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A review by speculativeshelves
Some Faraway Place by Lauren Shippen
4.0
Some Faraway Place is my favorite installment of The Bright Sessions novels – telling a beautiful and emotional story that runs parallel to events in the podcast. I enjoyed the previous novels and this one combined my favorite aspects of both – the direct connection to events in the podcast as seen in The Infinite Noise and the focus of messy and flawed characters trying (and sometimes/usually) failing to do their best because they're human that was seen in A Neon Darkness. The Infinite Noise overall felt more light and fun, A Neon Darkness felt dark and serious and Some Faraway Place has moments of both. It strikes the perfect balance between the feelings I had reading those previous installments making this book the one that made me fully experience the same emotions I felt while listening to The Bright Sessions for the first time.
I loved the format of this story – told across Rose's journal entries, Aaron's forum threads, Emily's blog posts, and Damien's letters – which gave wonderful insight into the other characters even though this is Rose's story. These different perspectives allowed the story to feel similar to Rose's dreamdives giving access to their thoughts and emotions that they may not be sharing with each other.
Similar to the other installments, I don't know if this book will have the same impact for readers who have not listed to the podcast and don't already have an attachment to these characters. In addition, while the three Bright Sessions books standalone from each other, I think having read the others (particularly A Neon Darkness) made me enjoy the story more. This story intertwines with the other books and the podcast beautifully and feels like the perfect closure to the wonderful universe Lauren Shippen has created.
I loved the format of this story – told across Rose's journal entries, Aaron's forum threads, Emily's blog posts, and Damien's letters – which gave wonderful insight into the other characters even though this is Rose's story. These different perspectives allowed the story to feel similar to Rose's dreamdives giving access to their thoughts and emotions that they may not be sharing with each other.
Similar to the other installments, I don't know if this book will have the same impact for readers who have not listed to the podcast and don't already have an attachment to these characters. In addition, while the three Bright Sessions books standalone from each other, I think having read the others (particularly A Neon Darkness) made me enjoy the story more. This story intertwines with the other books and the podcast beautifully and feels like the perfect closure to the wonderful universe Lauren Shippen has created.