This one sounded up my alley - magic and a friend group dealing with unexpected supernatural occurrences. And the start-of-autumn vibes had me ready to dive into a longer book that I could get lost in.  

 

I finished this right before a vacation, and then of course read quite a few books while on said vacation, and I am now woefully behind on reviews. So, I'm borrowing a blurb from Goodreads: "Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are. With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance - and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura’s sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster." 

 

Well, this book was all about the vibes. The plot had that slow build to an inevitable (likely unpleasant) conclusion, but no one (not the MCs and definitely not the reader) have any idea why or how it's happening and what to do to stop/change it. The magical aspects were *just* this side of creepy (but totally readable for this scaredy-cat, so not too bad truly), and had a similar slow build (in understanding how it worked and in its role in the story) that paralleled the plot build perfectly. It all unfolded pretty slowly (like I said, this was a longer read), but since I was looking for something to get lost in, that was just right for my reading mood. With this being like, a supernatural mystery story, that pacing allowed for me, as the reader, finding things out alongside our (many) narrators in a way that felt very realistically paced (considering how much out-of-the-ordinary and coming-to-terms-with-stuff the mystery situation was). 

 

The pacing also really gave Link's writing time to shine...which, wow, it was great writing. What a focus on the small details of life, and the little ways it can all be *just* off, and how that can be so disconcerting. There are also some repeated motifs (seagulls, the couch, guitars, moths, splinters, music in general, romance books, etc.) that were well done, in how consistently - obviously, but not too in your face, in a variety of ways - they were woven in. There was also some absolutely spectacular character development. I mean, Laura, Daniel, Mo, and Susannah were phenomenally nuanced. They were the perfect combination of smart and snarky, for teens. And the complexities of their relationships with each other, and with others in their lives, give all the credit for depth that teens are often denied (in fiction and IRL). There was first love, friendship, sister/family relationships, and whole buckets of jealousy, confusion, hope, guilt, ambition, frustration and just enough joy/fun to balance the rest. Our primary extra characters, including Thomas, Malo Mogge, Mr. Anabin, Bogomil, Carousel, and the mysterious Bowen, were also given quite a bit of page time and depth, considering their position as "side" characters. Last note on the writing... I think it’s hard, with a book like this, to write the ending. Link actually addresses that head on in the narrative, bringing it to a close in the best possible way (truly). And yet, it still feels not quite settled. Spending so long with these characters and this story, and with so much more to come, and with such a breadth of development personally and plot-wise, it’s almost just too big for a finale. Again though, I think Link does the best possible. 

 

As promised, by the title and the blurb, there were just so many styles of love given space and recognition in these pages. Link give us platonic and friendship and forced and unrequited and on/off and worship and young and first and without end/forever and romantic and settled and firey and caregiver to a young one not their own/a young one to a caregiver not their primary and queer/discovery and familial/siblings/parents *and* the ugly side that brings out revenge "in memory of it," despite that not being the kind of love the carrier believes it to be. It's just gorgeous, all-encompassing love in this book. 

 

I don't always do this anymore, but I had some very strong readalike vibes during this and wanted to share. If you read and loved The Book of Love, I highly recommend Middlegame, Plain Bad Heroines, and  Hell Bent - for the writing/storytelling style and the story/plot itself. Or alternatively if you have read and loved any of those, you should definitely give The Book of Love a go. 

 

“Bigger things, engaged in their own affairs, their own concerns, never notice when, in consequence, smaller things are made to suffer.” 

 

“…and if I am safe from the world, why should the world be safe from me?” 

 

“…what you are now is not what you may someday become.”