Thanks so much to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me access to this audiobook!
I will start by saying that I very much enjoyed this as a reading experience and a story. There was some very thoroughly thought-out character development and plotting throughout, and it is clear to me that the author must have made a very insane-looking map of her plan before writing the story.
I can't give many plot details about how the story unfolds because a lot of what happens is part of how all the twists land in the last quarter of the book.
I thought that the way the story is layered was quite complex, and required several points during the audiobook where I had to stop and go "huh??" and then listen to something again, to be sure I was grasping the meaning. This actually is why I rated this a 4 star instead of a 5 because I think I would have been more deeply impacted by some of what the author was trying to accomplish if I had been able to see the story on the page, as opposed to hearing it without seeing it. But the narrators of this audiobook did an excellent job! Kudos to them for creating the atmosphere of the novel and keeping it alive throughout.
This was a really fun read, and I would recommend it to any thriller or horror readers because the twists were great and actually shocking at times!

Unfortunately this didn't land for me. It's my least favorite out of Catriona Ward's novels, maybe a 2.5. Too ambitious, drawn out, took itself a little too seriously. Parts of this had me wondering if it was trying to be over the top? I don’t think it was. I did have fun reading this book until the big twists started. I can take a few twists but the end was just full of them. I know that this is what happens in a catriona ward book, but it was just a lot for really no reason. The gender swap reveal was especially questionable. I didn't understand the reasoning behind that choice. I'll still be checking out Ward's future novels as I enjoyed her other books, this just really missed the mark for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Initially, I found myself captivated by Catriona Ward's LOOKING GLASS SOUND, but my interest waned quite swiftly. The book commences as a memoir written by our main character, Wilder, detailing his childhood on the Maine coast. During this time, he forms relationships with two other teenagers and undergoes a series of disturbing events. However, the narrative then deviates to his college years, where he encounters a new character, Sky, before shifting once more, leading to a sense of bewilderment. The storyline is intricate and full of unforeseen turns that kept me on edge, but I found it challenging to stay fully engaged. This book would lend itself better to the spooky Autumnal season, rather than the beach read that I tried to force it to be.

True rating: 2.5

Was not able to finish the audio due to it being archived, but thought it was good up to the point I was stopped at. Look forward to finishing it on print

To be honest, I’m not really sure what happened in this book! It felt like a fever dream. The story began as a coastal mystery with some sort serial killer on the loose. Then it turned into writer betrayal and discoveries of secrets. In the end, it switched to some off kilter magical death oath. Like I said, I’m not even sure what happened. This chaos works for this author most of the time. But I failed to even connect with the characters let alone the different timelines and POVs. I think it’ll be a future re-read for me to maybe figure out what is really going on.

Props to the narrators for encompassing so many different personalities. Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and author Catriona Ward for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

Thanks to MacMillan Audio and Net Galley for the advanced listener's copy.
Unfortunately, this didn't work too well for me. I was invested at the beginning when it was the trio of teenagers spending a summer at the beach. I was invested when it seemed like there was a serial killer or something terrible afoot. But, as the book went on, and it got more weird and more meta, I just lost interest and couldn't keep all the threads together to really stay invested in the characters or the strangeness going on around them. To me, it felt like it took too long to reveal the plot surprises and the voice was all over the place and I just couldn't get a good handle on who or what was important. And, I wasn't scared at any point which is what I was looking for in reading this. Although this one didn't quite work for me, I will continue to seek out Ward's books in the future.

LOOKING GLASS SOUND review

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

💀I read The Last House on Needless Street last fall and looooooved it. I was so excited to read the latest book by this author, but unfortunately I didn’t love this one quite as much.

💀Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Wilder is spending the summer in a coastal town in Maine and starts writing a novel. The book details his summer and the killer who preyed upon their town.

💀As always, with Catriona Ward’s books it’s best to go into this one with limited info. The twists were so unexpected! Unfortunately, this one was pretty confusing and hard to follow imo. I like being kept on my toes but I had to Google an explanation for the ending just to understand what happened. 🫠 I still plan to read more books by this author but this one was a miss for me unfortunately.

Every time I pick up Catriona Ward novel, I’m reminded of being in a carnival funhouse. Nothing is what it appears to be, there will be twists and turns, and I will be thoroughly entertained. Looking Glass Sound is the latest in Catriona Ward's lineup of what's-going-on-here thrillers. For readers who need all the details to be laid out in a logical, step-wise format, Looking Glass Sound probably isn't for you, but, for those of us who love a little magic, a little fantasy, and are willing to hold on while the story is revealed, it's absolutely perfect.

Catriona Ward is an author I feel that is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible before reading. Looking Glass Sound was the second book I have read from this author and I look forward to experiencing more works in the future. Thank you to Netgalley and Tor for advanced copies of the physical and audiobook for review.

Ward’s writing is typically so beautifully complex but unfortuantrly, this one was maybe a little too intricate for my liking and I was ultimately just confused throughout the entire read.

I enjoy Ward’s truly diabolical stories and I’ve learned with her last work to stick it through as the payoffs are always exceptionally worth it but sadly this one was just not for me.

Please don’t let this deter you as it’s certainly unlike nothing you’ve ever read before and I’ve been seeing some say this is their favourite work of hers yet!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.75
Format: Audiobook

Twice I have enjoyed the wild ride that is Catriona Ward's books. She does an excellent job of writing a book that is not exactly what it seems with foreshadowing and easter eggs hidden along the way that aren't exposed until the grand reveal towards the end of the book. I will say for this book specifically, I did not love it as much as "The Last House on Needless Street" but it still was an enjoyable story. The first quarter of this book was fascinating but rather slow. It took me a while to get into the book and I wasn't entirely connected to the characters. The ending was wild and rather confusing but in a good way. The audiobook narrator did an incredible job, but I think this is a book that needs to be read with a physical copy to really absorb all the overlapping timelines and POVs.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc of this book!
This book was a thrill ride that its very confusing at the beginning but once it gets going its a rollercoaster of events after another.
It took me a while to get interested in this book. The beginning was slow and it felt like too much build up. I think the story gets better once you are past the 30% mark. After that I couldn't stop listening to it. It was very addictive and creepy. If you enjoyed The writing retreat, and other books like that one this book will be an definite good time.

There was so much about this book that I enjoyed, but by the last third, my brain felt overwhelmed with all of the additional layers of narrative and perspective. I understand what happened linearly, but I felt a bit unmoored nonetheless - and perhaps this was intentional. (The only layer I was partly expecting that did not actually happen was a reveal as Harper as author, strictly due to several British-isms that slipped into Wilder's memoir.) There is certainly a lot to reflect on. Who owns a story, who gets to tell a story, what is the legacy of the storyteller and their subjects, what and who gets remembered? In the end, I found this twisty and complex, rife with writerly coincidences (Of course fake future Wilder is paranoid he's a character in a book, and he didn't even know about his half-brother!), but with a structure that is a great achievement.

I loved this idea of this, but the execution became a bit jumbled for me. There were a few separate plot lines in the book that tried to come together but I felt nothing meshed very well, which is why I can't give it a high rating. I had a good time with this as a fast, casual listen, but writing the review a few weeks later there is nothing that really stands out to me or with stick with me over time.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Copy of the audiobook. 3/5 stars.

Looking Glass Sound commands your full attention. This intensely unsettling literary horror novel combines coming of age, serial killer, a little bit of witchcraft, and a lot of complex emotional trauma into the subgenres of both metaphysical and psychological horror. Ward will force you to question the reliability of every character, the blurred lines between truth and fiction, and whether or not memories are real or imagined.

I listened to the audiobook at different points in the book and enjoyed the narration by both narrators. However, the mind-bending complexity of this dark tale reads better in print. I often reread scenes or flags sections I *thought* would be essential to reread later in the story. I fully support the audiobook but caution that you should not leave your physical or electronic copy far behind for this clever tale.

This was disappointing. After enjoying her other book 'House on Needless Street' I was really looking forward to this one, but unfortunately it just missed the mark for me. I wasn't particularly invested in any of the characters and found them all to be one dimensional and clunky, they each irritated me for different reasons and I found the dialogue to be pretty bad. Their exchanges were all weird, I'm not sure who Catriona Ward thinks actually talks like them but it was too slow and disjointed. I'm bummed bc I very much wanted to like this one. 3 stars is being very generous.

This was a decent listen on audiobook. It wasn’t my usual taste but I do think that for fans of the author, they will enjoy reading this.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC!!
This book was so much fun to listen to, I flew through it in one day!

Atmospheric, moody, and reflective. This mystery keeps you thinking about the interaction of the past and the present and how secrets come back to haunt you.

Review of Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

Now this is the Catriona Ward I have come to know and love. I DNF’ed her last book Little Eve and so I was a little apprehensive going into this one. But the last house on needless Street is one of my favorite books ever so I will always give her another chance. Thankfully, this time I was not let down. I absolutely loved this book. I recommend a combination of reading a physical copy and the audiobook if you can do both. Her books definitely are intricate with lots of characters and timelines so it’s best if you can read along, but the audio also cannot be beat. I was engrossed in this one immediately and loved it all the way to the end. The only words that ever come to mind with her are unique and clever. Definitely give this one a try.

Synopsis:

It is the story about the sun-drenched summer days of his youth in Whistler Bay, and the blood-stained path of the killer that stalked his small vacation town. About the terrible secret he and his companions, Nat and Harper, discovered entombed in the coves off the bay. And how the pact they swore that day echoed down the decades, forever shaping their lives.

But the more Wilder writes, the less he trusts himself and his memory. He starts to see things that can’t be real – notes hidden in the cabin, from an old friend now dead; a woman with dark hair drowning in the icy waters below, calling for help; entire chapters he doesn’t recall typing, appearing overnight. Who, or what, is haunting Wilder?

No longer able to trust his own eyes, Wilder begins to fear that this will not only be his last book, but the last thing he ever does.