Six of Sorrow by Amanda Linsmeier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up **
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Six of Sorrow is a YA Dark Fantasy story from Amanda Linsmeier. This is the first novel that I’ve read from this author, but I’m excited to get to more.
This story is set in a small town, where six girls, all with the same birthday, have been thick as thieves since they were kids. More recently though, a misunderstanding has caused a fracture in their once tight group.
Our main character, Isabeau, who goes mostly by Iz, only has one friend left from the group, her best friend, Reuel, who would never abandon her.
On the night of their 16th-birthday, Iz and Reuel are hanging out at Reuel’s house, when Iz has to leave suddenly. When Iz leaves, Reuel is sitting on her front porch. The next morning Reuel is gone.
News of Reuel’s disappearance shakes the close-knit town and massive search efforts are put in place. This incident brings out the other girls from the friendship group and they begrudgingly begin talking to Iz again.
After all, one of their own is missing. It’s time to put petty differences aside in order to find her.
Three days later, Reuel reappears. She’s unable to express where she has been, or what has happened to her since she’s been gone, but it’s clear something is off.
She’s in rough shape, very sick and it’s unclear as to why. The girls are all concerned and this concern ends up bringing them even closer together. Then another one in their group disappears…
We then follow the remaining girls as they try to figure out the mystery of their town and what’s happening to them. They end up researching town history and local lore.
Soon it becomes clear that they might all have more in common than just their birthdays. They’ve been connected by something much deeper, and darker, than that since before they were even born. Now they must stop an evil force before it destroys everything they love.
I had a lot of fun with this. Linsmeier quickly drew me into the story with the development of this quirky town. It’s apparent that something is special about this group of girls as well. I mean, how can a group of six all have been born on the exact same day in the same small town?
The town was also atmospheric in an unsettling, yet intriguing way. There’s a legend of a local witch and other things that just seem a bit peculiar. It’s definitely a unique setting that added a lot of substance to the story.
There were some interesting occult elements and I loved to see how the author used those to explain everything that was going on. There’s even a Book of Shadows!
For me, the star of the show though was the friend group. They had interesting dynamics and I liked watching them band together and work towards a common goal. They had much more power together.
Overall, this was a quick, compelling read. I like how the story evolved and played out. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely a great time. As mentioned above, I’m looking forward to more from this author.
Thank you to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. If you enjoy a Dark Fantasy story with strong friendship vibes, you should definitely pick this one up!