What do you think?
Rate this book
Our Last Echoes
A supernatural thriller about one girl's hunt for the truth about her mother's disappearance.
Sophia's first memory is of drowning. She remembers the darkness of the water and the briny taste as it fills her throat. She remembers the cold shock of going under. She remembers her mother pulling her to safety before disappearing forever. But Sophia has never been in the ocean. And her mother died years ago in a hospital. Or so she has been told her whole life.
A series of clues have led Sophia to the island of Bitter Rock, Alaska, where she talked her way into a summer internship at the Landon Avian Research Center, the same center her mother worked at right before she died. There, she meets the disarmingly clever Liam, whose own mother runs the LARC, as well as Abby, who's following a mystery of her own: a series of unexplained disappearances. People have been vanishing from Bitter Rock for decades, leaving only their ghostly echoes behind. When it looks like their two mysteries might be one and the same, Sophia vows to dig up the truth, no matter how many lies she has to tell along the way. Even if it leads her to a truth she may not want to face.
Sophia's first memory is of drowning. She remembers the darkness of the water and the briny taste as it fills her throat. She remembers the cold shock of going under. She remembers her mother pulling her to safety before disappearing forever. But Sophia has never been in the ocean. And her mother died years ago in a hospital. Or so she has been told her whole life.
A series of clues have led Sophia to the island of Bitter Rock, Alaska, where she talked her way into a summer internship at the Landon Avian Research Center, the same center her mother worked at right before she died. There, she meets the disarmingly clever Liam, whose own mother runs the LARC, as well as Abby, who's following a mystery of her own: a series of unexplained disappearances. People have been vanishing from Bitter Rock for decades, leaving only their ghostly echoes behind. When it looks like their two mysteries might be one and the same, Sophia vows to dig up the truth, no matter how many lies she has to tell along the way. Even if it leads her to a truth she may not want to face.
394 pages, Hardcover
First published March 16, 2021
245 people are currently reading
14204 people want to read
About the author
Kate Alice Marshall
20 books5,880 followersKate Alice Marshall is the author of thrillers and horror for all ages. Her YA and Middle grade books include I AM STILL ALIVE, RULES FOR VANISHING, and THIRTEENS. Her adult thrillers include WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS and NO ONE CAN KNOW.
She lives outside of Seattle with her husband, two dogs named Vonnegut and Octavia, and two kids. They all conspire to keep her on her toes.
She lives outside of Seattle with her husband, two dogs named Vonnegut and Octavia, and two kids. They all conspire to keep her on her toes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 635 reviews
March 26, 2021
kate alice marshall is one of my favourite authors, ever, for good reason.
ever since i read—no, devoured—rules for vanishing last october, i've been obsessed with her prose.
it's eldritch yet poignant yet witty. our last echoes definitely reminded me of rules for vanishing in that sense. these are characters you can't help but root for. every scene is permeated by the atmospheric and deeply unsettling sense of "something is very, very wrong." on top of this, marshall writes authentic YA; i felt like i was reading a story about 21st century teenagers. i laughed at their jokes, related to their crushes and growing pains.
yet her prose is rife with vivid descriptions and compelling metaphors—non-clichés i never see this side of YA. it flows seamlessly from horror to horror, cliffhanger to cliffhanger. (seriously—the woman is a MASTER of ensuring that you're on the edge of your seat.)
best of all, she writes about friendship and family and always includes POC and queer side characters, and i love her so much for it, the way she interweaves diversity into her speculative fiction without ever being didactic.
sophia novak doesn't know who she is.
she thought she was the foster kid who, unwanted, troubled, would bounce from home to home. she thought she knew what her problems were—erratic, uncontrollable emotions, rooted in her psychology. she thought her mother died in a hospital in montana years ago.
turns out, none of these things are exactly true. sophia is led to bitter rock, alaska, a desolate island whose inhabitants mysteriously disappear within years of their settlement. she's here to pose as a research intern at the landon avian research center, working with the no-nonsense and efficient dr. kapoor; lip-ringed and wisecracking liam kapoor; and abby ryder, the girl who set sophia on this mysterious journey in the first place.
and as soon as sophia steps foot on bitter rock, inexplicable things happen. it becomes terrifyingly clear that malevolent things inhabit the island. in the midst of this, sophia must finally face what happened all those years ago—what happened to her mother, and to her.
that being said and to my great disappointment, our last echoes didn't suck me in quite like rules for vanishing did. my rating is more 3.5 stars rounded up than 4 solid stars.
i still adored marshall's prose, the way her world-building and monsters worm their way into my head and under my skin (i woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, images of the imprinted on the backs of my eyelids). but one complaint i had about rules for vanishing was how scattered the plot felt sometimes, with SO many horrors and creatures to contend with; our last echoes felt even more eclectic, to the point of confusion sometimes.
there's a lot going on and it was hard for me to keep track of every new revelation. the details didn’t cohere into any sort of easily comprehensible storyline for me, so i had trouble recalling specific plot points and events even as they unfolded before me. moreover, the world-building in this novel veered heavily toward the abstract and almost existential, a type of horror that doesn't engage me as much as the concrete beasts and monsters featured in rules for vanishing.
not entirely relevant but: i'm also curious as to why rules for vanishing and our last echoes are branded as standalone novels when their plots dovetail so well; theenigmatic very confusing ending of RFV set the stage for OLE, and now the conclusion of OLE clearly paves the way for the next installment. reading just one book without the other(s) would feel incomplete.
BOTTOM LINE: kate alice marshall is an insta-buy author for me. never have i read contemporary YA the way she tells it: with horrific happenings and moving moments of friendship, family, sacrifice, and love. it's the unreal and real all wrapped up together and makes for utterly compelling storytelling.
not to mention—i am SO. HYPED. for the next book!!!!!
◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️
buddy read this book on the day it dropped with sheena!! this is the first time i've been able to read a highly anticipated release with a friend who adores the author as much as me, and i loved it. 🥺❤️
ever since i read—no, devoured—rules for vanishing last october, i've been obsessed with her prose.
it's eldritch yet poignant yet witty. our last echoes definitely reminded me of rules for vanishing in that sense. these are characters you can't help but root for. every scene is permeated by the atmospheric and deeply unsettling sense of "something is very, very wrong." on top of this, marshall writes authentic YA; i felt like i was reading a story about 21st century teenagers. i laughed at their jokes, related to their crushes and growing pains.
yet her prose is rife with vivid descriptions and compelling metaphors—non-clichés i never see this side of YA. it flows seamlessly from horror to horror, cliffhanger to cliffhanger. (seriously—the woman is a MASTER of ensuring that you're on the edge of your seat.)
best of all, she writes about friendship and family and always includes POC and queer side characters, and i love her so much for it, the way she interweaves diversity into her speculative fiction without ever being didactic.
◻️◻️◻️◻️quick lil synopsis◻️◻️◻️◻️
sophia novak doesn't know who she is.
she thought she was the foster kid who, unwanted, troubled, would bounce from home to home. she thought she knew what her problems were—erratic, uncontrollable emotions, rooted in her psychology. she thought her mother died in a hospital in montana years ago.
turns out, none of these things are exactly true. sophia is led to bitter rock, alaska, a desolate island whose inhabitants mysteriously disappear within years of their settlement. she's here to pose as a research intern at the landon avian research center, working with the no-nonsense and efficient dr. kapoor; lip-ringed and wisecracking liam kapoor; and abby ryder, the girl who set sophia on this mysterious journey in the first place.
and as soon as sophia steps foot on bitter rock, inexplicable things happen. it becomes terrifyingly clear that malevolent things inhabit the island. in the midst of this, sophia must finally face what happened all those years ago—what happened to her mother, and to her.
◻️◻️back to my thoughts on this book!◻️◻️
that being said and to my great disappointment, our last echoes didn't suck me in quite like rules for vanishing did. my rating is more 3.5 stars rounded up than 4 solid stars.
i still adored marshall's prose, the way her world-building and monsters worm their way into my head and under my skin (i woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, images of the imprinted on the backs of my eyelids). but one complaint i had about rules for vanishing was how scattered the plot felt sometimes, with SO many horrors and creatures to contend with; our last echoes felt even more eclectic, to the point of confusion sometimes.
there's a lot going on and it was hard for me to keep track of every new revelation. the details didn’t cohere into any sort of easily comprehensible storyline for me, so i had trouble recalling specific plot points and events even as they unfolded before me. moreover, the world-building in this novel veered heavily toward the abstract and almost existential, a type of horror that doesn't engage me as much as the concrete beasts and monsters featured in rules for vanishing.
not entirely relevant but: i'm also curious as to why rules for vanishing and our last echoes are branded as standalone novels when their plots dovetail so well; the
BOTTOM LINE: kate alice marshall is an insta-buy author for me. never have i read contemporary YA the way she tells it: with horrific happenings and moving moments of friendship, family, sacrifice, and love. it's the unreal and real all wrapped up together and makes for utterly compelling storytelling.
not to mention—i am SO. HYPED. for the next book!!!!!
◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️◻️
buddy read this book on the day it dropped with sheena!! this is the first time i've been able to read a highly anticipated release with a friend who adores the author as much as me, and i loved it. 🥺❤️
November 18, 2021
Absolutely loved this book. Scary and mysterious. It does have a correlation with Invasion of The Body Snatchers in the beginning , thus a 4 rather than a 5. I highly recommended for scary and thriller readers.
April 13, 2021
Sophia’s earliest memory is of drowning and losing her mother, and so becoming an orphan at a young age. All her life she has been told her mom died in Montana, leaving Sophia to bounce around within the foster care system until she turns eighteen.
Sophia believes there is more to her mother’s disappearance and thinks that a remote Alaskan island called Bitter Rock has something to do with it. She’s warned not to travel to the secluded island because it’s known to be dangerous—and visitors may never return once they go. For decades, past inhabitants have mysteriously disappeared, never to be heard from again.
“All thirty-one residents vanished without a trace. No further communication was received. No bodies were ever recovered. They were not the first. They would not be the last.”
Yet in spite of these unnatural happenings—and perhaps because of them—Sophia decides to go to Bitter Rock: she needs to find out the truth about her mother. She poses as an intern for a research company in order to secure herself access to the island. Upon arrival, strange things begin to happen, and she is immediately warned never to stray into the mist. As things begin to spiral out of control, Sophia finds herself uncovering the truth of what happened to her and her mother the day she drowned.
“This place gets inside of you… It gets inside of you and you’ll never scrape it all out.”
Kate Alice Marshall has a way with words. She conjures up the creepiest imagery and scene setting, and her writing is atmospheric enough to grip readers with every single word. Our Last Echoes is a story told through a mixture of video tapings, dialogue, interviews, and prose—a unique multi-media type of format. Her storytelling is also a fresh take on modern horror. Marshall has a great way of writing young adults and intertwining people of color and queer characters within the story. For example, in this novel there are prominent side characters who are lesbian, are East Asian, and are of Indian descent.
Our Last Echoes could be considered a spin-off of Marshall’s 2019 novel Rules For Vanishing, as there are a few Easter egg-type references and some of the same characters. I’d recommend reading Rules For Vanishing first to appreciate this world-building in its full glory.
The bottom line: Kate Alice Marshall is a must-read author for anyone who loves horror and the supernatural, particularly in the context of contemporary YA fiction.
Originally posted at mysteryandsuspense.com: https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/ou...
--------------------------
ONE MORE WEEEEEK!!!!
Pre-order secured✔️
Sophia believes there is more to her mother’s disappearance and thinks that a remote Alaskan island called Bitter Rock has something to do with it. She’s warned not to travel to the secluded island because it’s known to be dangerous—and visitors may never return once they go. For decades, past inhabitants have mysteriously disappeared, never to be heard from again.
“All thirty-one residents vanished without a trace. No further communication was received. No bodies were ever recovered. They were not the first. They would not be the last.”
Yet in spite of these unnatural happenings—and perhaps because of them—Sophia decides to go to Bitter Rock: she needs to find out the truth about her mother. She poses as an intern for a research company in order to secure herself access to the island. Upon arrival, strange things begin to happen, and she is immediately warned never to stray into the mist. As things begin to spiral out of control, Sophia finds herself uncovering the truth of what happened to her and her mother the day she drowned.
“This place gets inside of you… It gets inside of you and you’ll never scrape it all out.”
Kate Alice Marshall has a way with words. She conjures up the creepiest imagery and scene setting, and her writing is atmospheric enough to grip readers with every single word. Our Last Echoes is a story told through a mixture of video tapings, dialogue, interviews, and prose—a unique multi-media type of format. Her storytelling is also a fresh take on modern horror. Marshall has a great way of writing young adults and intertwining people of color and queer characters within the story. For example, in this novel there are prominent side characters who are lesbian, are East Asian, and are of Indian descent.
Our Last Echoes could be considered a spin-off of Marshall’s 2019 novel Rules For Vanishing, as there are a few Easter egg-type references and some of the same characters. I’d recommend reading Rules For Vanishing first to appreciate this world-building in its full glory.
The bottom line: Kate Alice Marshall is a must-read author for anyone who loves horror and the supernatural, particularly in the context of contemporary YA fiction.
Originally posted at mysteryandsuspense.com: https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/ou...
--------------------------
ONE MORE WEEEEEK!!!!
Pre-order secured✔️
Want to read
September 12, 2021I love Kate Alice Marshall. LOVE.
It sounds like Our Last Echoes will have a strong mixed-media component, similar to Rules for Vanishing, and I am so here for it!!!
My copy has just arrived!!!!
It sounds like Our Last Echoes will have a strong mixed-media component, similar to Rules for Vanishing, and I am so here for it!!!
My copy has just arrived!!!!
March 16, 2021
If you love ghost stories or spooky local legend type tales, then you need to pick this book up. Our Last Echoes is the story of Sophia Novak. She’s a girl who has been told that her past happened one way, and has recently been informed that was all a lie. So in order to understand her past and her unusual present, she returns to the source, Bitter Rock island. Enter a handful of characters Sophia doesn’t know whether or not to trust, and a ton of unusual happenings and disappearances and you have OLE. I don’t want to go into too much detail, because discovering more and more as it unfolded is half the wonder of this story. This story is incredibly well written, and kept me curious from start to finish. If you enjoy spooky stories blended with a sort of YA coming of age, then you must pick this one up!
AVAILABLE NOW!
*ARC
AVAILABLE NOW!
*ARC
February 10, 2021
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Our Last Echoes is pitched as Kara Thomas meets Twin Peaks, and I think that's pretty apt. It also had some X-Files vibes in my opinion. It's a "supernatural thriller" that I would say verges more into horror territory, but with lots of weirdness and alternate dimensions a la Twin Peaks. It's eerie, very atmospheric and gets quite dark at times, especially for a YA novel. I really enjoyed it and my primary complaint is that the main character is a bit bland, more a conduit for this creepy story than a strong character in her own right. That said, I had a great time with this.
Sophia remembers drowning, but supposedly she was orphaned when her mom died in the middle of Montana. She has now aged out of the foster care system and based on a weird tip, has gotten herself an internship at an avian research facility on a strange and remote island in Alaska. An island where she believes her mom may have actually disappeared. In fact, many people have mysteriously disappeared from Bitter Rock over the years.
Sophia is told to never go out at night, and never go out in the mist. Because strange things lurk there. I won't say more because of spoilers, but this book goes dark and bizarre places that are definitely not pure contemporary fiction. I was creeped out at times, but really into the story. Do be aware there are content warnings that include violence, gore, death, attempted murder of a child, gun violence, and violence involving birds. I guess just know that this falls more on the side of paranormal horror than it does thriller. I received an advance copy of this for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Our Last Echoes is pitched as Kara Thomas meets Twin Peaks, and I think that's pretty apt. It also had some X-Files vibes in my opinion. It's a "supernatural thriller" that I would say verges more into horror territory, but with lots of weirdness and alternate dimensions a la Twin Peaks. It's eerie, very atmospheric and gets quite dark at times, especially for a YA novel. I really enjoyed it and my primary complaint is that the main character is a bit bland, more a conduit for this creepy story than a strong character in her own right. That said, I had a great time with this.
Sophia remembers drowning, but supposedly she was orphaned when her mom died in the middle of Montana. She has now aged out of the foster care system and based on a weird tip, has gotten herself an internship at an avian research facility on a strange and remote island in Alaska. An island where she believes her mom may have actually disappeared. In fact, many people have mysteriously disappeared from Bitter Rock over the years.
Sophia is told to never go out at night, and never go out in the mist. Because strange things lurk there. I won't say more because of spoilers, but this book goes dark and bizarre places that are definitely not pure contemporary fiction. I was creeped out at times, but really into the story. Do be aware there are content warnings that include violence, gore, death, attempted murder of a child, gun violence, and violence involving birds. I guess just know that this falls more on the side of paranormal horror than it does thriller. I received an advance copy of this for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
April 15, 2022
Sophia is an orphan. She never knew her father and her mother disappeared in 2003. That’s the same year Sophia was found, a small child, floating alone in a boat. She grew up in and out of foster homes, never really finding a family, and she had a lot of trouble making friends.
Soon she’s given the opportunity to go to Bitter Rock, The town where her mother disappeared and she was found. Once she arrives she quickly makes friends with Abby and Liam, and they help her find answers about her past. But she also runs into Sophie, her echo. An echo is a replication of a human person, but echoes have no souls and are extremely dangerous. For some reason Sophie is not. Dangerous like the other echos. Even better, Sophie may be able to lead Sophia to her mother! Along the way Sophia starts to wonder if she is actually the echo that escaped Bitter Rock. Kate Alice Marshall leads the reader on an epic journey with a main character who will stop at nothing to find out what happened in her past. Will you, the reader, figure it all out before the story ends?
Soon she’s given the opportunity to go to Bitter Rock, The town where her mother disappeared and she was found. Once she arrives she quickly makes friends with Abby and Liam, and they help her find answers about her past. But she also runs into Sophie, her echo. An echo is a replication of a human person, but echoes have no souls and are extremely dangerous. For some reason Sophie is not. Dangerous like the other echos. Even better, Sophie may be able to lead Sophia to her mother! Along the way Sophia starts to wonder if she is actually the echo that escaped Bitter Rock. Kate Alice Marshall leads the reader on an epic journey with a main character who will stop at nothing to find out what happened in her past. Will you, the reader, figure it all out before the story ends?
![Profile Image for Namera [The Literary Invertebrate].](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fusers%2F1647896333i%2F31792110._UX200_CR0%2C96%2C200%2C200_.jpg&w=128&q=75)
November 16, 2020
This book is a bit of a weird one. It was going well, and I was enjoying it, but the climax is very weak and the book kind of just splutters to a disappointing end in the last few pages.
Eighteen-year-old Sophia Novak is an orphan who's been bounced from foster home to foster home since 2003, the year her mother Joy mysteriously vanished from Bitter Rock. The small Alaskan island has been the location of many strange disappearances over the years - Joy's mother and two of her fellow ornithologist colleagues were just the latest. Now it's 2018, and Sophia is determined to get answers. Out of the blue one day she got a phone call from a girl names Abby Ryder, who promised her that answers could be found at Bitter Rock. Sophia wrangles herself a summer internship there and sets off.
At the island she comes across Liam Kapoor, the nineteen-year-old son of lead ornithologist Dr Kapoor - a woman who was there the night Joy vanished. But everything else about the island is weird. There's a heavy mist every night, and singing comes out of it, but the people you see in the mist should never be trusted. When Abby suddenly shows up too, Sophia is forced to confront all the strange things which have dogged her throughout her life, and can only hope she doesn't destroy anyone's life in her search for the truth.
The best thing about this book is definitely that it's super atmospheric. Marshall is great at evoking a kind of chilly terror and despair which made me not want to read this book alone in my room. I actually drafted in my college wife Helena to sit next to me while I read, because I didn't want to be by myself. The writing is excellent.
Unfortunately, the actual plot is pretty weak. The premise behind these 'echoes', the people you see in the mist, needs a lot more fleshing out and world-building to go along with it. I also found the ending just terrible. It left a kind of sour taste in my mouth, partially because of what actually happens and partially because there are a LOT of unanswered questions. There's a good twist or two, but they're overshadowed by the thinness of plot.
Overall
I liked the characters, and I was prepared to really like the story, but it didn't quite wow me.
[Blog]
March 25, 2021
“All thirty-one residents vanished without a trace. No further communication was received. No bodies were ever recovered.
They were not the first.
They would not be the last.”
From the gorgeous cover to that gripping start, I was hooked. I was ready to be scared, creeped out, and desperate for answers. I mean, look at that intro! I was so excited and in love with the way the story was being told — almost like a documentary. There’s a scene almost at the beginning that literally sent shivers down my spine. I was so here for this book! Kate Alice Marshall really has a way with words, especially when it comes to setting the scene. The writing is eerie and atmospheric … and I think it led me to have higher hopes for this book than I should have.
This isn’t a bad book but I’m sad because it could have been a lot more. While Marshall’s writing and setting is brilliant, everything else is paper-thin. The characters aren’t fleshed out enough for me to really care for them, and every explanation feels a little too contrived. Even the setting, such a rich, terrifying place, could have been further delved into. We don’t get enough of the horror I was hoping for. Instead, this book feels a lot more YA and a lot less paranormal / mystery / thriller / horror. Had I know that, I probably wouldn’t have picked this book up.
I wish the book had spent more time focusing on the plot rather than making sure something was happening at all times. The reasoning behind everything was almost too easily explained and yet simultaneously not explored or explained enough. I just wanted more. While I thought the way things ended was okay, I was left a little confused and also, again, because I didn’t really care/know the characters enough, the stakes weren’t too high for me . This book kind of felt like a weird dream/nightmare, where things sort of make sense as you’re in it but when you actually stop to think about it you’re like what the heck even? I get that not everything needs to make sense but it should at least feel like it’s plausible in the fictional world we’re in and with this, I didn’t feel that.
“This place gets inside of you... It gets inside of you and you'll never scrape it all out.”
I think the idea was really great though. I especially enjoyed the way the story was told through us — nonlinear and in different forms. We have a radio transmission from 1973 when 31 people went missing, we have an interview taking place after the events of the book, and video camera recordings. I especially liked the recordings. Rather than give us explanations that didn’t really make sense, we get to see the island in action in all its creepiness and I was 10000% here for it. This was an especially brilliant way to tell the story that really made this story unique. I’ve heard that Marshall has done this with her other book as well and I have added that to my tbr because I absolutely loved this form of story-telling.
Ultimately, the idea seemed really great and the execution was unique, but the plot itself didn’t hold up for me. However, I enjoyed the distinctive style the story was told and the atmospheric writing so much that I definitely plan on picking up more from this author.
April 6, 2024
🌟🌟🌟🌟 “WHEN PEOPLE KEEP VANISHING”
OUR LAST ECHOES could be considered a spin-off of RULES FOR VANISHING. I suggest you go read that one first and then this one since two characters from that book appear in this one: Dr. Andrew Ashford and Abigail Ryder, who are investigators of paranormal stuff. Ashford and Ryder played a small part in RULES FOR VANISHING. In OUR LAST ECHOES, Abigail is a major player and when she’s introducing herself to our heroine of the day, Sophia Novak, she pretty much spoils key segments of the ending of RULES FOR VANISHING. To those who read that book, by reading OUR LAST ECHOES you’ll make more sense of that last scene that generated confusion in some readers. However, OUR LAST ECHOES has an entire new ghost/haunted island story line, it is not a direct sequel of RULES FOR VANISHING. Kate A. Marshall writes a style of YA that is borderline with new adult; she does not restrict herself from using the F-word when necessary or showing gruesome scenes. It’s a pretty mature YA than can be enjoyed by adults as well. The formula used in OUR LAST ECHOES is quite similar too: a horror/thriller/mockumentary style of writing, we have "Blair Witch Project" vibe with influences of horror movies like “Shutter Island” and “US”. The plot is quite deranged but also quite addictive and fast paced. Marshall’s formula is effective. We’ve got multiple timelines, people that vanish from the island and never make it out alive, or they do but they are not who you think they are (the doppelganger trope), and an open ending connected to Abigail that could be the blueprints for Marshall’s next novel. Sophia Novak lost her mother when she was three and grew up in the foster system. When she turns 18, she’s contacted by Abigail Ryder who tells her that her mother did not die the way Sophia thinks but that she had been in Bitter Rock Island, Alaska in 2003, and there’s where mommy met her doom. Sophia had been there too, but she does not remember what happened. Off she goes to search answers to Bitter Rock along with Abby. Sophia tries to pass as an intern at LARC (Landon Avian Research Center) managed by her mom’s old colleagues: Vanya Kapoor and William Hardcastle. There’s Liam, Kapoor’s 18-year-old son, Mrs. Popova, who runs the only inn on the island, and the scientists’ two other assistants: Lily and Kenny. If you’ve read her previous book you know what’s coming: creepy monsters, our protagonists running for their lives, creepy doppelgangers, sinister island history and not every one gets out alive. RULES FOR VANISHING plot line was creepier, but OUR LAST ECHOES is a fun ride that works as a standalone while also pieces together clues from the previous book. Highly recommended!
World building/Setting: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★★
Pacing: ★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★
OUR LAST ECHOES could be considered a spin-off of RULES FOR VANISHING. I suggest you go read that one first and then this one since two characters from that book appear in this one: Dr. Andrew Ashford and Abigail Ryder, who are investigators of paranormal stuff. Ashford and Ryder played a small part in RULES FOR VANISHING. In OUR LAST ECHOES, Abigail is a major player and when she’s introducing herself to our heroine of the day, Sophia Novak, she pretty much spoils key segments of the ending of RULES FOR VANISHING. To those who read that book, by reading OUR LAST ECHOES you’ll make more sense of that last scene that generated confusion in some readers. However, OUR LAST ECHOES has an entire new ghost/haunted island story line, it is not a direct sequel of RULES FOR VANISHING. Kate A. Marshall writes a style of YA that is borderline with new adult; she does not restrict herself from using the F-word when necessary or showing gruesome scenes. It’s a pretty mature YA than can be enjoyed by adults as well. The formula used in OUR LAST ECHOES is quite similar too: a horror/thriller/mockumentary style of writing, we have "Blair Witch Project" vibe with influences of horror movies like “Shutter Island” and “US”. The plot is quite deranged but also quite addictive and fast paced. Marshall’s formula is effective. We’ve got multiple timelines, people that vanish from the island and never make it out alive, or they do but they are not who you think they are (the doppelganger trope), and an open ending connected to Abigail that could be the blueprints for Marshall’s next novel. Sophia Novak lost her mother when she was three and grew up in the foster system. When she turns 18, she’s contacted by Abigail Ryder who tells her that her mother did not die the way Sophia thinks but that she had been in Bitter Rock Island, Alaska in 2003, and there’s where mommy met her doom. Sophia had been there too, but she does not remember what happened. Off she goes to search answers to Bitter Rock along with Abby. Sophia tries to pass as an intern at LARC (Landon Avian Research Center) managed by her mom’s old colleagues: Vanya Kapoor and William Hardcastle. There’s Liam, Kapoor’s 18-year-old son, Mrs. Popova, who runs the only inn on the island, and the scientists’ two other assistants: Lily and Kenny. If you’ve read her previous book you know what’s coming: creepy monsters, our protagonists running for their lives, creepy doppelgangers, sinister island history and not every one gets out alive. RULES FOR VANISHING plot line was creepier, but OUR LAST ECHOES is a fun ride that works as a standalone while also pieces together clues from the previous book. Highly recommended!
World building/Setting: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★★
Pacing: ★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★
April 6, 2021
The very first memory that Sophia Novak has is of drowning, a memory that is so implanted in her memory that she remembers the cold of the water and the taste of the salt, yet she has never been to the ocean. She also remembers her mother saving her from the water, a mother that she was told had died in a hospital many years ago. Sophia’s curiosity is piqued when she receives a call that leads her to question whether or not her mom is really dead, leading her to Bitter Rock, Alaska. Determined to learn the truth about what happened to her mother, Sophia makes her way to Bitter Rock, but she soon discovers that many people connected to the island have disappeared. Can Sophia learn the facts surrounding her mother and the island before she disappears like so many other inhabitants of Bitter Rock?
Our Last Echoes is a novel that I really wanted to like, and while I didn’t dislike it I also didn’t love it. The characters were one of my favorite parts of the novel. Sophia was someone I could really root for as she worked to uncover the truth. Joy was easily my favorite; her decisions were not only interesting, they were beyond honorable. There were certain aspects of the novel that seemed to push a little too far. Understanding that this is a novel that depends on the supernatural, there were certain things and events that seemed just too unbelievable. The ending seemed too abrupt after all of the buildup throughout. The descriptions are very effective and paint a complete, and crazy, picture. I also like the way the story is presented, using interviews and transcripts of videos along with the basic narrative. While I liked the big “reveal” at the end--it fit so well within the context of the story--I wasn’t a big fan of the cliffhanger.
Our Last Echoes is an interesting young adult novel; if you enjoy spooky, supernatural stories go grab a copy!
Thank you to BookishFirst and Viking for sending me a copy of Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall, given in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.
Our Last Echoes is a novel that I really wanted to like, and while I didn’t dislike it I also didn’t love it. The characters were one of my favorite parts of the novel. Sophia was someone I could really root for as she worked to uncover the truth. Joy was easily my favorite; her decisions were not only interesting, they were beyond honorable. There were certain aspects of the novel that seemed to push a little too far. Understanding that this is a novel that depends on the supernatural, there were certain things and events that seemed just too unbelievable. The ending seemed too abrupt after all of the buildup throughout. The descriptions are very effective and paint a complete, and crazy, picture. I also like the way the story is presented, using interviews and transcripts of videos along with the basic narrative. While I liked the big “reveal” at the end--it fit so well within the context of the story--I wasn’t a big fan of the cliffhanger.
Our Last Echoes is an interesting young adult novel; if you enjoy spooky, supernatural stories go grab a copy!
Thank you to BookishFirst and Viking for sending me a copy of Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall, given in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own.
May 9, 2021
Grab your camera, loser, we're going to Bitter Rock, Alaska, which is every bit as gloriously terrifying as Silent Hill at its very best. INJECT THIS STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS PLZ, I LOVE IT THAT MUCH.
July 29, 2025
Ok if you liked “The Black Farm” by Elias Witherow or “I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls” by Ben Farthing, you’ll probably like this book.
It has an incredibly atmospheric setting: a remote Alaskan island, abandoned except for a few bird researchers and two locals who’re all that remain. The history is tragic and mysterious, with countless unexplainable disappearances (even whole communities) over the decades.
The main character Sophia, was “meh”, honestly I didn’t love any of them except for Kenny. What I DID enjoy was the bizarre and horrifying weirdness prevalent from the get go. Mutated birds, a fog that comes and goes with strange voices and shapes within it, the worlds within worlds. Reading this evoked some serious feelings of fear and dread.
At times I did feel like maybe this was book 2 in a series, as there were references to other people, other monsters, common ancient lore, etc.
As far as I could find, there is another book in the same “world” but they aren’t a series per se, and it isn’t a prequel. So that was a bit frustrating to feel like I was missing information. One of the main characters has a bit of a cliffhanger ending as well, and I don’t see anything about a sequel either in the works.
It has an incredibly atmospheric setting: a remote Alaskan island, abandoned except for a few bird researchers and two locals who’re all that remain. The history is tragic and mysterious, with countless unexplainable disappearances (even whole communities) over the decades.
The main character Sophia, was “meh”, honestly I didn’t love any of them except for Kenny. What I DID enjoy was the bizarre and horrifying weirdness prevalent from the get go. Mutated birds, a fog that comes and goes with strange voices and shapes within it, the worlds within worlds. Reading this evoked some serious feelings of fear and dread.
At times I did feel like maybe this was book 2 in a series, as there were references to other people, other monsters, common ancient lore, etc.
As far as I could find, there is another book in the same “world” but they aren’t a series per se, and it isn’t a prequel. So that was a bit frustrating to feel like I was missing information. One of the main characters has a bit of a cliffhanger ending as well, and I don’t see anything about a sequel either in the works.
February 13, 2024
Kate Alice Marshall had developed a pretty good reputation for YA thrillers by the time Our Last Echoes hit bookstore shelves in 2021, and the synopsis on the dust jacket is intriguing. Eighteen-year-old Sophia Novak has a dark history with the island of Bitter Rock, Alaska. Her mother vanished there and was presumed dead fifteen years ago, and Sophia has a vivid memory of herself being forcibly drowned while on the isle. But how could that be, if she's still alive? Sophia has applied for an internship this summer at Bitter Rock as part of a research project on birds. She needs to learn what happened all those years ago.
The scene at Bitter Rock's Landon Avian Research Center (LARC) is weird. Thick mist often swarms the island, and everyone is terrified of getting caught out of the house in it. Sophia isn't the only young adult here: there's Lily Clark, Abby Ryder, and Liam Kapoor, son of the woman in charge. It doesn't take long for Sophia to stumble upon some dangerous secrets: vile creatures roam the mist, ones that can do worse than kill you. Even your identity isn't safe; you can't trust your own memories, nor can you count on your friends and allies. Sophia will confront an inter-dimensional plot to destroy her and every other human on Bitter Rock, but is it possible she might reclaim her mother at the same time? Or has all of this been an exercise in futility?
"Maybe you don't have to die to be a ghost."
—Liam, Our Last Echoes, P. 27
Our Last Echoes took me a long time to read, almost three months. It's a lengthy book, close to four hundred pages, but I've read thicker ones in a matter of days; something about this one's energy demotivated me to set aside time to pick it up and resume the adventure. By the time I reached the end, I also had a hard time following how the plot turned out and why. I'm sure the story has fans, but I can't say I'm one of them. I'd rate Our Last Echoes one and a half stars because at times the writing is deft, and I would readily try another Kate Alice Marshall novel.
The scene at Bitter Rock's Landon Avian Research Center (LARC) is weird. Thick mist often swarms the island, and everyone is terrified of getting caught out of the house in it. Sophia isn't the only young adult here: there's Lily Clark, Abby Ryder, and Liam Kapoor, son of the woman in charge. It doesn't take long for Sophia to stumble upon some dangerous secrets: vile creatures roam the mist, ones that can do worse than kill you. Even your identity isn't safe; you can't trust your own memories, nor can you count on your friends and allies. Sophia will confront an inter-dimensional plot to destroy her and every other human on Bitter Rock, but is it possible she might reclaim her mother at the same time? Or has all of this been an exercise in futility?
"Maybe you don't have to die to be a ghost."
—Liam, Our Last Echoes, P. 27
Our Last Echoes took me a long time to read, almost three months. It's a lengthy book, close to four hundred pages, but I've read thicker ones in a matter of days; something about this one's energy demotivated me to set aside time to pick it up and resume the adventure. By the time I reached the end, I also had a hard time following how the plot turned out and why. I'm sure the story has fans, but I can't say I'm one of them. I'd rate Our Last Echoes one and a half stars because at times the writing is deft, and I would readily try another Kate Alice Marshall novel.
December 14, 2020
Many thanks to EdelweissPlus and the publisher for providing me with a DRC of this title for review. All opinions are my own.
Actual rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. My only complaint: there were a few *tiny* moments where I felt like the storyline and background was a little thin or not quite fleshed out enough. BUT, overall, this was a fun, spooky, unnerving read that ALSO connects back to Marshall's earlier book Rule for Vanishing (this was a bonus that I was not expecting!).
Sophia has never known what happened to her mother. People have told her that she died in Montana, but then why does Sophia remember drowning when she was little? When she uncovers a clue that her mother had gone to a remote island off of Alaska to study birds, she sets off to try to piece together the story on her own. Because it isn't just her mother that has vanished from this island. Soldiers. Entire communities. Communes. All gone. No bones, no bodies, no trace.
As soon as Sophia gets to the island, she knows something is wrong. There are unexplained visions, warnings against the mist, and the ever present fear of the dark. Shortly after she arrives, Abby also shows up. Abby is the girl who told her about her mother and sent her on this quest, but she also has some hidden motives. (SPOILER: Abby is the crossover character from the other book, so there are some small details that this story contains that will tell some information from the other.) Abby's boss, Dr. Ashford, has made a career of trying to find and know the unknown. He told Abby not to go to the island. So she left the very next day.
Told in a mixture of video fragments and dialogue, interviews, and prose, this is a fast-paced supernatural read. Highly recommend.
Actual rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars. My only complaint: there were a few *tiny* moments where I felt like the storyline and background was a little thin or not quite fleshed out enough. BUT, overall, this was a fun, spooky, unnerving read that ALSO connects back to Marshall's earlier book Rule for Vanishing (this was a bonus that I was not expecting!).
Sophia has never known what happened to her mother. People have told her that she died in Montana, but then why does Sophia remember drowning when she was little? When she uncovers a clue that her mother had gone to a remote island off of Alaska to study birds, she sets off to try to piece together the story on her own. Because it isn't just her mother that has vanished from this island. Soldiers. Entire communities. Communes. All gone. No bones, no bodies, no trace.
As soon as Sophia gets to the island, she knows something is wrong. There are unexplained visions, warnings against the mist, and the ever present fear of the dark. Shortly after she arrives, Abby also shows up. Abby is the girl who told her about her mother and sent her on this quest, but she also has some hidden motives. (SPOILER: Abby is the crossover character from the other book, so there are some small details that this story contains that will tell some information from the other.) Abby's boss, Dr. Ashford, has made a career of trying to find and know the unknown. He told Abby not to go to the island. So she left the very next day.
Told in a mixture of video fragments and dialogue, interviews, and prose, this is a fast-paced supernatural read. Highly recommend.
March 20, 2021
This was a 4.5 rounded up. This book was well written and I liked the mixed media style of interviews, narrated videos, and various characters perspectives. I liked that this story was twisty and it was hard to figure out exactly what was happening. Sophia Novak was orphaned at a young age and has always known she was different without having any idea why. One strange call later she’s given a clue that leads her to a remote island infamous for large numbers of people disappearing without a trace. Recently aged out of the foster system Sophia does what anyone in her position would do. Tricks her way onto the dangerous private island so she can figure out the truth of what happened to her mother 15 years before. The characters were an interesting cast and I especially liked Sophia even though she was a highly flawed person. I liked that the ending led to potential for another book and I hope it comes into existence.
February 28, 2022
I loved this but it won't be for everybody - I don't want to do a full review because it will spoil things - for now think supernatural, isolated island, deadly secrets, slow-burn mystery, ghosts (sort of), YA, magical realism, strong characters.
If you have read The Rules For Vanishing then you have a head-start on getting your head round this one (I already read RFV and although it's a completely different story it has the same 'other worlds' and ideas which are progressed in this book).
Sorry I can't explain more; it's pretty bleak and brutal with a fairly slow and brooding pace but there is a lot to get out of this and it's totally worth sticking with if you enjoy something a bit different.
If you have read The Rules For Vanishing then you have a head-start on getting your head round this one (I already read RFV and although it's a completely different story it has the same 'other worlds' and ideas which are progressed in this book).
Sorry I can't explain more; it's pretty bleak and brutal with a fairly slow and brooding pace but there is a lot to get out of this and it's totally worth sticking with if you enjoy something a bit different.
March 14, 2021
Thank you to PenguinTeen for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, this is what I call a dark and weird horror book, a book that had me sleeping with the lights on for days. I loved Rules for Vanishing which was written by the same author, that book also had me sleeping with the lights on and I had stop reading because I would get so freaked out. Our Last Echoes starts out with a bang and never stops, it is eerie, full of twists, and why not throw in some alternate dimensions and supernatural occurrences throughout.
Sophia the main character almost drowned when she was three, she can’t quite remember what happened but around that same time her mother died in a Montana hospital leaving her orphaned. She has lived in foster care her whole life, but has finally aged out. She receives a weird phone call from a girl named Abby who knows where her mother disappeared, she never died like everyone told her. Sophia takes the strange tip about her mother and goes with it, she gets a summer job at an avian research center on a small and mysterious island in Alaska called Bitter Rock. Sophia has memories of being on this island with her mother, but it doesn’t make sense as this would be her first time ever going.
Once arriving she is told never go out at dark, lock the doors, and never go out in the mist. A lot of legends are told about this island. Dozens of people have gone missing over the years, with no traces of where they went. Food was still left on the table; dishes were still being washed when a whole group of people disappeared without a trace. I don’t want to say anything further about this book, because I went into it knowing the bare minimum and I think it made it so much better. I was honestly scared reading this book, right from the very first page I had mega goosebumps and knew it was going to be a crazy dark story. I loved where the plot went and honestly did not guess it at all. I did not expect it to be such a horror novel especially because it is classified as YA, but it was so good.
I can honestly say Our Last Echoes is now one of my favorite horror books of all time. The mysterious disappearances and legends about Bitter Rock, the very creepy atmosphere throughout the entire book, the unique plot of this book, put all of that together and you have a stellar horror book. Not to mention this book is written in a mixture of ways; video, dialogue, interviews, and past and present. If you are anything like me and love a book that will has you shaking with fear, then I highly recommend reading this book!
Okay, this is what I call a dark and weird horror book, a book that had me sleeping with the lights on for days. I loved Rules for Vanishing which was written by the same author, that book also had me sleeping with the lights on and I had stop reading because I would get so freaked out. Our Last Echoes starts out with a bang and never stops, it is eerie, full of twists, and why not throw in some alternate dimensions and supernatural occurrences throughout.
Sophia the main character almost drowned when she was three, she can’t quite remember what happened but around that same time her mother died in a Montana hospital leaving her orphaned. She has lived in foster care her whole life, but has finally aged out. She receives a weird phone call from a girl named Abby who knows where her mother disappeared, she never died like everyone told her. Sophia takes the strange tip about her mother and goes with it, she gets a summer job at an avian research center on a small and mysterious island in Alaska called Bitter Rock. Sophia has memories of being on this island with her mother, but it doesn’t make sense as this would be her first time ever going.
Once arriving she is told never go out at dark, lock the doors, and never go out in the mist. A lot of legends are told about this island. Dozens of people have gone missing over the years, with no traces of where they went. Food was still left on the table; dishes were still being washed when a whole group of people disappeared without a trace. I don’t want to say anything further about this book, because I went into it knowing the bare minimum and I think it made it so much better. I was honestly scared reading this book, right from the very first page I had mega goosebumps and knew it was going to be a crazy dark story. I loved where the plot went and honestly did not guess it at all. I did not expect it to be such a horror novel especially because it is classified as YA, but it was so good.
I can honestly say Our Last Echoes is now one of my favorite horror books of all time. The mysterious disappearances and legends about Bitter Rock, the very creepy atmosphere throughout the entire book, the unique plot of this book, put all of that together and you have a stellar horror book. Not to mention this book is written in a mixture of ways; video, dialogue, interviews, and past and present. If you are anything like me and love a book that will has you shaking with fear, then I highly recommend reading this book!
March 14, 2021
Our Last Echoes is the second book I've read by Kate Alice Marshall, and I adore both of them. The stories are creepy and creative, and the epistolary format works really well. This one got a little convoluted at the end, but I still had a lot of fun reading it. This book reminded me of a couple good horror movies that I'm not going to mention to avoid spoilers, but just know there's a lot to enjoy here.
CW - animal death, mentions of death of a parent
CW - animal death, mentions of death of a parent
March 19, 2022
I seem to be getting a lot of books lately where it is almost impossible for me to pinpoint my feelings about them and Our Last Echoes by Kate Alice Marshall is no exception. This is such a strange and gruesome book, but I thought the way it was executed was fantastic. The story is told from the viewpoint of Sophia but with other media mixed in like chapters titled Video Evidence and various exhibits. I love when authors mix in things like this, and it really heightened the overall experience I had while reading it. I didn't even realize that the setting was Alaska because it felt like this book had a whole world to itself and it didn't feel real. It seemed like a mix of horror and sci-fi to me, with many thrilling elements mixed in. The setting is very bleak and foreboding and I spent the whole time worrying about what was to come.
Even just THINKING about this book makes me not want to eat food, and there are tons of gross parts to the story which I definitely couldn't eat during. I listened to the audiobook, and I loved the three different narrators - Kathleen McInerney, Robbie Daymond & Rob Shapiro. They were all great picks to voice Our Last Echoes and I especially loved McInerney as Sophia. She was completely into her narration of the story, and you could practically feel every emotion thanks to her. Some parts of the audiobook are very intense to listen to, but it is totally worth it. The mystery aspect of the book really leads to some shocking discoveries, and I don't think I was quite expecting the level of supernatural elements it had. I think this would be a great read for someone who is a fan of YA novels and loves the supernatural mixed in with their horror. This would be a great book to read around Halloween as well and it was extremely dark and creepy!
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Even just THINKING about this book makes me not want to eat food, and there are tons of gross parts to the story which I definitely couldn't eat during. I listened to the audiobook, and I loved the three different narrators - Kathleen McInerney, Robbie Daymond & Rob Shapiro. They were all great picks to voice Our Last Echoes and I especially loved McInerney as Sophia. She was completely into her narration of the story, and you could practically feel every emotion thanks to her. Some parts of the audiobook are very intense to listen to, but it is totally worth it. The mystery aspect of the book really leads to some shocking discoveries, and I don't think I was quite expecting the level of supernatural elements it had. I think this would be a great read for someone who is a fan of YA novels and loves the supernatural mixed in with their horror. This would be a great book to read around Halloween as well and it was extremely dark and creepy!
I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
February 27, 2024
Very creepy, sometimes confusing to visualize certain aspects of what was going on as it was all very strange. You definitely need to have a really good mental and visual imagination to understand the depth of everything happening. I really enjoyed it, even if some of it didn't make complete sense but one must understand that a story like this (supernatural worlds and echos, etc. ) would be difficult to write with the intent of full understanding since the supernatural can never actually be explained or understood anyway unless you experience it for yourself. But if you have a good imagination, it makes enough sense for the story to be creepy enough and very entertaining in my opinion.
Read
March 29, 2021Dnf 54% - this wasn't bad but I don't feel invested. Reading like 14 books at once and I just don't care about this one anymore
March 24, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝙈𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡'𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.
.
.
𝙸𝚗 𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟹, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢-𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍. 𝙸𝚗 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟹, 𝚜𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙽𝚘𝚠, 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚛—𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎. 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚜. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖.
👻 This book was so weird on so many levels. It started out so promising with such good intentions, but towards the ending the story started to go downhill. I was enjoying the first half but the second half just lost my interest completely… this seems to be the case a lot with YA thrillers/horror. The climax of this book was so disappointing. I had such high expectations for this book and I’m so sad to just say it was meh - the writing style was so cool and interesting though. I loved the way it was formatted!
🛶 My favorite part about this book was the setting - it was super eerie and atmospheric. There were some “scary” moments - keep it mind this is YA so there’s a limit when it comes to what’s scary and what’s not - but definitely some creepy setting scenes. There were some terrifying scenes with terror all around. I went back and forth with the audio and physically reading - both formats were great.
👻 Overall, this book was fine… considering it’s young adult I’m surprised with the creepy and atmospheric vibes this book gave. However I really wish the plot wasn’t too weak and underwhelming. There was so much potential with the “echos” route but the whole build up just didn’t work. The ending also left me super frustrated and disappointed. I also had a few unanswered questions when this book ended. The twists also felt meh. This book was a good storyline - with misses here and there - but overall a solid YA read.
✨Thank you to the publisher and author for sending me a review copy in exchange for my honest review! ✨
𝙈𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙖 𝘼𝙡𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙏𝙬𝙞𝙣 𝙋𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡'𝙨 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚.
.
.
𝙸𝚗 𝟷𝟿𝟽𝟹, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢-𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍. 𝙸𝚗 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟹, 𝚜𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙽𝚘𝚠, 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚛—𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎. 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚜. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖.
👻 This book was so weird on so many levels. It started out so promising with such good intentions, but towards the ending the story started to go downhill. I was enjoying the first half but the second half just lost my interest completely… this seems to be the case a lot with YA thrillers/horror. The climax of this book was so disappointing. I had such high expectations for this book and I’m so sad to just say it was meh - the writing style was so cool and interesting though. I loved the way it was formatted!
🛶 My favorite part about this book was the setting - it was super eerie and atmospheric. There were some “scary” moments - keep it mind this is YA so there’s a limit when it comes to what’s scary and what’s not - but definitely some creepy setting scenes. There were some terrifying scenes with terror all around. I went back and forth with the audio and physically reading - both formats were great.
👻 Overall, this book was fine… considering it’s young adult I’m surprised with the creepy and atmospheric vibes this book gave. However I really wish the plot wasn’t too weak and underwhelming. There was so much potential with the “echos” route but the whole build up just didn’t work. The ending also left me super frustrated and disappointed. I also had a few unanswered questions when this book ended. The twists also felt meh. This book was a good storyline - with misses here and there - but overall a solid YA read.
✨Thank you to the publisher and author for sending me a review copy in exchange for my honest review! ✨
July 17, 2022
Sophia Novak has been told all her life that her mother died in a hospital on the mainland. But Sophie’s first memories are of drowning, and the only clue she has about her mom’s life is a carved wooden sculpture of a bird that only nests on Bitter Rock, Alaska, an island all but abandoned except for the Landon Avian Research Center. Her mother worked at the center before she died, and Sophia has lied and pestered her way into a summer internship there, where she meets Liam, whose mother runs the research center, and Abby, who’s chasing down a mystery of her own. People have been disappearing from Bitter Rock for decades, and the island has good reasons for covering it up. Trigger warnings: character death (on-page, graphic), parent/child/animal death, drowning, body horror, some blood/gore, severe injury, guns, grief.
If you didn’t like Rules for Vanishing, this book probably isn’t for you. If you liked Rules for Vanishing mostly for its queerness, then this book probably isn’t for you. If you liked Rules for Vanishing for its uncanny, found footage horror and the way you can never quite guess where it’s going, then you should pick up a copy of this book immediately. I loved everything about Rules for Vanishing and Our Last Echoes both, and as long as Marshall keeps writing horror, I’m going to keep picking up her books. Technically, you can read one without the other, but despite Goodreads’ refusal to list them as a series even though they exist in the same universe, I recommend reading them together. It’s less about plot or character and more about vibe and overall world-building, but if you were on a ghost road and accidentally stepped sideways into a neighboring dimension, you might find yourself in the middle of Our Last Echoes.
I’m afraid this review is just going to be a lot of gushing about both these books, but it feels like these are exactly the horror novels I’ve been waiting my whole life to read. Marshall expertly executes the found footage format in the way it’s meant to be used, as a way of building tension and layering her mysteries rather than forcing us to look the other way while everything important or exciting happens off camera. Nothing stays buried forever, and this is the genre done very, very well. Like in RfV, there’s at least one moment in this book that sent a chill right down my spine. While I didn’t find it as scary overall, I love the way nothing ever feels derivative and she’s constantly taking the spookiness in new, unexpected directions.
I like Sophia, but I was more invested in her mystery than her character. So much of her personality is based around what happened to her when she was a child, some of which she can’t remember, that it’s hard to separate the two. My feelings for Abby were a lot stronger, and I loved seeing her take more of a role in the story. I enjoy her attitude, and it’s fascinating to have a character who’s familiar with the paranormal. If she can’t explain it, she’s willing to get to the bottom of it. Zero feelings on the romance, which takes a little more attention than the ones in RfV, but that’s usually the case for me. I love the way all the layers of the story come together at the end, and given that there are supposedly seven “doorways” like this, I’m crossing my fingers for five more books in this universe. (And, while I’m wishing for things, I’d love a novel about whatever happened to Abby and Miranda, which still seems intentionally vague.)
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
If you didn’t like Rules for Vanishing, this book probably isn’t for you. If you liked Rules for Vanishing mostly for its queerness, then this book probably isn’t for you. If you liked Rules for Vanishing for its uncanny, found footage horror and the way you can never quite guess where it’s going, then you should pick up a copy of this book immediately. I loved everything about Rules for Vanishing and Our Last Echoes both, and as long as Marshall keeps writing horror, I’m going to keep picking up her books. Technically, you can read one without the other, but despite Goodreads’ refusal to list them as a series even though they exist in the same universe, I recommend reading them together. It’s less about plot or character and more about vibe and overall world-building, but if you were on a ghost road and accidentally stepped sideways into a neighboring dimension, you might find yourself in the middle of Our Last Echoes.
I’m afraid this review is just going to be a lot of gushing about both these books, but it feels like these are exactly the horror novels I’ve been waiting my whole life to read. Marshall expertly executes the found footage format in the way it’s meant to be used, as a way of building tension and layering her mysteries rather than forcing us to look the other way while everything important or exciting happens off camera. Nothing stays buried forever, and this is the genre done very, very well. Like in RfV, there’s at least one moment in this book that sent a chill right down my spine. While I didn’t find it as scary overall, I love the way nothing ever feels derivative and she’s constantly taking the spookiness in new, unexpected directions.
I like Sophia, but I was more invested in her mystery than her character. So much of her personality is based around what happened to her when she was a child, some of which she can’t remember, that it’s hard to separate the two. My feelings for Abby were a lot stronger, and I loved seeing her take more of a role in the story. I enjoy her attitude, and it’s fascinating to have a character who’s familiar with the paranormal. If she can’t explain it, she’s willing to get to the bottom of it. Zero feelings on the romance, which takes a little more attention than the ones in RfV, but that’s usually the case for me. I love the way all the layers of the story come together at the end, and given that there are supposedly seven “doorways” like this, I’m crossing my fingers for five more books in this universe. (And, while I’m wishing for things, I’d love a novel about whatever happened to Abby and Miranda, which still seems intentionally vague.)
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
abandoned-books
March 11, 2021Yes! It is here! Please be creepy, please be creepy, please be creepy! 🤞
I am immensely grateful to Viking Books for Young Readers and BookishFirst for my review copy.
I am immensely grateful to Viking Books for Young Readers and BookishFirst for my review copy.
May 14, 2021
I'm still piecing my thoughts together, but this really is a wonderful mix of unsettling, creepy, and unnerving, and yes, those are all distinct things - at least as pertains to this horror novel.
March 18, 2021
Our Last Echoes is a haunting story with a clever twist on the urban legend trope of people going missing without a trace, think Roanoke style. When Sophia Novak ages out of the foster care system, she follows a tip from a girl named Abby; Abby tells her that everything Sophia thought she knew about her past was all a lie and if she wants the truth, she’ll have to travel to the remote island of Bitter Rock in Alaska. Under the guise of wanting to learn about terns, Sophia travels to the Landon Avian Research Center (LARC) where her mother, Joy once worked right before she died. There she meets a whole host of people, living and dead (Echoes), both leading her to a past she’s forgotten. Dangerously violent Echoes of those who’ve walked the island once before are seen in the mist and they want something from Sophia and they’ll stop at nothing to bring her in to their world to achieve their goal.
OLE is such an atmospheric and uniquely original story about lost legends and old worlds, Gods that came before and the people who would blindly try to free them not knowing the costs. Ms. Marshall brings the creep factor in a big way and I was here for it. Looking at my reflection in the mirror for a while will be a little unnerving and forget about this March fog we’ve got going on! The plot was quick and the characters easy to connect with and become emotionally invested in. OLE’s is one of those books where I really couldn’t foresee how it would end and the ending was filled with satisfying twists and also a bit of a cliffhanger that I am hoping will lead to an additional book!
All the stars for this supernatural horror story with a hint of magical realism that gave me all the chills I was looking for!
My thanks to Penguin Teen for gifting me this DRC in exchange for my review!
OLE is such an atmospheric and uniquely original story about lost legends and old worlds, Gods that came before and the people who would blindly try to free them not knowing the costs. Ms. Marshall brings the creep factor in a big way and I was here for it. Looking at my reflection in the mirror for a while will be a little unnerving and forget about this March fog we’ve got going on! The plot was quick and the characters easy to connect with and become emotionally invested in. OLE’s is one of those books where I really couldn’t foresee how it would end and the ending was filled with satisfying twists and also a bit of a cliffhanger that I am hoping will lead to an additional book!
All the stars for this supernatural horror story with a hint of magical realism that gave me all the chills I was looking for!
My thanks to Penguin Teen for gifting me this DRC in exchange for my review!
April 11, 2025
This is the third YA horror by Kate Alice Marshall that I've given 5 stars to. Clearly there's something about her works that just get me.
The paranormal aspects are spot on, the horror remains consistently unsettling without ever being too much for me to handle, and the plots are unique and interesting.
I look forward to picking up whatever she puts out next!
The paranormal aspects are spot on, the horror remains consistently unsettling without ever being too much for me to handle, and the plots are unique and interesting.
I look forward to picking up whatever she puts out next!
July 12, 2021
I love how we follow some of the same people from rules for vanishing. Def not as good as rules for vanishing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 635 reviews