⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World is a beautifully poignant and magical contemporary queer fantasy.

I loved this one. This story was certainly reminiscent of Hadestown and T.J. Klune’s work, and I adored the whimsical, emotional atmosphere. The settings were creative and vivid, propelling the captivating and tender plot. The believable and vibrant characters added to the powerful explorations of grief, hope, love, duty, and family. The romance between Charlie and Nera was touching, and while some moments were heart-wrenching, the hopeful ending brought a satisfied smile to my face. The pacing fit the story nicely, and the incorporation of magic, music, adventure, and new experiences was lovely. J.R. Dawson’s prose was beautiful and moving. I highly recommend this wonderful story!

Lindsey Dorcus and Mara Wilson presented a beautifully immersive listening experience. Their voices fit the story's characters, emotion, and atmosphere well, although the delivery of a few of Charlie’s lines occasionally felt odd and stiffer than I was expecting. The incorporation of music from the sheet music in the book was fantastic, and I highly recommend listening to the audiobook as you read the book, because although the audiobook is wonderfully immersive with its lovely narrators and inclusion of actual music, you will miss some of the images included in the physical copy. Overall, I highly recommend the audiobook!

Thank you to the publisher for the free ALC!

To start off my review I want to give a major content warning for this book since I know friends from high school follow me. The main character of this book lost her sister due to a mass shooting and is dealing with a great deal of survivors guilt resulting in suicidal ideation because she was present during the shooting. There are on page scenes describing the shooting, her experience hiding during the shooting, the aftermath, and leaving the scene. Mass casualty events are something that triggers me but this book handled it in a respectful way. However, for the folks were at Pilchuck and especially those who were in the cafeteria I could see this book bringing up some unwelcome emotions.

This book was a really resonant musing on the grief of losing a loved one before their time. I didn't lose a family member in the school shooting that I experienced but this is the first piece of media that I've engaged with that captures the mixture of grief and palpable anger that you experience in the aftermath. I've had over a decade to process everything but in that first year I remember feeling a lot of anger towards the shooter. At it's core this is a book about how grief manifests, how we engage with loss, and what it means to be alive.

The concept of a book that explores grief and the afterlife through a fantastical lens is nothing new but I really enjoyed the lore Dawson created. A lot of this book celebrates Judaism and it's rituals surrounding death. If you feel like other afterlife books are far too Christian then I think you'll enjoy the way that this story deviates.

What kept this from being a 5 star read for me was probably Nera's naivety. It's just an aspect of a character's personality that I don't generally love. Overall though, I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend the audiobook because it has a solid musical element. Also I must gas up the wonderful Mara Wilson who does impeccable work on this audiobook. Please publishers hire Mara to read 1000 more sapphic audiobooks.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free audio-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Lighthouse at the Edge of the world follows two young women, both experiencing their own forms of grief, as they navigate relations and the realm to the underworld.
This novel explores sibling relationships and loss, found family, struggles with parents, religion, magic, and so much more, in a completely heartwarming and emotional story. Charlie, who has lost her sister and blames herself for the death and her family falling apart, accidently wanders into the waystation for the dead, and meets the ferryman and his daughter, Nera. Nera learns to experience life and what it means to be alive, while helping Charlie find her sister’s soul.
Between the heartbreaking moments there is comic relief through talking dogs, but it flowed smoothly, giving you (the reader) time to rest between painful memories and subconscious thoughts on what it means to live, to die.
This was a beautiful, emotional read, and I cannot recommend it more.

Lindsey Dorcus and Mara Wilson did such a wonderful job on the audiobook. Beautiful, clear voices that so perfectly reflected both POVs.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

this was a sweet story about love, forgiveness and what comes after we die. I am not 100% sold on schmultzy feel good books though. but for those who loved The Midnight Library, this is right up your alley!
the audio version was very well narrated and kept me listening.
thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

3.5

OVERALL…
The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World comes with emotional layers, a bit of pain, and a lot of magical moments. While, despite wanting to be swept away, I always remained just this side of loving it, it is a good book with an intriguing premise and great writing. I love how combines the whimsical with an urban setting.

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I very much enjoy a book that feels a little blurry and focuses heavy on the emotional impact and tragic vibes rather than feeling the need to craft a detailed picture with intense colors. Which The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World is!

Sadly, it still missed the mark just so for me. It was always just ALMOST intriguing and I felt like it should have affected me more.

Conflicts occurred, twists happened and my interest was peaked several times, yet somehow it always fizzled out quickly and ended up feeling dragging again. In its entirety, it just felt a tad anticlimactic.
Which is a pity because the concept is beautiful and the world building is amazing.

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CHARACTERS

While not my first sapphic read in general, this was my first sapphic fantasy and I admit, as someone someone who always immediately identifies with the FMC, it's still a bit difficult for me to remain in the movie in my head when the focus is on two female leads. However, I knew that going in and I will keep trying. And most importantly, this does not affect my rating of the book.

Both Nera and Charlie are well crafted and get their space for development. Charlie in particular is an interesting character. At first glance, her personality seems to revolve entirely around grief and her role as a sister, yet, in the contrast of those lines, the author managed to tell us exactly who Charlie is.

Nera on the other hand is feels comfortably mature in a way that shouldn’t make sense but somehow does, while still being heavily led by a very pure kind of curiosity.

A very fun addition were the dogs with their distinct characters. I loved them!


WRITING

The writing was smooth and the tone matched the story in my opinion. The way the author played with reality, both visually and with stylistic devices, was ingenious.

I also enjoyed the narration a lot.



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Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and J.R. Dawson for an ALC of this book.

A touching emotional story that flows from melancholy to hope guided by the Lighthouse at the Edge of the World. is told from the perspectives of two characters that were never meant to know each other, or maybe they were always meant to know each other and alter each other's existences irrevocably. Charlie's world was shattered before she met Nera. Nera lived on a lonely fringe of the world before Charlie wandered in. Together they find love, and try to put the broken pieces of their lives together as they deal with grief, loss, and a mystery that the daughter of the lighthouse keeper has inherited. Mysticism and fantasy are cloaks for this moving, at times sad, and then hopeful tale. I don't know if others will agree but the sometimes comical dogs that guide the ghosts added a much-needed touch of lightness to the story so that I was not overwhelmed with sadness. But for those that get choked up at certain commercials, you might want to have a box of tissues ready.
I listened to the audiobook of this story and appreciated the talented narrators that brought feeling into the voices of Nera and Charlie.
I received the ALC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Macmillan Audio) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.