I finished Harrow Lake two days before this post was due to go up (because what is organisation?). I thought, like most books I’ve read, I’d be able to write up my review with little problem. Yeah, some reviews require more than others, but most of the time, I figure it out. This wasn’t the case for Harrow Lake. For a while, I thought I was going to have to bail on the tour, because this novel was a journey I didn’t expect, and in the space of the two hours it took me to read it, I couldn’t quite comprehend it all. Luckily, a full 24 hours before the post was due to go up, I got it figured out, so please enjoy my review of Harrow Lake!

The World
I include this section in reviews because nine times out of ten, I can chat about some amazing fantastical or futuristic world. Harrow Lake isn’t that. Hawwow Lake is small town America, where everyone knows everyone. It’s not just that though, it’s a town with a dark, superstitious history and a lot of issues hiding amongst the townsfolk. Again, not my usual scene, but I actually enjoyed it.

Harrow Lake – Setting or Character?
The location is such an integral part of the story that Harrow Lake almost felt like a character itself. Certain areas are key to the plot and characters, so much so that it almost becomes it’s own entity. As an example, I distinctly remember The Bone Tree, an area in Harrow Lake, and more than one of the scenes that occur there due to the brilliant and chilling description. As a whole, the world of Harrow Lake is fantastic.

The Characters
Lola
Lola is out main character throughout; a teenager who is sent away to live with her grandmother in Harrow Lake. As a character, I wasn’t a fan of her for the first half of the book. She was… nothing, really. She had little personality to call her own, she was totally dominated by those around her, with only one outlet that demonstrated she was a living, breathing person. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing. At first, I thought it was, I thought she was going to be like this throughout, but as the story progresses, so does Lola as a character. You get to follow her character arc as she rediscovers her past, and a lot of herself at the same time.

Miscellaneous Characters
There were other characters, of course. And usually, I’d dedicate a seperate section to some of the other characters. There were Nola, Moira, Carter and Cora. Those are the few that come to mind. Oh, and Mister Jitters, of course. One of the antagonists in Harrow Lake. However, the story is so centred on Lola and focused on her that I feel like the other characters were abandoned, most a side-thought than truly fleshed out.

The Plot
I went into this with certain thoughts in my head on what it was about. I was wrong. Without spoiling the book, it’s hard to say more. The main problem I had is that everything wasn’t tied up at the end, which links back to what I said about Lola being so central that everything else is forgotten. Come the end, more than one character didn’t have a resolution. They had a query left unresolved. There are a few situations like this. In my opinion, things should be tied up in a neat little bow, unless it’s a book in a series, where there’s another book to answer the questions.

The only character with a satisfactory resolution is Lola Nox, and frankly, I’m a little bit sick of her come the end. I want to hear about the others and yet, I don’t.

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Created Aug 06, 2021 at 4:19pm • Submit your own review...