lakesedge promised a gothic fantasy, with monsters and magic – but it was lukewarm at best. the plot was repetitive, falling into the same, annoying romance tropes. i was in a constant state of frustration while reading the book – which, by the way, almost put me in a slump as i had no motivation to continue.
the feeble attempt at creating a monstrous love interest was a failure. we’re constantly told both by leta – the main character and by the cast of side characters that the love interest is a monster, and yet we’re shown no proof to back up that claim. rowan doesn’t act like a monster or as a villain at all and yet everyone will continue to view him like one. which got on my nerves after the first 5 times we’re reminded that he’s a monster.
the magic part was so underwhelming – the novel keeps going back and forth between attempting at fixing the thing with magic and failing. and that goes on for a good part of the story, without it really explaining the magic system to us or any motivation for why they’re doing the same thing over and over again and expecting it to work.
i also didn’t really grasp why arien’s shadows did anything for the corruption.
another choice i didn’t quite understand is how the big reveal is approached. this huge, important aspect is just casually thrown in as if leta just remembered it – but i don’t think this is something you could ever forget. like she conveniently forgot this detail until it was useful and then magically remembered it. because that makes an awfully lot of sense.
the story could’ve done with the relationship between leta and rowan – it felt forced. they barely knew each other and yet they’re ready to die so the other person lives after a month or so of living in the same house. they had a couple interactions, but i don’t feel like those backed up their relationship that much- since they hated each other for the first week of them living together. i honestly think leta had more chemistry with lord under than with rowan. rowan’s character is very flat, in my opinion. he’s nothing but the misunderstood love interest and i hoped the book would commit to him being morally gray, but nope – he turns soft very fast because love magically heals all that trauma.
leta, the main character, is probably a character i’ll never forget because she annoyed the living hell out of me. we’re told that she’s brave and strong and yet she never rises up to that description. she’s so immature and she constantly acts on impulse, without actually thinking about what she’s about to do or about consequences. arien, her 13yo brother, had a better personality than she did – he was more mature, more contained in his actions. leta constantly tries to sacrifice herself for the sake of saving everyone else, but this saviour complex of hers got really tiring, really fast. she’s exhausting to read about.
the side characters had almost no point in this novel, they were severely underused. they show up a couple of times and i honestly forgot who’s who at some point because they are in so little scenes – both clover, the alchemist, and florence – the maid (i think??) added nothing to the overall story. arien had a bigger presence, but i think he’s there as a reason for leta to sacrifice herself. other than his shadows, we know nothing about him. the book also features some LGBTQ rep but it’s just glossed over so truly not memorable at all – there’s a line about rowan kissing a boy when he was little and a scene with clover’s girlfriend. and that’s it.
the book also doesn’t focus on worldbuilding at all – it’s all vague and underdeveloped. which is a shame, because the setting would’ve been really cool if the author paid more attention to crafting it. it’s been pitched as a gothic novel, but it barely dips its toes in the genre. the gothic aspect is surface-level. i also wish we would get more information about lord under and the corruption – but both show up when it’s convenient.
also, i’m really mad at how leta went on and on about how badly of an idea trusting lord under was and then she does exactly that and gets mad when it doesn’t end well. miss girl, what??? what did you expect?? why are you surprised the literal incarnation of death tricked you?
alas, lakesedge tried to do too many things at the same time. it had a lot of potential, but it ended up being such a disappointing read.
the feeble attempt at creating a monstrous love interest was a failure. we’re constantly told both by leta – the main character and by the cast of side characters that the love interest is a monster, and yet we’re shown no proof to back up that claim. rowan doesn’t act like a monster or as a villain at all and yet everyone will continue to view him like one. which got on my nerves after the first 5 times we’re reminded that he’s a monster.
the magic part was so underwhelming – the novel keeps going back and forth between attempting at fixing the thing with magic and failing. and that goes on for a good part of the story, without it really explaining the magic system to us or any motivation for why they’re doing the same thing over and over again and expecting it to work.
i also didn’t really grasp why arien’s shadows did anything for the corruption.
another choice i didn’t quite understand is how the big reveal is approached. this huge, important aspect is just casually thrown in as if leta just remembered it – but i don’t think this is something you could ever forget. like she conveniently forgot this detail until it was useful and then magically remembered it. because that makes an awfully lot of sense.
the story could’ve done with the relationship between leta and rowan – it felt forced. they barely knew each other and yet they’re ready to die so the other person lives after a month or so of living in the same house. they had a couple interactions, but i don’t feel like those backed up their relationship that much- since they hated each other for the first week of them living together. i honestly think leta had more chemistry with lord under than with rowan. rowan’s character is very flat, in my opinion. he’s nothing but the misunderstood love interest and i hoped the book would commit to him being morally gray, but nope – he turns soft very fast because love magically heals all that trauma.
leta, the main character, is probably a character i’ll never forget because she annoyed the living hell out of me. we’re told that she’s brave and strong and yet she never rises up to that description. she’s so immature and she constantly acts on impulse, without actually thinking about what she’s about to do or about consequences. arien, her 13yo brother, had a better personality than she did – he was more mature, more contained in his actions. leta constantly tries to sacrifice herself for the sake of saving everyone else, but this saviour complex of hers got really tiring, really fast. she’s exhausting to read about.
the side characters had almost no point in this novel, they were severely underused. they show up a couple of times and i honestly forgot who’s who at some point because they are in so little scenes – both clover, the alchemist, and florence – the maid (i think??) added nothing to the overall story. arien had a bigger presence, but i think he’s there as a reason for leta to sacrifice herself. other than his shadows, we know nothing about him. the book also features some LGBTQ rep but it’s just glossed over so truly not memorable at all – there’s a line about rowan kissing a boy when he was little and a scene with clover’s girlfriend. and that’s it.
the book also doesn’t focus on worldbuilding at all – it’s all vague and underdeveloped. which is a shame, because the setting would’ve been really cool if the author paid more attention to crafting it. it’s been pitched as a gothic novel, but it barely dips its toes in the genre. the gothic aspect is surface-level. i also wish we would get more information about lord under and the corruption – but both show up when it’s convenient.
also, i’m really mad at how leta went on and on about how badly of an idea trusting lord under was and then she does exactly that and gets mad when it doesn’t end well. miss girl, what??? what did you expect?? why are you surprised the literal incarnation of death tricked you?
alas, lakesedge tried to do too many things at the same time. it had a lot of potential, but it ended up being such a disappointing read.