Well, 'The Lake of Souls' is by far the most trippy book of the series and I'm very excited to re-experience it. It's the most interesting book of the series too. It simply feels like a whole different genre all of a sudden. I mean it still has it's horror elements no doubt but, it really feels like a pure fantasy more than any other book in the series. 'Sons of Destiny' is pretty darn fantasy heavy in many ways as well but, this one still probably has it beat in that department.
Darren is obviously really shaken up by Mr. Crepsley's death and much of these opening chapters are of him basically experiencing the stages of grief. It's pretty depressing for sure. I mentioned in one of my 'Killers of the Dawn' posts that the series completely enters a new phase after book nine and well, now that I'm into 'The Lake of Souls' officially, I really feel the vibe shift. Each new trilogy feels like a new phase has begun but, these last three are just built different. In these opening chapters, Darren really feels empty and aimless and man, that's just tough.
Without a real idea where to go next, and wanting some time to himself, Darren briefly returns to the Cirque Du Freak and it's pretty cool honestly. I love how this series is twelve books and everything, but of course each book is fairly short. So the series feels long but it also has that short story vibe as well. Many events in the story move swiftly, and certain details are up for interpretation. The way these books cover timespans is just really beautiful to me.
So yeah after the battle and death of Mr. Crepsley, Darren returns and Truska helps him deal with the pain and it's really touching. Overall it appears that Darren spends roughly five months with the Cirque. November to March. It's described as a wintry November to start, and later towards the end of his stint with the Cirque, it's described to be in March. Specifically, the opening line of chapter three goes:
"It was a cold but dry March — star-filled nights, frost white dawns and sharp blue days."
I won't necessarily pretend that that's the most beautiful line ever written, but it is very beautiful. I can easily picture days like that in my mind and appreciate them. Also, the timing and context of when it was written was actually amazing. It just feels as if Darren is finally healing after his loss. Ugh, so nice.
This time span from November to March essentially is covered in a singular chapter and I actually love it for some reason. It's just real, and it's just beautiful because well, time does tend to fly in real life. Sometimes five months feels like two weeks.
But furthermore, this book really transforms into like an out of body experience. As corny as it sounds, it's sort of therapeutic after Darren deals with such a loss. Well, that's a bit self-centered I guess because the journey he's about to partake in, is actually for the benefit of Harkat Mulds but, hear me out I guess. If anything it's perhaps good for Darren that he's helping a friend instead of being in his own head and wallowing in self pity.
Darren has dealt with a major death. Now he's thrust into an other worldly journey in an unknown dangerous place. It's disorienting, scary, and simply cryptic. The point of it is to help Harkat discover who he was in his prior life.
This seemingly alien land and new quest is sort of symbolic of what it must feel like for Darren right now. He's over the initial sting of Mr. Crepsley's death, but he's still getting over it. It must feel unsettling, new, and simply blatantly scary and uncomfortable imagining how he'll navigate this new phase of his life without Mr. Crepsley by his side. Of course, Darren is getting older in general and dealing with the truth of who Steve really is as well. It's been a crazy ride no doubt about it.
When I first read these books, this book felt random as heck to me, it was thrilling, don't get me wrong, but I of course didn't necessarily fully understand the bigger picture of this book.
Even though I can more clearly see what the purpose of this book is, well, I could be wrong what do I know. But I think I'm on the right track. Anyway, even though I can see the point of this book a bit more nowadays, it still makes it an exciting re-read because I can look at it with a new angle, a new perspective, and appreciate the deeper meaning behind much of this. In fact, while Mr. Tiny is insufferable in many ways, he's literally destiny in the form of a human (basically). So, now in this read, I find it harder to really fully hate him. He's simply living on a totally different, incomprehensible level. He's a god basically, and mother nature, and father time all wrapped in one. He's annoying and frustrating of course, but he's also just inevitable.
Beyond Darren, I am of course SERIOUSLY curious about how I'll interpret and feel about Harkat here. This is basically Harkat's book I feel. It's like, we are all of a sudden enjoying Kurda/Harkat's storyline and Darren honestly takes a bit of a backseat. He learns a lot of course don't get me wrong and he shows solid character by being loyal to Harkat after all Harkat has done for him but yeah, this is Harkat's time right now.
I'm so curious what new thoughts and new feelings will come to me as I progress.
This series is just unbelievable. I love it. This is also the longest book of the series, which is pretty cool.
