Settling on 4.0 stars. I picked this out on a whim, and I’m glad I did, because it ended up being one of my strangest and most surprising reads this year! I wasn’t expecting to be as engrossed in it as I was. Overall, it’s a solid horror book, if a bit slow. Despite the slow buildup, the beginning wasn’t very boring. I liked the cast of characters in the town, and the anecdotes Ada would provide about them in her journal entries. There were also immersive entries on different festivals and the like, which was a neat way to add more depth to Lowry Bridge! The journal/diary format is convincing, minus the frequent dialogue. But it works in placing you directly in Ada’s thoughts, which is great for her arc of gradual corruption.

The ending is strange, for both better and worse. I was glad to see some of the absolutely wild scenes and buildup in the book finally pay off, but at times, it felt like the narrative flip-flopped from viewing Ada’s change as empowerment, or just madness. (My opinion: although I understand Ada’s joy in a sort of newfound freedom, and that *she* views her shift as empowerment, *I* still can’t 100% view it as empowering due to, y’know, killing someone and being unaffected by it.) 

And justice for my girl Agatha!! I felt for her by the end.

Only other criticisms I have are that I wished the other characters were as affected by the story as Ada was? Although they all had interesting introductions, minus two characters, they kind of dissolve into a mass disgusted by Ada. (Agatha’s partially an exception.)