fact that bill never got found out for the scumbag he was AND FRAMED MY ARTHUR!! Unforgivable. I appreciate he got instant karma but still.
I was also super confused about how ‘they never found any evidence’ when Bill literally wiped Arthur’s fingerprints on everything?! Unless they did and trident just covered it up? Like I know they covered up some things and wasn’t open to the public or the families and it kinda alluded to Arthur having something to do with it so in that case they must’ve found the evidence but idk. Maybe I didn’t read it properly but that’s the vibes I kinda got, that part felt abit ‘up in the air’ to me.

Also the part with the ghosts/voices ect. Was never really cleared up and half of me feel like that was maybe part of their imaginations or their guilt getting to them / kinda hallucinating because of the isolation on the tower ect. But the other half was like wait are there ghosts or what? Again with the ‘Silverman’ and ‘Sid’! Who the f*ck was SID? Are Sid and the Silverman the same person or what?

There were parts that made me laugh, parts that made me sob like a baby @1.30 in the morning 🫠, parts that I was freakeddd out about

(the ghost children things)

. It just felt like there was so much going on and I had no clue about any of it pretty much the whole time 😂. I was confused but it a comfy way is the only way I know how to describe it.

My reviews are not great I’ll be honest, I mostly just ramble and occasionally make a good point. But I’d definitely give this a go and I appreciate it if you got this far 🤍

Content Warnings

eturner's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

Content Warnings

clare_dv's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

Content Warnings

madamelacy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A page-turning mystery told from the perspectives of three lighthouse keepers and the women they left behind when they vanished. I loved this book until the ending which felt a bit weak.

Content Warnings

taitai's review

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emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

This was a slow burn read, I was quite indifferent until somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 way through, and then realised I couldn't put it down.

The narrative set-up is complicated: it jumps between two time periods, and the view points of all the main characters. I read this on Kindle, and with hindsight wish I'd read it as a physical book, because I find this kind of set-up easier to keep track of on a paper rather than digital page.

It's quite claustrophobic, as you know from the very beginning what the 'end' of the 1972 storyline was, and you're trapped in the lighthouse with them, wondering how on earth we're going to get to that end point. And you're trapped in the other storyline with the wives, who can't get away from that end point.

Content Warnings