Lost in translation and tries to be too many things without ever really striking a chord. We Were Restless Things teeters between contemporary mystery and .fantasy; written beautifully but with a slow build that never quite meets thrilling. Not a terrible read but not fantastic either. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

Well, I'm kinda torn? The plot - or what was supposed to be the plot - didn't have the proper execution at all.

This just fell flat for me. What starts almost like a noir mystery in a small town with this bizarre death, quickly fizzles to a small town teen book? It just went too slow up to half the book and it almost felt like the one thing that was supposed to be the main pull of the plot, suddenly just didn't matter at all.

Without spoiling it, I liked the last part of the book, which was cool but it was too little too late as it was barely 20 pages or so from the end.

Ah, I am back again with some mixed thoughts! There were parts of this that definitely worked for me, but then parts that really didn't. The funny part is, I can usually put "characters" or "plot" all in one category or the other, but here... less so. Instead, I am going to talk about each aspect separately, and give you my thoughts that way!

Characters

The three main POVs come from Jonas, Noemi, and Amberlyn. Jonas has just moved to town to live with his dad after some violence at his last school. Jonas, at first, was okay? Like I didn't quite know what to think of him, but I was sympathetic to him having to move far from everything and everyone he knows. But as the story went on, I just wasn't feeling Jonas, frankly. And I can't even properly pinpoint why, just that he got on my nerves and (view spoiler)

Noemi was the opposite, actually. At first, I found her a little meh. I thought she was supposed to be some kind of "manic pixie dreamgirl" type, but she really wasn't- or perhaps she was, but only in Jonas's head, not for real. The more we read about Noemi, the more I started to understand her, got what made her tick.

I'd say Amberlyn was among my favorites. Actually, her dead brother Link was my favorite, and I was pretty salty that I liked the dead guy best of all, but here we are. Amberlyn was obviously sympathetic, considering what she'd been through, and if anyone was entitled to have some rough moments it was her. I also enjoyed where her story went throughout the book.

The Mystery

So, first things first, the woods in question were definitely atmospheric. The whole town seemed so, really, so the author nailed that. But the whole "weird stuff happening in the woods" motif never really connected for me. I was down for figuring out what happened to Link, obviously, but I had a hard time buying some of the things that happened along the way. Keeping this vague for spoiler reasons but if you really want to know, it's your funeral. (view spoiler)

The Pacing

This is probably my biggest complaint about the book, honestly. It was a slow go. I guess I just don't think it needed to be as long as it was? It's character driven, which I am fine with (and even prefer, often), but it just gets a little draggy, especially in the middle when it felt like not much was happening, and the characters didn't feel like they were progressing a ton.

The Plot

I did really like how the group of friends had to learn to cope with Link's death, and all the changes in their lives. In some ways, it was very coming-of-age, as they all had to try to figure out who they really were, who they wanted to be. They also had to deal with some family stuff, and lots of friendship and relationship issues, and that I quite appreciated. And it did, for the most part, provide a satisfying conclusion, so that is certainly a plus!

Bottom Line: A bit of a mixed bag for me, but I definitely loved the atmosphere and other aspects of this one- definitely more good than not!

We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu is a tale about a group of teens trying to figure out life when a friend died a mysterious death. I found this novel to be very interesting. I expected it to be more of a thriller but that wasn't what I got. It seemed to be a more lyrical style book. The writing was definitely pretty but didn't give me those thriller vibes that I thought I was getting with the synopsis. This book was definitely a case of disappointed expectations.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu is a contemporary fantasy debut novel whose paranormal and mysterious synopsis intrigued me quite a lot (not to mention its breath-taking cover!).
The story follows three teens: Noemi, the main character and the most interesting one to read about; Jonas, the new boy in town; and Amberlyn, the sister of the boy who had drowned on dry land.
As I mentioned before, Noemi’s parts were the most enjoyable to read because she’s a very fascinating, refreshing and strong character who also offers a lot of food for thought. But apart from her, and maybe Gaetan (Link’s best friend), the other characters felt a bit off to me and no so well developed or characterised.

No doubt that the best feature of We Were Restless Things is the eerie atmosphere that surrounds the whole story. Nagamatsu’s prose is incredibly and beautifully evocative. The mystery about Link’s drowning on a dry land in the middle of the woods really captivated me. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending and the revelation we had, but I have to admit I didn’t dislike it either.

In the end, We Were Restless Things is a quick, enjoyable, not demanding and refreshing read. So, if that’s what you’re looking for, I guess this will be the right book for you!

3 stars

We Were Restless Things, is a slow-burn magical story. I only wish I had enjoyed it more. Going into it based on the cover and synopsis, I did not expect a fantasy element to play a part. If it would have stayed away from the fantasy genre and stuck to a more mystery/thriller, I would have enjoyed it more.

The book started with a bang and the mystery of Link’s death quickly captured my attention.
The pacing of the plot felt off and didn’t make a lot of sense. Links death that was so important then became so not important. Rather quickly too. The middle was just a mess and I didn’t know what was happening most of the time.

I always appreciate diversity in a cast of characters, but it would have been nice to have one character who wasn’t bland or strange. I found myself not connecting with the characters (not because I couldn’t relate to them but because I found them boring/obnoxious). Some bits made me cringe so hard that I had to put the book down.

The writing itself was okay, it definitely wasn’t my favorite. Like I stated before, if there wasn’t a fantasy element to this then I think it would have made a better story.

This was... fine. The cover was absolutely stunning, as was the premise, but I found myself let down by the execution. The story was aimless, as were the characters, and I found myself uninspired by the story. In the end, I did not complete the story and DNF'd at around 60%. I wanted more of the ensemble cast and less of... whatever was happening with the romance.

We follow a cast of charactes: Noemi, Jonas, Link, Gaetan, Lyle and Amberlyn. Link was found drown in the middle of a forest, with no lake in sight. Although his death was presumed by the authorities to be an accident, Noemi knows that there is an impossible lake that resides in the magical forest. It gave me The Raven Boys vibes, but, to be honest, I'm not really sure of what I read...

First of all, it has aspects similar to Maggie Stiefvaters' books, including the imagery and engaging writing (as well as the main girl character followed by a bunch of boys). The only character I really liked was Gaetan, and there wasn't that much about him except for a few things and the end. Also, I really enjoyed the asexual representation, I'd never read a book with asexual rep before, and the f/f romance, even though those two friends weren't very necessary to the plot

However, I felt weird about step-siblings having a relationship, I feel like I would have felt better if Noemi had ended up with Gaetan or if Jonas wasn't her step-brother. Also, the ending wasn't for me, the plot twists were meh and essentially, I felt like there really wasn't a point to the story.

Overall, and enjoyable read but not one of my favourites.


Side note:
I found a few mistakes in my ARC:
Page 258 - * .. I have no idea (what) I´m doing?
Page 282 - Amber's note * ... thought you should have (it).
Page 391 - envelope is misspelled

I really wanted to love this book. The description was so intriguing and pulled me into wanting to read this book. Unfortunately I just didn't love the book and was unable to finish it. The story was so slow and uninteresting after a few chapters and the step-sibling relationship was just odd.

<i>We Were Restless Things</i> immediately caught my eye with both the UNBELIEVABLY GORGEOUS cover and the spooky, fantastical description. I mean, COME ON WITH THAT COVER! How can you not want to pick it up?

I enjoyed the world of this story and the descent of the plot from relatively normal into the completely absurd and strange.

This book is definitely not plot-driven, with the story burning slowly, almost stealthily creeping along. It is absolutely driven by the atmosphere and our cast of characters. However, I struggled to connect with any of the characters, and was disappointed in the lack of arch or growth for them by the end of the story.

All of that said, I thought this was a nice atmospheric kick-off to the spooky season! Am interested in seeing what Cole Nagamatsu does next!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy for review.

I gotta be honest, I cannot deal with step-sibling relationships. Like maybe it happens in real life, and yeah you don't know each other from a young age, but it gives me the icks. This obviously hampered my enjoyment of the book a lot, because it was a little more focused on that I really thought necessary.
This is a cool creepy story, and honestly the description reminded me of the Raven Boys and I think (minus steifvater's unique writing style) this does have a cool similar vibe.
It's got that kind of magical realism that I like, because who doesn't love magical realism, and it unfolds in a very interesting way. VERY slow start though.
Obviously the real thing that bothered me about this won't bother everyone, so I'd say give it a read.

This was a very interesting read for me. I have been reading fantasy and scifi books all year so when I saw what this book was about it pulled me in to try something new and I'm not disappointed. I really enjoyed reading about each of the characters and everything they're trying to figure out for themselves throughout the story and this whole mystery lake gave me the creeps which I loved because I hardly ever feel creeped out by anything in books. I'm a little sad with how it ended though because I wanted more but in the end it did well.

I really wanted to love this book. For the first 1/3 of the book, I was so intrigued. The mystery of finding out how this boy drowned in the middle of the forest had me enthralled until the relationship took over the story. I didn’t care for any of the characters except for one, and the romance between the step-siblings bothered me a lot. Also, while I liked the side characters and their relationship, I really don’t know what their purpose was in the story.

On a positive note, I loved the asexual representation in this book. I’ve never read from/about a character that I related to so much. The asexual conversations between the two main characters were very well-done, but I wish that would have been the extent of their “relationship.”

I'm so torn about this book.
It was a super slow start... Like a glacial start. I had no idea what it was really about or what the point was in the first 48-49%. Once we crossed that halfway point, it intrigued me and I really needed to know what was going to happen.
My favorite character is not one that I would have thought would be a favorite based on the first half of the book, and I really wanted more page time for them.
I really did like all of the conversations surrounding a character as asexual. While I know not everyone can relate to this character's feelings, I personally loved the representation in the book.

I think my biggest issue with the book is that I have no idea what genre it really fits into. I was looking forward to more spookiness or paranormal elements, but it just didn't quite get there for me.
I'm sure there are going to be people who eat this up.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The cover is gorgeous, which is what initially drew me in. Then I read the summary and I was immediately intrigued. A lake only the main character can find? A mystery filled with magical realism that starts to unravel the most hidden truths? That all definitely sounds very intriguing and promising.

Unfortunately, the story fell quite flat for me. We Were Restless Things started out strong and gripping, where you're immediately pulled into the story. But after the first few chapters, it started to go downhill for me. I no longer felt that powerful sense of 'I need to know what happens next'. The story started to lose my attention, where I no longer cared about what happens to the characters. I saw the plot going nowhere, which was unfortunate. It was an atmospheric read, but the atmosphere and story together did not work for me. I really wanted to like this story because the idea is unique and has the potential to be amazing. But I just found the characters to be boring with no character development and no real path in the story.  

What I did like about this book is the real life issues that are presented to Noemi. She struggles with too many secrets that it starts to get a bit overbearing for her, and her life starts to unravel. Noemi and her two close companions are trying to find their way in this complicated world and also find out what really happened to Link. However, the issues presented were not dealt with entirely in a way that connected well with the plot and storyline.

We Were Restless Things offers a strong premise, but unfortunately is not executed well enough to offer a powerful story. Even though I was not a fan of this story, I know there will be readers who will feel a connection with the characters and storyline.

We Were Restless Things, a lyrical debut from Cole Nagamatsu, relates the aftermath of a small town death. Teenaged Link Miller is found dead in the woods, having seemingly drowned on dry land, miles away from any body of water. He leaves behind him an assortment of other teenagers - a sister, a friend, a friend he'd rather was a girlfriend - who, along with the new boy in town, explore the woods and themselves, as their lives swirl and eddy around the impossible loss, trying to make sense of the unearthly and of one another.

Nagamatsu's novel is a haunting, languorously eerie story that drifts back and forth across the border between reality and fantasy; a mystery that ebbs and flows through dreamlike tide pools of unknowing. We're given a cast of characters who feel as flesh and blood as one could hope for in a book, scared and strong and confused teenagers caught in the liminal space between childhood and adulthood. The whole story explores these liminal spaces - magic and mundanity, the wondrous and the horrible, dream and wakefulness, love and hatred, death and life. The boy who drowns on dry land; the girl who photographs her dreams. The surface of the water, ringed with ripples, the only sign that something has submerged, passed from one element into another. The edge of the forest, and the crossing from home into danger, into a fairy tale. The narrow but unbridgeable, unfathomable, gap between two human hearts.

Being languorous and dreamlike doesn’t mean the story lacks for urgency; after all, dreams can sometimes have the strongest sense of immediacy and desperation despite being about nothing. And We Were Restless Things isn’t even that. Things happen, the plot moves along, revelations are unfolded, even if not always in a linear fashion or at a galloping pace, but with an inexorable weirdness that kept me hooked. It's a nautilus shell of a story, labyrinthine and echoing with ocean sounds that aren't there, and I loved every page.


Would recommend to fans of The Lost Coast, The Things She’s Seen, and Erin Morgenstern.

CW: child abuse, parental neglect, catfishing, self harm, drowning, death, sibling death, mention of suicide

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the advance review copy!

really interesting and great characters. it could've been creepier and the relationships were a little weird for me. But a very beautiful cover and I will check out the author's other books!

Rating 3

The cover for "We Were Restless Things" by Cole Nagamatsu is beautiful. It is a clean design and already makes one wonder what the book is about. I mean seriously having vines as veins coming out of the hand?! Just wow, what a wonderful job. Especially in the choice of flower color neither too bright nor dull. As if the cover wasn't enough the synopsis really grabs ahold of the reader making them want to know more. Who doesn't love a good story involving secrets, different point of views, and a weird forrest? I know I do but unfortunately this book just didn't do it for me. I'm not sure if it was the writing style or the main plot but I just could not get into it. The story seemed to switch directions and from there I just lost interest.

Should you read "We Were Restless Things"?
Honestly, I would give it a try because I'm not sure if it was just me or the story as a whole. But don't be afraid to not finish if it isn't for you.

**Received an advanced copy through NetGalley in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

Set through the viewpoint of multiple characters, this novel takes on the life of a forest and a lake that sometimes appears there. After the death of a teen boy, a group of friends go to the forest for answers.
Opinion
This book was a bit strange for me because it was out of my normal realm of fiction. The style of writing was intriguing and the characters were very interesting. I did not get the ending I wanted but the ending provided was good. Overall, I enjoyed the book.

“Last spring he’d erupted into a classmate like a cold-water geyser. Now, he was depressurized, a near-empty, placid pool, but a shove in the hallway or a match behind his hair could change that. “

The plot of this book drew me in. Link died from drowning, where there is no lake for mikes and miles? Noemi is the only one who knows the truth and it’s becoming too heavy of a burden so she enlists the help of 2 others to get the real truth? Oh yes please.

Someone stating they’re Link is texting noemi to stay away. When I saw those texts, I rubbed my hands together because I knew it was about to get good. Sadly, it never really picked up.

Let’s talk about the imagery in this book. Holy beautiful lines, y’all. It amazes me how someone can use words and form a sentence I can feel, I can see, I can physically taste.

This is definitely a character driven book, which I don’t mind. However, I wanted to know more about the death of Link as that is what drew me in to want to read. I don’t know where the actual plot went. I thought I was going to be taken on a journey or discovery: of theirselves, their friendships, Link’s fate. Instead, I got a lot of casual conversation.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I think the characters were fantastic (Neomi had amazing character development and I praise this) but I just longer for so much more.

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire & NetGalley for the gifted copy. This one is out Oct 8th.