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A review by dejnozkova
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
“The Lost Village” is quite the page-turner so I finished this one relatively quickly. I think it was the right amount of eerie and I enjoyed the historical premise I also think the pacing was well-done, gradually ramping up from subtle off-putting moments up until a final reveal, which keep it moving nicely. It’s definitely a good book to read if you want to be entertained and don’t want to delve into anything too deep.
This one didn’t land so well for me because I’m a very emotional reader I guess, and I value character depth a lot more than I value plot or thrills. Overall the characters came off more like moody teenagers working out their drama than anything. And although I appreciated this novel’s attempt at addressing mental illness of a couple different flavors it was kinda glossed over. Alice’s struggles are mentioned a couple of times and there is a moment when she and Emmy have a little heart-to-heart, but there wasn’t much in the way of depth or development surrounding these feelings. I think it would’ve been more impactful to establish Alice’s pain earlier on and maybe capture her closer to her darkest moments rather than discussing it as a distant memory and reopening it as a beef with her friend. Capturing the horror in the isolation of depression where the world is painted as darker than it seems, and using this to perhaps torment Alice a bit in the novel would’ve fucked me up a lot more than her whining about Emmy.
I could say the same for Tone, who we don’t really notice struggling with the exception of like, one red flag, until she’s having a full-blown breakdown of epic proportions, ignoring the subtle insidiousness of psychosis. A nature which in my experience is a lot scarier to witness —the subtle off-putting behaviors that make you worry for someone you care for, and watching them suffer slowly in a mind that lies to them, and how this condition permeates everyday life. Especially considering that this book focuses on delusion as the overarching horror throughout. And maybe in this way Tone would’ve been a great lens for narration, watching her slowly lose her shit as she tries to keep straight what’s real and what isn’t, what is her illness and what is reality but we kinda missed out on this perspective.
3 stars for being very entertaining and maintaining my attention, but I think something more could’ve been done to support the characters and themes.
This one didn’t land so well for me because I’m a very emotional reader I guess, and I value character depth a lot more than I value plot or thrills. Overall the characters came off more like moody teenagers working out their drama than anything. And although I appreciated this novel’s attempt at addressing mental illness of a couple different flavors it was kinda glossed over. Alice’s struggles are mentioned a couple of times and there is a moment when she and Emmy have a little heart-to-heart, but there wasn’t much in the way of depth or development surrounding these feelings. I think it would’ve been more impactful to establish Alice’s pain earlier on and maybe capture her closer to her darkest moments rather than discussing it as a distant memory and reopening it as a beef with her friend. Capturing the horror in the isolation of depression where the world is painted as darker than it seems, and using this to perhaps torment Alice a bit in the novel would’ve fucked me up a lot more than her whining about Emmy.
I could say the same for Tone, who we don’t really notice struggling with the exception of like, one red flag, until she’s having a full-blown breakdown of epic proportions, ignoring the subtle insidiousness of psychosis. A nature which in my experience is a lot scarier to witness —the subtle off-putting behaviors that make you worry for someone you care for, and watching them suffer slowly in a mind that lies to them, and how this condition permeates everyday life. Especially considering that this book focuses on delusion as the overarching horror throughout. And maybe in this way Tone would’ve been a great lens for narration, watching her slowly lose her shit as she tries to keep straight what’s real and what isn’t, what is her illness and what is reality but we kinda missed out on this perspective.
3 stars for being very entertaining and maintaining my attention, but I think something more could’ve been done to support the characters and themes.