Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone is an incredibly original YA gothic fantasy that is perfect for fans of the atmosphere of Crimson Peak and the magic of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina! While pieces of the story reminded me of several things I've read and watched lately, the book as a whole is stunningly original. The plot revolves around Violeta Graceling, or Leta, as she's known. She and her brother Arien are taken in by the mysterious monster of Lakesedge to live in his haunted mansion with his maids and servants. But is this monster - who is rumored to have killed his whole family - really what he seems? Or is there more to the young man than what lies on the surface? Also, who is the mysterious Lord Under living the black lake in the woods of the estate?
Here is a beautiful and creepy excerpt straight from the beginning of Chapter 1:
"There are monsters in the world.
There are monsters in the woods.
They slip inside at night. Crawl through the walls of our cottage. They find their way into my brother’s dreams.
It’s been weeks, longer, since Arien’s last nightmare, but I knew they would come tonight. All day it’s followed me, that familiar heaviness in the air. I can feel them coming even before he does.
...
“Violeta?”
He calls my name and reaches out as the darkness rises through him. Shadows spill from his hands like unfurled ribbons, shrouding the floor with an inky mist. He looks at me with eyes gone solid black; they change when he dreams, and those blank eyes in his frightened face are so wrong. Arien is gentle and sweet. This darkness shouldn’t be in him."
As you can see in the excerpt above, the prose in this book is gorgeous. It's so hard to find YA fantasy these days that is not just well-written at the plot-level, but also at the sentence-level. While reading this book, I wanted to savor every sentence. Often, I would come across an evocative image in the prose, and I would need to pause and appreciate its beauty. If you're a fan of gorgeous prose, you won't want to miss this book!
Another highlight of this book are the characters and the slow-burn romance between Leta and Rowan, the monster of Lakesedge. Leta is a strong heroine who won't take no for an answer. Her love for her younger brother drives most of her actions, but she also grows to love Rowan and the others living at the estate. Her desire to protect those around her makes her an incredible protagonist. Rowan is a damaged, but sensitive young man who is seen as a monster by everyone around him. If you're a fan of romances where the beauty falls in love with the beast, you will definitely like this book!
Overall, Lakesedge is an amazing YA fantasy that I can see becoming the next A Court of Thorns and Roses. I thought that this book was a standalone, but when I got to the cliffhanger at the end, I realized that there has to be a sequel. I am totally adding the sequel to my TBR list, and I will read it as soon as it comes out! I need to know what happens next! The romance between Leta and Rowan reminded me of the romance between Feyre and Tamlin in the first ACOTAR book. If you're intrigued by the excerpts above, or if you're a fan of YA fantasy in general, you definitely won't want to miss this book when it comes out in September!
Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone is an incredibly original YA gothic fantasy that is perfect for fans of the atmosphere of Crimson Peak and the magic of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina! While pieces of the story reminded me of several things I've read and watched lately, the book as a whole is stunningly original. The plot revolves around Violeta Graceling, or Leta, as she's known. She and her brother Arien are taken in by the mysterious monster of Lakesedge to live in his haunted mansion with his maids and servants. But is this monster - who is rumored to have killed his whole family - really what he seems? Or is there more to the young man than what lies on the surface? Also, who is the mysterious Lord Under living the black lake in the woods of the estate?
Here is a beautiful and creepy excerpt straight from the beginning of Chapter 1:
"There are monsters in the world.
There are monsters in the woods.
They slip inside at night. Crawl through the walls of our cottage. They find their way into my brother’s dreams.
It’s been weeks, longer, since Arien’s last nightmare, but I knew they would come tonight. All day it’s followed me, that familiar heaviness in the air. I can feel them coming even before he does.
...
“Violeta?”
He calls my name and reaches out as the darkness rises through him. Shadows spill from his hands like unfurled ribbons, shrouding the floor with an inky mist. He looks at me with eyes gone solid black; they change when he dreams, and those blank eyes in his frightened face are so wrong. Arien is gentle and sweet. This darkness shouldn’t be in him."
As you can see in the excerpt above, the prose in this book is gorgeous. It's so hard to find YA fantasy these days that is not just well-written at the plot-level, but also at the sentence-level. While reading this book, I wanted to savor every sentence. Often, I would come across an evocative image in the prose, and I would need to pause and appreciate its beauty. If you're a fan of gorgeous prose, you won't want to miss this book!
Another highlight of this book are the characters and the slow-burn romance between Leta and Rowan, the monster of Lakesedge. Leta is a strong heroine who won't take no for an answer. Her love for her younger brother drives most of her actions, but she also grows to love Rowan and the others living at the estate. Her desire to protect those around her makes her an incredible protagonist. Rowan is a damaged, but sensitive young man who is seen as a monster by everyone around him. If you're a fan of romances where the beauty falls in love with the beast, you will definitely like this book!
Overall, Lakesedge is an amazing YA fantasy that I can see becoming the next A Court of Thorns and Roses. I thought that this book was a standalone, but when I got to the cliffhanger at the end, I realized that there has to be a sequel. I am totally adding the sequel to my TBR list, and I will read it as soon as it comes out! I need to know what happens next! The romance between Leta and Rowan reminded me of the romance between Feyre and Tamlin in the first ACOTAR book. If you're intrigued by the excerpts above, or if you're a fan of YA fantasy in general, you definitely won't want to miss this book when it comes out in September!