OUR LAST ECHOS by Kate Alice Marshall is a supernatural thriller that follows Sophia as she tries to get to the truth of her mother’s disappearance. Sophias memories don’t match up with what happened that night.
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Talk about CREEPY! This story had a great, eerie atmosphere. I was genuinely scared of the dark thanks to this book. I didn’t realize that this was a companion book to Marshalls RULES FOR VANISHING, which I loved. I need more found footage books in my life— I love this format! I thought the setting was perfect and the mystery was enticing, but I do wish we had a more solid ending. I’m assuming there will be another companion novel that will give us the answers we want, but I was disappointed that it wasn’t wrapped up in this book. And there was one weird chapter that took me by surprise, where the POV changed without any acknowledgment. But overall, I had a great time reading this. RULES FOR VANISHING and OUR LAST ECHOS make me miss fall and Halloween!
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4.5/5 stars, OUR LAST ECHOS is available March 16, 2021!
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Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for sending me an eARC to review!

Thank you @penguinteen for the eARC.

Sophia Novak lost her mother years ago in a drowning accident that she vividly remembers, and yet her memories don’t align with the reality that has been explained to her. Her search for the truth brings her to the island of Bitter Rock, Alaska, where she investigates the island’s eerie history and discovers what really happened the night her mother disappeared.

This is the perfect read if you’re looking for something sinisterly spooky, slightly ethereal, and wonderfully atmospheric. The novel was a bit confusing at times based on the sheer “what on earth is happening”-ness of the plot, but the writing was enthralling enough to keep me turning the page well past my bedtime. Marshall’s storytelling also incorporates some mixed-media elements such as transcripts of videos and interviews that makes the book feel more like a found-footage documentary a la the Blair Witch Project. This book could easily be adapted into a spooky miniseries in the vein of Stranger Things or Twin Peaks, or an audio drama like Welcome to Nightvale. If you’re a fan of mystical, eerie thrillers that will keep you up at night, pick up Our Last Echoes.

This book was a terrifying treat. The rich atmospheric setting set the stage for the story to unfold in an absolutely eerie yet satisfying way. As someone who thoroughly loved RULES FOR VANISHING, I was delighted to see Abby reappear and make references to the former story without relying too heavily on it for this story's framework. I loved the dynamics between all the characters, especially Abby/Liam/Sophia as the central crew. Their banter and concern for each other kept them well balanced and made me genuinely care for them as individuals and as a unit. Sophia herself was a phenomenal character to follow, as she constantly toes the line between someone overwhelmed by their painful past and someone detached from all emotion, which becomes even more relevant as truths about the island's secrets unfold. This book managed to perfectly balance the elements of rich atmosphere, interesting characters, intriguing prose, captivating plot, and heartful theme, while still leaving so much about the worlds' "magic" system unknown in a way that served rather than hurt the story. This was a fantastic reading experience, albeit an utterly scary one, and I cannot wait to read more books by this author in the future.

This book was great! For some reason, I didn't get too attached to the characters. That was the main spot where I felt the novel was lacking, was in the character development. Overall I really enjoyed the thrilling aspects of it!

Overall: If you can handle the body horror and the supernatural way this atmospheric mixed media story goes, then you are in for a treat.

Pros:
Atmosphere. I really do not how to describe it further than it was something that felt all encompassing
Mixed Media. This felt like a perfect blend of mixed media and the story-telling format.

Cons:
Supernatural Thriller. I’m not saying this is full on con exactly, but I was not expecting as much supernatural thriller when I went in.
Body Horror. This is one of the toucher things for me because oh goodness did it make me squirm.

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!

Usually, I tend to read adult horror novels because I find that YA stories are not spooky enough for me. Every once in a while, however, I do come across a YA novel that meets my horror expectations. Kate Alice Marshall’s newest release, Our Last Echoes, is one of the few YA horror stories that I throughly enjoyed reading. The story had me hooked from the very beginning and I did not want to stop reading.

Through the incorporation of mixed media (i.e. interviews and video transcripts) in her storytelling, Marshall slowly unravels the truth about the disappearances at Bitter Rock, Alaska. I especially loved how Marshall balanced her major reveals with the supernatural occurrences. Although her reveals were gradual, the supernatural occurrences started almost immediately, so the novel’s pacing was not impacted at all.

Many thanks to Viking Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the e-ARC! All opinions are my own.

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. Long rumored as haunted, and the place of many unsolved disappearances. 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!

Sophia grew up in the foster system, starting it at age 3. She doesn’t remember much, but she does remember what it feels like to drown in the salty water of the ocean.
Except...she’s never lived by one.
But then she gets a message.
Someone knows about her past, how she became a foster kid, the memories she has of drowning.
All of her questions can be answered at Bitter Rock- the one place that no one ever returns from...not even her mother.

You know when you read a book, and you’re like ‘this would be better as a movie’ ?
That’s how I felt for most of this book.
To begin with, we are simply thrown into the chaos of Bitter Rock island, not fully understanding what’s going on as it switches from the past and the present POV. Everything happens so fast, and you don’t really get to meet the characters, it’s like they don’t have a moment to pause and introduce themselves. The entire thing just has more of a movie thrill than a book one.
But, despite all of that, this was still a great book. Spooky without being obsessively scary. Fast without adding boring fluff.
There’s a lot to like about this book, especially the main plot point and how everything is not always as it seems.

Overall, this is a spooky and fast-paced read. Great for fans of the paranormal, with just enough mystery to have you anxiously turning each page!

((Thank you Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an arc in return of an honest review!

I adore the way Kate Alice Marshall writes YA supernatural horror. Rules for Vanishing was one of my favorite books I read in 2019, and while I didn't love Our Last Echoes quite as much, I was so happy to be back in the world of the Ashford Files. The atmosphere, the mixed media, the friendship, the body horror... it all very much works for me.

We start with a young girl named Sophia who is coming to an isolated island in search of answers about her mother, who disappeared when she was very young. Over the course of the novel Marshall explores the titular "echoes" and what this means for both Sophia and the world she inhabits. This also, like Rules for Vanishing, has such an incredibly haunting ending and I am keen to continue to explore what that means for the universe Marshall has so meticulously crafted.

It's hard to talk about this without spoiling it, especially as I feel like dark thrillers/horrors often work best the less you know, so I'll end it there. But if you're interested in ghosts, unexplained horrors, and interconnected stories, I urge you to pick up this companion series.

This had an intriguing premise but ultimately fell quite flat to me. At no point was I on the edge of my seat and any time a big reveal happened I didn’t feel any surprise or thrill, I just felt a sort of inward version of a shrug. I never got invested in the characters beyond one side character, and I felt very indifferent toward the main character and her experiences.

This book felt like an amalgamation of several movies I’ve watched before. Such as: Jeepers creepers, the birds, mirrors, annihilation, the mist. But most of all, I felt it took several plot lines from the 2005 movie The Fog with Tom Welling. I didn’t feel like it did anything I hadn’t seen before.

While I initially liked the mixed media format, I felt like it ultimately detracted from the “thrill” aspect of the story and gave answers too soon.

The only reason this didn’t get 1 star was because I think Abby was a great character. I LOVED the idea of her ghost sister sending her to the island, her haunted past not causing her to be fearful but rather her courageous attitude toward finding answers for herself and others was the most refreshing part of this book. I’d be interested in reading a follow up featuring Abby, which judging by the ending I assume there will be one.

Our Last Echoes
By Kate Alice Marshall

Our last Echoes is a companion novel to Rules for Vanishing - which I enjoyed immensely. Sophia Novak has been on a search for the truth about what really happened to her mother. This leads her to the island of Bitter Rock in Alaska where she was able to secure an internship at the LARC - Landon Avian Research center where her mother worked before her demise. While there, she befriends Liam whose mother runs LARC and Abby who has been investigating some strange disappearances. This book was really fun to read and I really enjoyed the mystery and a bit of the supernatural as well. I really enjoyed this spooky story and love the characters. In the heart of this spooky read is a story about our families and the lengths we go for the people we love.

This book left me reeling.

I was instantly drawn into the story from the very first page, which is something that rarely happens with me. I absolutely loved the mixed media element, I feel like it brought another layer to the story that I really appreciated. This book is one of the few in which everything is so mysterious, and you are so clueless on as to who you can trust, that you are on the edge of your seat the entire time. I really enjoyed the way Marshall built up the mystery element in the novel, but once more of the supernatural elements started to get mixed in, I started to lose some interest in the story. I think the elements she added were interesting, but they seemed to randomly appear, and didn't make sense some of the time. If this book had stayed more of a realistic mystery novel, then I would have definitely given it five stars. However, since the storyline was so unique, and the characters were so intriguing and strong, it still is one of my favorite books that I have read this year. Marshall did a tremendous job at showing how far someone will go to take care of the ones that they love.

I didn’t like this one quite as much as Rules For Vanishing, but I absolutely loved how it tied in (and it seems like, from the ending, we might see Abby on another adventure in a future book. So that’s exciting! Maybe she’ll be the mc?)

Anyway, I enjoy ghost stories the most when it comes to supernatural/horror stuff, which is why RFV appealed to me more. But I have to say: Marshall’s imagination is incredible! All of the different aspects of the island, the worlds, the echoes, I couldn’t believe some of the things she dreamed up. It kind of reminded me of Stranger Things at some point!

I also think I didn’t click with this mc as much as the one in RFV. There was something a little flat and repetitive about her, and the writing around her was just odd. She’d say something to a character, and then as aside would be like “I’ve always been able to get people to do what I say.” Like... ok? Maybe it was a telling, not showing issue. We were told who she was, not shown. Her character just kind of seemed underdeveloped.

More of a personal thing: This was a book where romance was suuuuper unnecessary, and I kind of wish Marshall had omitted it. I would’ve been more interested in seeing Sophia’s arc end in a way that was truly about herself, not in addition to this other person and how their relationship might continue.

All in all, I enjoyed Our Last Echoes and will certainly keep reading Marshall’s books. I just had high expectations because I loved RFV so much, and it didn’t quite meet them.

First off, thank you to Penguin Teen for the advanced copy for my honest review. The synopsis for this book drew me in... Sophie remembers her mother drowning, but that memory can’t be real, they’ve never been to the ocean. Sophie gets a mysterious call about an island named Bitter Rock and learns her mother was there. So she decides to go to hunt for answers. In 1973, thirty-one residents of Bitter Rock disappeared and their ghostly echoes were left behind.

This story starts off in interview style than merges to Sophie’s story. The beginning, along with they synopsis, drags you in and makes you excited to take this journey with Sophie. The writing was metaphoric and lyrical in ways, but the plot started to loose me. It felt jumbled at moments and hard to follow the farther I got in. The climax was also sadly lacking and left for a disappointing for an ending. I really loved the whole concept, I just feel as a whole it fell really flat.

I didn't really enjoy this one. The set up took FOREVER and it was way too long, and there were so many unnecessary side stories. It started off really creepy and held my attention for a while, and I was definitely curious about what was going on, but around 30% through, I just wanted it to end. It just didn't seem to be going anywhere, and focused too much on things that weren't important.

I was initially interested in this book because it was promoted as being similar to Twin Peaks, and while I don't think that comparison was necessarily justified, it does have some interesting aspects and blends the aspects of the world we know with the world of the supernatural or the things we don't understand.

This was another book that overall ended up being middle of the road for me, and while there were some things that I didn't like (some of the dialogue felt unnatural and not very realistic, I got a little bored toward the end because it seemed like the "big reveal" dragged on for way longer than necessary, not sure why the love interest aspect of it was even really necessary, but maybe that's just me), there were things I liked, too: as previously mentioned, the blending of the natural and supernatural. There was a big, diverse cast of characters who all had their own motives and it was interesting trying to figure out what they were. I'm really interested in the concept of "echoes", but it didn't quite pan out to be what I was expecting it to be or what I initially thought. By far, I think the best part of the book was the setting--both the natural parts of it and the supernatural parts. The wild, secluded island was perfectly described and sounded really beautiful, and the isolation came across on the page. When the island became more spooky and the "fog" rolled in and it took on a more supernatural aspect, I thought that was well described, too.

Like I said, it felt like the end portions of the book dragged a little bit and the big reveal took a long time to get to, but maybe it was just my mood when reading. Overall, pretty middle of the road but I loved aspects like the setting and the mix of natural and supernatural. 3 to 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. Thank you Penguin Teen for the eARC.

Our Last Echoes was an intensely creepy story about Sophia and her attempts at finding out what really happened to her mother. See, Sophia remembers drowning in the briny sea quite vividly as a child and her mother rescuing her only to disappear… but Sophia has never actually been in the ocean. And she was always told how her mother died… in a hospital. But, when she gets a mysterious phone call alerting her to go to Bitter Rock, an island in Alaska, she seeks the answers she needs to find out the truth about what happened all those years ago.

On this island, she attempts to blend in by interning at he very same place her mother worked, LARC, the Landon Avian Research Center, where she meets Liam and later Abby, whom she becomes friends with and together they search for the truth. But it is not exactly easy. There are strange things occurring on this island; have been for years. They tell you not to go out in the mist. There is something in that mist that is dangerous. People go missing on this island and in their place, they leave what are called echoes. These echoes look like you and can act like you, but they have evil plans in mind. Sophia is on the right track to discover the truth, even if it is more terrifying than she ever could have imagined.

This book was so unique. Kate Alice Marshall does a wonderful job of keeping you on the edge of your seat. This book is pitched at Kara Thomas meets Twin Peaks, which is what caught my attention. But there are other elements in here that are much more supernatural in nature. The visuals Marshall has created are simply fantastic and she has written a cast of widely different characters that work so well together. With each page you want to know more. You want to keep going and continue to unravel this spooky tale.

thank you to penguinteen and netgallery for the arc!

this book was... okay. i’m not a huge fan of the horror genre overall, but i’m kind of on a horror kick lately so i thought i’d give this one a try. and although it had a really interesting idea, i felt like it kind of fell short. the action was overwhelming and was pretty much constant for 400 pages. the book was far too long and extremely repetitive. i didn’t connect with any of the characters, and the romance felt forced.

one thing i did enjoy was the back-and-forth between present day and past, and how the past was told through video journals and interviews. it was a nice break from the chaos of the present day storyline.

it’s frustrating when authors suddenly give a new character a POV and just... don’t acknowledge it. the change was extremely confusing unless you figure it out right away and i just didn’t enjoy it.

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.