Thank you NetGalley and Brilliance Audio for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review

It was a well thought out plot, and I enjoyed it. However, I never really got close to the characters, and I felt like there was slow portions that took me out of the story. I also feel so tripped out about the different time lines in one universe, but yeah that’s just interesting. The gore was impressive, I felt really grossed out by the monsters. But if anyone died I felt sad someone died but I didn’t feel as sad as I feel I should’ve been, like I knew the character and wanted to cry. So I think it was alright, very unique plot just more could’ve been done.

I was very excited when I was approved to read Lora Senf's The Losing Fountain. It is a blend of dark fantasy and mystery that gives the listener a different view of the crafted world. The descriptions are very vivid and this book is haunting.

The story centres around Ember, Miles, and Sam—three characters from vastly different circumstances who are drawn to a place they’ve never known but are destined to shape. Each protagonist's arc is intricately woven into the high-stakes narrative, and their choices carry both personal and universal weight. The stakes couldn’t be higher: restoring balance or unleashing chaos on two interconnected worlds.

Senf’s prose is gorgeously atmospheric, blending tension, and seamlessly mysterious. The themes of greed, belonging, and the consequences of choice.

Narrator Jeremy Carlisle Parker adds immense depth to the audiobook with their compelling performance. Each character is brought to life with distinct voices and emotional nuance, enhancing the immersive experience. The pacing is spot on, keeping listeners engaged through every twist and revelation.

While the story is gripping and atmospheric, some moments feel slightly overexplained, which slows the pacing in parts. However, this doesn’t detract significantly from the overall enjoyment.

The Losing Fountain is a captivating dark fantasy that fans of eerie and thought-provoking tales will adore. The combination of Senf’s storytelling and Parker’s narration makes this audiobook a rewarding listen.

Really enjoyed this dark fantasy by Lora Senf! It was eerie and heartrending and really complex, both in terms of worldbuilding as well as character motivations. Senf has a way of really dragging you along for the story with their lyrical writing that I felt I was in suspense the whole way through. The characters felt rich and unique and so diverse, with their voices coming out strongly in their POVs. I think readers looking for a spooky but beautiful YA will really enjoy this one!

The Losting Fountain by Laura Senf

The narration was just ok. I kinda felt like it wasn’t quite right… she didn’t change up her voice and that was a real bummer.

All these kids are being called to this fountain and are being led there… There were 6 POV and it was too many to keep track of. I didn’t feel like the story building was particularly good and none of the characters were very interesting. I did finish but I wasn’t wowed by the book and I really wanted to love it. It was kinda lacklustre and I didn’t feel like it was as good as I had built it up in my mind to be. I might try the hardcover though. Sometimes I need to read to get the story

2.5 stars rounded to 3 (I’m sorry!)

I was really excited to be able to get into this story- a darker, “pitch black” fantasy, and I’m grateful to NetGalley for providing me an audio copy so that I could give an honest review. If this was a book I’d bought? I’d have been more disappointed. This book is getting a 2.5/5 ⭐️ from me.
As it stands, this story just fell flat to me. A very unique backdrop- the “when” concept rather than “where” created so many possibilities. But then, we’re introduced to several narrators/perspectives that switch out every chapter.
For me, having listened to the audiobook, this was extremely difficult as there was only one narrator, and she didn’t do any sort of voice modulating to keep track of who I was listening to. Yes, the chapters were announced by number and by name, so I was able to prepare myself of “oh, we’re changing perspectives now”, but it took me until at least halfway to stop being confused each chapter about who a person was and where we were picking up.
^^I should be clear. The narrator was lovely, with good pacing, a lot of emotion in her reading, using voices and different inflections for dialogue within the story, but she could only do so much with the rapidly changing perspectives. Overall, this is a book that if o ever recommend, is recommend against the audiobook as it’s just too much to keep track of.
Thank you again to NetGalley!

The losting fountain is a YA fiction that was pitched as being so dark that it was "pitch black". It didn't quite live up to that for me.

Disclaimer: I read this as a NetGalley audiobook as well as a physical book from the publisher. Thank you union Square for the free physical book in NetGalley for the audiobook. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Unfortunately, this book really didn't do it for me in a lot of ways. There are about 6 POV's, (I am guesstimating here) and you spend only a few pages with each one at a time. The short stint that I spent in sporadic jolts with each character really made it hard for me to learn to love, root for, or care about any of these characters as a whole. There were also characters that I felt had way more interesting storyline than others so when certain POV's came up I really just wanted to skip them and had to fight myself not to.

I feel like the world building was also really lacking. Granted this was a YA Novel, but it was a whole lot of tell and not a lot of show. And it wasn't even done in an overly interesting way. We had one sideline character, which was not a main POV basically explaining the world and telling us all about it versus showing us the world and how it was interesting. Open to the point of telling us back stories on several of the main POV's through stories and not showing us their storyline. It just didn't do it for me.

The writing was well done. I did find it to be easy to read and engaging as far as the actual prose. But overall, this book was just fine for me and just missed too many marks for me to read it any higher.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audioARC.

Somewhere out of time and out of space there is a fountain where lost things gather. Until the day their owner comes to seek them they are carefully put away in a library, looked after by moth winged angels. How can you get to this place, you ask? Well, you'll need to be invited by the Island.

So, this book certainly didn't go in the direction I expected it to at the beginning. Good job!
I found the start a bit slow and was really glad when at least some point of view characters merged into one team. With the whole story behind me now, I understand why all of them couldn't meet sooner.

I loved the focus on various iterations of motherhood and how they can each influence children. Considering this, though, I'm a little disheartened that so many of the mother figures became lost to the main characters. I was hoping for some miracle for at least a few of them, since the early on the story read like a book on the younger end of young adult novels. By the middle it became far too dark for that, but we need stories like this, too.

I think the main strength of The Losting Fountain is the character development. It gradually shows both descent into madness and finding our confidence and inner powers. Depicting different paths with similar starting points (abuse, little freedom) is really important in confirming that what kind of people we become is a choice.

The dynamics among the MC group were also great, with each of them developing unique connections towards the others. Kudos for there being very little hint of romance, that's quite rare in most stories. (Make no mistake, I like shipping characters, but it's nice to switch things up a bit on occasion.)

What I missed is a proper explanation for how the villains became the way they were, but the ending hints at a possible sequel, so I'm going to wait and see.

This is a captivating read for fans of dark, immersive fantasy and complex moral dilemmas, who will be drawn into a richly detailed world of high stakes and philosophical conundrums that will challenge their perspectives and keep them on the edge of their seats.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The story follows a group of teens from different timelines coming together in a different world - the Fountain. A quest of finding themselves, a sense of going to be a place to be their home when home has not been kind to them, yet the Fountain is filled with dangerous things and starting to seep into the world they came from. Who can find themselves and save (or destroy) both worlds and all timelines?

I listened to this book on audio as opposed to reading and think it would be easier to read it.

The writing in this book was delightful - it made a beautiful listen, painted vibrant images in my imagination and could not fault that for one second. I would have liked to have less POVs as it got confusing at times but with a physical book I don’t think that would have been the case? The world building, variety of creatures, locations and monsters described came together excellently with the writing.

The main character ARCs were all well plotted. Each having hardship, each having inner turmoils that have led to them feeling lost and I know that resonated with me on a lot of levels and suspect it will with other readers too. I adored the whole concept of the losting fountain and think there is a lot of my own stuff there for me to find!

The plot is quite intricate, it moved quickly and at times felt like a puzzle you were putting together which is very engaging.

All in all it’s an excellent story, great plot, fab world building and very well written. I found myself having to replay sections of the book as I was struggling to piece things together and jumbling characters but do not feel that’s the author, or the narrator - was much more me not being able to multi task when listening.

The Losting Fountain is a fantastic audiobook! The narration is spectacular and the world building is beautiful. This story will haunt readers long after they finish listening to it. Recommended for all YA collections!

The narration is wonderful. I love how she was able to distinguish the voices between the non humans and the humans. It was perfect. I am going to have nightmares over Sam and his bunny. That was intense.

The premise of this book drew me in immediately with the idea of a special type of losting fountain that is connected to everywhen and lost things end up in its waters, to be found sometimes by people lead there by guides (the winged islanders that protect the fountain) and change their course because of it. There is a dark side though and that is where the "strangers" that go to Mile's time come in. Plus a twisting, which brings in Sam (it is a tragic story, and I hate what had been done to him to make him the way he is!). Luckily we also have Ember (who also has a heartbreaking history but shines brighter for it) also traveling to the fountain. This is definitely a darker fantasy book, but it well written with well rounded characters (though sadly there is death for some) and it kept me interested in listening because I really wanted to find out what was happening with the fountain and the people who dwell on the island. And with the way it ended, I can see and hopefully look forward to another book in this same world!

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook as the narrator did a good job bringing the characters and feelings and world to life!