3.75!

Trapped in a Station that guides the souls across the Veil to the world-to-come, Nera is the Station Master’s daughter, neither alive nor dead. Her Father, wrapped in a distance of his own, teaches her to guide the souls, to never look them in the eye or learn their name, and that the Station must always be lit to fend off the Haunts - souls who never made it to the Station to pass. But when Charlie barrels her way onto the ferry of the dead, Nera’s life is changed. She determines to help Charlie find her sister, for closure, if she can help Nera understand why the Station lighthouse keeps dimming.

What follows is a tale with mythological elements, with moments of Greek tragedy a la Orpheus and Eurydice. It’s tender and aiming to pluck at the heartstrings, with a supplementary queer romance that lightens the tale.

This was so close to being the gripping, emotional page turner I wanted. There were moments where the scene unfurled perfectly, the prose hit just right, and the sentiment snagged my heart strings - but there were just a few too many moments when the beauty of the prose overtook the pacing of the actual story. We truly don’t really get any progress on the plot until about 45% in, and while the premise in itself is stunning, and a heart-rending story, and a necessary rumination on powerful questions, keen-edges things that humans don’t like to think about, I wanted more drive in the plot to keep things ticking over and keep me fully present in the depth of it. (But who doesn’t love magic dogs who guide us all to the Veil? Some might say this de-aged the book, but it was a sweet addition and if I get greeted by a grim reaper dog when it’s my time, I’ll be thrilled.)

However, setting that aside, this is undoubtedly a story of grief. Of love. Of the pain of loss and the ease of locking yourself away from pain, but that means locking yourself out of life, too. It is a tender rumination on how to cope when you lose a love one, and the complex, inevitable dance that all living things do with death.

I love Nera’s compassion, her learned zeal for life. I found her journey from in-between alive and dead to in awe of the world around her charming and sad at the same time. Her reclamation of her own destiny, and her self, was lovely. Charlie’s distress, the pain of losing her sister was suitably hard to read at points for how well it conveys the unbearable weight of something unbearably heavy.

I think, at times, the dedication of the prose to beauty, to Big Ruminations, took a little away from the actual reading experience of this as a book with conflicts and structure and character development and plot points to hit, and threads to pull to unwind the mystery of why there’s a demon in the Water Tower, why there’s a Station that needs a Station Master to guide souls across the Veil, and where Charlie’s sister Sammy is. I understand that this is a great, sweeping exercise in musing on life and love. And that to have one is to inevitably lose it. But when I consider the overall shape of this book, it feels… saggy. Just a little. I also think that every now and then the dialogue clashed with the intense emotional charge of the prose, and de-aged the book a touch.

While I found the flashbacks from the journal that Nera discovers engaging (and painful) and they helped illuminate the present, these threads were lost the further we went on, and they only started giving us backstory about 50% of the way through. I found Nera’s father’s story, for being so central to the plot and the conflict that Charlie and Nera face, was not given the weight it should have been given. I never really felt connected to him as the novel wanted me to, because of the way he’d been written: a plot choice, deliberately made, ensured he was kept emotionally separate from both his past and Nera. I would have liked more depth given back to him, or a bit more depth from him in general, considering his story is why we’re in Nera’s shoes to begin with.

But Charlie’s representation was haunting in itself. This is all about the ghosts we carry, whether they are peaceful or whether they are Haunts with unfinished business. It is about learning to live with pain, with grief, to have unanswered questions and regrets. Charlie is plagued with guilt, and seeing her journey to work through that guilt is a true exploration of how to recover from loss. That’s where the poignancy comes from.

Niggles aside, this was a tender and sad contemporary fantasy, which will undoubtedly be a balm to those who are grieving. It is a sweet first romance (with delightful unexpected Demi rep) with big aspirations and a whole bucket of love as it’s driver. Though I do wish we could lose 50 pages from the beginning half, to make the premise hit with the impact that I think it truly deserves.

I really wanted to love this book as the premise sounded right up my alley. A way station between life and whatever comes next? Dogs guiding the dead? That had me immediately intrigued. However while there were elements I liked, overall I just didn’t get pulled into the story the way I’d hoped.

The concept is beautiful, and the emotional themes are clear, but the writing felt heavy and clunky at times to me. The descriptive passages meant to flesh out the world ended up slowing the pace so much that it disrupted my connection to the characters and the plot. Instead of being swept away, I often found myself distracted or having to push through.

That said, I’ve seen lots of glowing reviews, and I can definitely see this working for fans of richly detailed fantasy who enjoy slower, more meditative reads about love, loss, and letting go. Unfortunately, it just didn’t quite land for me.

This book was a fairly easy read for me but I did find it difficult to concentrate. I think maybe the genre of the book wasn't for me but I would recommend this to others

A beautiful tale about finding light in the midst of grief and depression. With a slightly new take on the journey to the afterlife, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World explores themes of loss and love, letting go and finding a path out of despair. The prose was beautiful and the descriptions of the Station Master's daughter, Nera, as she experiences some of the joys of life are a poignant reminder of all we take for granted.

Thanks to Dawson, NetGalley and Tor/Pan Macmillan for the chance to read ahead of release.

I think this is the most beautiful book I've read this year and I need more people to read and talk about it.

As someone who is grieving a loss, this book was painful but also helpful. It is a stunning story about the impact of grief but also the hope for life and the power of enduring love.

Following Charlie, who is trying to come to terms with what death means, and Nera, who is finally coming alive, it creates a rich and wonderful world where grief and joy walk hand in hand. It's about finding yourself again after loss and learning to deal with a world that is irrevocably changed while still holding onto those you have loved.

This book will break your heart into pieces but then put it back together perfectly, if not a little bit better than before.

This is what I want from contemporary fantasy: beautiful prose, a heartfelt story, beautiful characters, and talking dogs.

I honestly can't recommend it enough. Just make sure you have tissues to hand.

A beautiful and poignant story of love, grief, and belonging. This was gorgeously written, I loved the romance and the Orpheus x Eurydice undertones and I thought it was a very unique premise!

My only criticism is that it felt quite slow in places to the detriment of the emotional impact, but I still enjoyed it!

A Lighthouse whose light must never go out, a world between life and death, talking dogs, encroaching demons, and a beautiful sapphic love story. All of which caused me to sob and laugh out loud in J.R.Dawsons poignant story about grief, identity, and letting go. I devoured this in a day!

Charlie, coping with the death of her sister, follows a dog to the outskirts of Chicago where she stumbles across a mysterious Lighthouse waystation, hovering between worlds. Nera and her father live here, guiding the ghosts of the dead to the afterlife, but something is not quite right, and the light begins to falter. Charlie and Nera must save the magic and the light whilst discovering and questioning their own identity, grief, and ideas of living.

J.R.Dawson uses the characters of  Nera and Charlie to demonstrate the differences in how life can be lived. Nera's father at first appeared cold and reserved, but as the story progressed, I felt this was done to show the difference between young love and fatherly love adding depth to the story.

The imagery and world building around the lighthouse waystation beautifully conveyed the stages of grief and the differing times it takes people to heal. The magic of the light added to this seamlessly showing the joy and release that death and nostalgia can often bring.

The talking dogs allowed light relief throughout and encouraged the lighter side of the two girls. This was also seen in Nera and Charlie's relationship, which helped the story to flow. I did feel at times there were too many different characters interacting, especially with the dogs - but this didn't detract from the story.

Overall, a timeless portrayal of how love, friendship, and grief never come alone. Where two young women follow hope to break and heal their hearts, just as this novel did for me.

Thank you to NetGallery and Pan Macmillian for the chance to read and review this ARC ☺️

Thanks to Pan Macmillan for this magical arc!
Are you looking for a heartfelt story with mythology links, the best of dogs, and waystations for the dead?
If so, the lighthouse that sits between the lands of the dead and living may be your next bookish getaway!
And in the cozy, safe atmosphere of the lighthouse, live the characters – my favourite of which was sad lighthouse dad: Harosen. though that did not stop me from also loving Nera and Charlie, alongside wonderful side characters Red and Edna. The dogs were also a much needed brightness amid the darker topics. This book does not hold back, but it does explore grief in all its ugliness, and contrasts it with the joy of life – particularly through the sweetness of the main relationship.
Yet, despite the above, I felt that the book ended up getting a little lost. This, i think, was down to structure: it took a detour at romance and tension out of the plot, causing drags and also rushed parts: like the main relationship. Even the world-building, strong at the beginning, struggled as the book came to a too-clean ending - one that left a bitter taste, as someone who knows that grief can be irrepairable.
That being said, this had a heart of gold, making it worth reading and recommending!

With echoes of 'before the coffee gets cold", this is a deep and meaningful novel. It does have some difficult sections but overall very well done. I did enjoy reading this reflective book.

I read this book at the wrong time! It nearly destroyed me! I lost my Mum only a couple of weeks ago and I’m not ok. I know I’m not ok but, I made a commitment to read this book and I was going to keep it. It’s my way of coping, not everyone works this way. I’m not sure I work this way but, it’s what I am doing.
Set in Chicago, the story is placed at the Lighthouse that helps the recently deceased to move on and Nera, daughter (adopted) to the Lighthouse Keeper lives a half life, kind of limbo like, helping her father until the risk of the Lighthouse light going out increases and should it ever go out completely will allow ‘Haunts’ – demon infected ghosts to return to Chicago, where previously their entry caused an inferno that almost destroyed the city. The other key character in this story is Charlie, grieving following the loss of her sister six months earlier, she can now see ghosts, and finds her way to the Lighthouse after following a dog humming her deceased sister’s unfinished song in the hope of finding her sister but, actually showing Nera the power of music and the strength it provides to the Lighthouse.

There is a sapphic romance within, which is both tender and emotional but, in line with the theme of the story is very much linked to life and death, love and loss, and in my personal emotional state only heightened the depth of exploration of grief, self-entrapment within loss, all of which I’ll be honest I found a little overwhelming in my current emotional state.

Ultimately, this book is an exploration of grief, it could be said a symphony dedicated to loss, Charlie’s abandonment of life following her sister’s death, Nera never having truly lived, trapped in the half-life of the Lighthouse, and the Lighthouse Keeper abandoning his mortal life and everything, except Nera. J.R. Dawson has woven an emotional tableau from words and music to pay homage to the inspiration taken from the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

A highly grounded exploration of grief in a not-so-contemporary fantasy about a ferryman's daughter living in-between the boundaries of life and death at a lighthouse who yearns for excitement and a living person who is lost after the loss of her beloved sister.

Nera's side of the world and her side intrigued me more than Charlie's. The plot though seemingly quick at first, felt like it slowed a lot around the middle, making me sleepy. The twist was fun and nicely linked back to the beginning of the story and Nera's questions. It added more tragicness to a story that balanced between hope and despair. Charlie's arc and her struggles are certainly impactful and will resonate with those who also are destabilised by the death of a loved one. The metaphor with the lighthouse and the incomplete music were highly relevant and made for some sentimental storytelling. The not-so-fairytale-level-clean ending, instead being more tentative and subdued, lends more grounded elements to the story and its message about moving on and living life.

Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan | Tor for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review.

I so badly wanted to love this novel, but I just didn't connect with it. Perhaps it fell foul of my heightened expectations, perhaps its just a case of wrong time for reading on my part (there are some heavy themes which are laid out as triggers warning in the authors note). The authors imagination and care for their characters is undeniable, and I can not take away from all the advanced reviewers who loved it.

Ultimately, I did not finish reading this novel. However, having read a significant amount and reviewing Netgalley guidelines, I believe I am able to offer a review. I would like to thank netgalley, author and publisher for this ARC.

As an aside. I adore 'The First Bright Thing' by the author, and highly recommend that to any prospective readers.

This is a beautiful magical realism adjacent fantasy about grief and loss.

The story takes place in Chicago, and the lighthouse station that helps guide the city's dead to move on. Nera is the adopted daughter of the lighthouse keeper, and was raised at this station, not quite living and not quite dead. She doesn't eat or sleep, just helps around the station, preparing for the day when she will take over keeping the lighthouse from her father. The lighthouse is at risk of going out, and if it does, haunts can enter the station, a form of ghosts infected by a demon who causes a great fire in Chicago about a 100 years ago. Nera must finds a way to keep the lighthouse going, or risk the destruction of the entire city.

Charlie is a human woman living in the city, struggling with her grief for her sister, who died half a year earlier. She gained the ability to see ghosts after her sister dies, and one day she follows a dog singing her sister's incomplete song to the lighthouse, the first living person to do so. Here, Charlie and Nera meet,and Charlie wants nothing more than to find her sister's ghost, while Nera realizes Charlie's music strenghtens the lighthouse. They make a deal, Charlie comes at night to play music, while Nera tries to help her find her sister.

This book ultimately explores grief, and what it means to live. Charlie stopped living after her sister died, and feels an immense survivor's guilt over her death. Meanwhile, Nera has never left the station and has never truly lived, and doesn't know what any of it means. Nera's father was a mortal man before he became the lighthouse keeper, but he too stopped living, he closed himself off from anything except Nera, chose to forget his mortal life, and no longer seeks to know the ghosts that pass through the station even as he guides them.

Charlie's family is a very musical family, and I really liked how this was woven into the book. Many music references, and there's even a little bit of sheet music somewhere for Sam's song, which I found a really cool addition. This also ties in well with the Orpheus & Eurydice inspiration behind the story, even if it's not quite the same.

I found the aspect of the talking dogs really cute and funny, though I do think there was a few dogs too many, which made it difficult to keep track of who is who. Beyond them, there weren't that many important characters, so I had no issue telling who is who with the humans. The talking dogs have the task to care for the ghosts and guide them on, and already did that before Nera's father even built the lighthouse.

The romance was very sweet and emotional, difficult because Nera believes she has to stay at the lighthouse at all times, while Charlie cannot stay there or she would be unable to live, and I like how the romance explored this living vs not living theme.

Both main characters are Jewish, and while Nera is a bit more disconnected from the living world, and the magic elements aren't necessarily informed by religion, it felt like an important aspect of both characters.

I found Nera's father also quite an interesting character, and I enjoyed learning more about his past as the story unfolded. He seems cold and distant, even if he does clearly love Nera, and has completely turned his back on the living world, but he has a lot of depth, and a rather tragic story I enjoyed.

I would highly recommend this book to people who love grounded, modern world fantasy, sapphic romance and explorations of grief

I’ve read a few fantasy books which centre around the theme of grief recently and just look at that beautiful cover! I was excited to dive into The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World.

Nera is the Station Master’s daughter – guiding the souls of the dead towards the veil. However, when an alive woman appears inside the station, many questions need to be answered.

I was gripped with the setting of The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World. The failing lighthouse keeping the angry spirits at bay and the station to house those that don’t want to cross, felt oddly realistic and grounded. The dogs who work to help the crossings were also charming, each with their own personalities.

The book switches perspectives between Charlie, who is trying to find her dead sister and Nera who guides the lost souls. I think the book works best if you don’t think about the details too hard - I was confused how Nera arrived at the Station and why she could stay if she was also alive, the origin story of her father becoming the Station Master was also puzzling. I found the layout of the station to also be a little odd and I struggled to picture it against the lighthouse setting.

The overall themes of the story – of grief and love and letting go are beautifully portrayed though. I really felt for Charlie, trying to find out what happened to her sister after her death and struggling to want to stay in the land of the living without her. The imagery of the unfinished piece of music being played in the Station was also powerful as was the relationship between the two main characters. I really enjoyed the ending, without giving anything away it wrapped up the main conflict but did not resolve everything neatly and left the way open for hope which I think was the perfect balance for such a story.

Overall, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World is a powerful story of grief and what it means to be alive. Thank you to NetGalley & Pan Macmillan – Tor for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

There was something so incredible about the world created in this book. The parallel underworld of the dead that embraces Chicago. I was mesmerised by this dark world created with the lighthouse, the station and the dogs! There was a real beauty to this land of the dead and the shepherds that try to protect and guide the dead.

There’s som true sadness to this story and it does look at some quite visceral grief. We have two main characters and one of them is entirely defined early on by the loss of a loved one. This drives all her decisions and she cannot see beyond her grief. She is extremely prickly at first and I didn’t like how rude she was to the other main character.

There is a journey of self discovery for both characters as well as a romance. This was quite lovely and gave the characters a view of a different world and a new perspective on life.

This was quite charming whilst also balancing a darkness and exploration of serious themes and danger.

Do you know that feeling when you read an emotional book and it just doesn't hit the way it should? That happened to me here. "The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World" is a grief-filled book in which two living women navigate the realm of the dead, but it just never gripped me. I expected a lot from a waystation for the dead where souls spend time until they are ready to be ferried into the afterlife. I was thinking about the video game "Spiritfarer" immediately (amazing game, check it out), but the book didn't go into a fantastical direction all too much. It really reads more like a contemporary book than a fantasy, and maybe that was my main problem. There still is a lot of time spent in the waystation where Nera is the apprentice to her father, the ferryman of the dead. Together with their dogs they bring souls to the afterlife every day, but the job gets interrupted when the living woman Charlie appears on their boat. Charlie has been seeing ghosts for a while now, but she just can't find the one of her dead sister, so she impossibly stumbles into the waystation to find her. Nera promises to help her with her search and the two of them steadily learn more about the realm of the dead and its inhabitants. It was really strange to me how Nera seemed to know nothing of the place that she lived in for centuries. She was a blank page to me, with the way she learned everything as the story went on – first about her own world, then about the world of the living. I also didn't really like exploring the waystation itself, because it did not feel as ethereal as I imagine such a place to be. It might be because of the writing style that just never felt as lyrical as I was promised. It was more casual, and even vulgar during dialogue, altogether kinda clashing with the emotional vibe that was meant to be transported in this book. And I usually like talking animal companions in books, but the soul-guiding dogs were often used as comic reliefs, and I couldn't stand them if I'm honest. The story is about learning what it means to be alive when surrounded by death, about clinging to the past and letting go, but all progress felt really slow to me. Nera learns about the Jewish heritage of her father, but all information is only given piece by piece. Charlie's whole goal is finding her sister, but it just takes so long before the search even starts. I know that this book is also about the irreversibility of death, but it felt like it was promising things that then didn't happen. It didn't help that Charlie's plotline was a lot about music, because musical themes in books are almost always lost on me. That just shows again that I am the problem here. I don't think that this is a bad read whatsoever and I have no doubt that this book will mean a lot to many readers, but it was just not my thing for multiple reasons.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan / Tor for providing a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

3 5/5
A beautiful story about love and loss and the meaning of death and life itself. I loved following Charlie's exploration of her grief for her sister and the love that grew between her and Nera.
There were parts which felt quite repetitive and at times I felt like I was skimming pages - but overall heartwarming.

Thank you NetGalley and PanMacmillan/Tor for the ARC!

5/5

A beautiful and layered psychological novel about grief, heartbreak, and finding light in one’s life. Mostly character driven, “The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World” is an essay on finding peace even when everything seems hopeless and it is a struggle to even feel anything other than pain. The novel is almost poetically written, the prose fluid and powerful, laced with both heartwarming and heartbreaking metaphors, managing to bring out sensibilities which involve both the joy and pain of living, and the peace and sadness of death. The setting has minor elements of Greek Mythology mixed with Judaism, and offers a deep spirituality and complexity of faith, and the relationship — or lack of — one has with simply believing.

There are four main characters, but the focus most of the time is on Nera and Charlie. Nera lives in the in-between, with her father, the ferryman of the dead. She is in a state of dullness, of eternal monotony until she has light sparked into her heart and realises that despite her being in touch with something more divine, she is still alive. The first breath, the first tactile feeling, the first taste, the first feeling of warmth — these are new experiences to her, along with the discovery of both friendship and romance. Nera’s black and white world suddenly explodes into colour once Charlie comes in like a wrecking ball. Deeply spiritual and eager to learn, Nera’s character is the heart of the novel, the one who keeps persevering despite the challenges that keep interfering with her progress. Her character arc is beautiful — from a shell to a human, a lovely and deeply personal evolution.

Charlie also finds light through Nera; however, Charlie is a deeply depressed and grieving soul, who even when she strays, she ultimately wants to find her sister’s soul at all costs. Her mission is difficult not only because of the pain she bears in her heart all the time, but also due to external factors which cause her grief to be expressed in a deeply egotistical way. Charlie’s selfishness is however tempered by Nera’s selflessness, and that is beautifully paralleled throughout the entire novel. This characteristic of Charlie’s is also what pushes the plot forward, so it was nice to see the static become dynamic though the intrinsic progression of the stages of human grief.

The ferryman’s story becomes central to the resolution of the novel, and it possesses a very tragic beauty. But sometimes the best stories are the ones which manage to capture our hearts, despite them not being the most full of joy. The ferryman’s life felt exactly like that.

I enjoyed the ending and how ultimately it focused on love, but a healthy and naturally progressive love, encouraging the type of relationships which are both equal in standing and full of faith to one another. From something which started as rather co-dependent, the natural and raw line of evolution of the love story was a sight to see.

Lastly, I haven’t read neither “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi nor “Under the Whispering Door” by TJ Klune, so I cannot say how much this novel can be compared to those, however, I found this has similar elements to “Into the Forest of Fireflies Light” and “Natsume's Book of Friends” by Yuki Midorikawa, “Suzume” by Makoto Shinkai, and “The Boy and the Heron” by Hayao Miyazaki. If you have enjoyed any of these works and films, “The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World” is definitely a book you shouldn’t miss out on.

Nera and her father, Harosen, live on the shores of Lake Michigan in the lighthouse. Every night they ferry the recently departed to the veil between this world and the next. Into their lives comes Charlie, a young Chicagoan who, after the loss of her sister, finds herself suddenly able to see the dead, but not the one she really wants to. The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World is a beautifully written study in love, death and grief that's packed with compelling characters.

Thanks to NetGalley, Pan Macmillan and the author for an advance copy.

Beautiful, haunting writing. Grief, loss and love, this book has it all. Nera lives at the Station with her father where they ferry the souls of the dead to the Veil. Charlie is grief-stricken since her sister Sam's death, but also suddenly able to see ghosts. Somehow, Charlie manages to follow the dead and get onto the ferry looking for her sister, where she meets Nera. Both Charlie and Nera find love, life and healing with each other for a time. And an ending that I didn't expect at all! A wonderful story, if perhaps, a little slow in the telling.
Thanks to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan, and J.R. Dawson for the free ARC. All opinions are my own.