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elliepeake's review
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
greybeard49's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this the final book in Caldecott's trilogy. Great characters, a super, if a little complicated, storyline and spikes dialogue. Overall a very well written and enjoyable experience.
cawcaw8553's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
michaelcattigan's review against another edition
4.0
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Lost Acre, Andrew Caldecott
Posted by THE BOOK LOVER'S SANCTUARY onJUL 16, 2019

This is a deliciously quirky trilogy of novels! Many many things in the books, Rotherweirdand Wyntertyde should not work, and yet they somehow do.
Gosh! Wyntertyde had left us on a cliffhanger: a second mixing point was discovered; Bolitho was revealed as Fortemain and then dispatched; the vile Calx Bole had succeeded in resurrecting his master, Geryon Wynter, after five hundred years dead.
We return in this, the third and final book in the series, to the secluded and very British valley town of Rotherweird, cut off from the rest of England and its own history by a series of legal and historical precedents. A seclusion build on hidden secrets which the series has already generally revealed: Elizabethan child prodigies (note how I avoid the challenge of pluralising the word “genius”!) known as the Eleusians; Lost Acre, the other place, a mysterious alternate universe of wild and hybrid creatures and the ‘mixing point’ in which chimera and monsters can be created of animal and people and apparently eternal life granted; the sinister mystic, scientist, megalomaniac, monomaniac Geryon Wynter, reincarnated and returned at the conclusion of Wyntertyde through the service and sacrifice of his shape shifting colleague and Calx Bole.
Wynter’s renaissance somewhat eclipses the chaos of the election of mayor in the previous book and he slowly ingratiates himself into society, prominence and power. Some of our main point of view characters start to question the narrative which places Wynter in the villain’s mantle. Has he been misunderstood? Misrepresented?
Ranged against Wynter and his army of apothecaries and followers are a ragtag ensemble: Jonah Oblong, a gangly and socially awkward historian and outsider who struggled to find a niche in Rotherweird for two books and doesn’t seem to have much more success in this one; Gorhambury, the fastidious and particular town clerk; Vixen Valourhand, a scientist and somewhat rogue character vaulting around the rooftops of the town; Gregorius Jones, a PE Teacher whose role increases significantly in this novel; the mysterious Ferensen, previously Hieronymous Seer and his sister (and erstwhile spider-hybrid beast, now in recovery) and artist, Morval Seer; and Orelia Roc, local shopowner and mayoral candidate and the closest the series has to a hero. Maybe. And Tyke: immortal, enigmatic, innocent and Christ-like.
None of the characters particularly take prominence and it is hard to identify a protagonist of any of them; and none of them feel terribly fleshed out and at least partially identifiable as tropes. This is no Stoker-esque band of light to set against the dark but a fractured and fractious group of individuals with separate agenda and only occasionally working together – and even then a little suspicious of each other. And they seem to do a lot of waiting. Perhaps “agency” is the word I’m striving for: very few of the characters possessed agency. Events happened to them, more often than not; they didn’t particularly work towards an end point. And as for the more secondary characters, I’m not entirely able, even after three novels, to separate some of them – Smiths and Strimmers and Snorkels. As a teacher, as a reviewer, I wantto describe them as thin or two-dimensional…. and yet I still ended up caring for them and liking them. Roc – possibly underused – and Oblong perhaps had the strongest journey; and thankfully the romantic subplot trope between them was avoided – although some love interests were a little clumsily shoe-horned into the final chapters.
The central character in the novel and in the series, however, is the town of Rotherweird itself: Gothic and Dickensian and … Gormenghast-ly. Towering rickety buildings, dark alleyways, hidden catacombs, aerial walkways. Strange and arcane traditions which are both sinister and delightful. Town and country divisions and tensions strangely resonant with current politics.
There is an intellectual and erudite mind behind these books: dare I say the mind of a geek and a puzzle enthusiast. Which is not unexpected as the author is also a barrister. Mythology is entwined through and redolent within the pages of the novel in a way reminiscent of a crossword. Central images of trees and the alternative reality of Lost Acre recalled the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and explicitly Yggdrasil. Some characters consciously drew from myths: harpies and chimeras, Persephone. Christ. Nothing that required knowledge of the mythology to grasp, but enough that it sparked off those little connections – glints of light as other stories slide through the narrative warp and weft of this one.
The writing is decent – albeit on occasion with slightly dizzying shifts in narrative points of view so that it can become a little confusing whose point of view you are being presented with. But I had a few gripes: description and atmosphere was at times sacrificed for plot and I personally would have liked to have spent more time in the eponymous Lost Acre.
In short, a clever, quirky and enjoyable jaunt into a gothic mystery spanning the millenia between Roman invasions (Gregorius), the Elizabethans (Bole and Wynter, Ferensen and the Seers) and the modern day. The word that comes to mind in retrospect is perhaps charming…
Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of the novel in exchange for an honest review. And apologies to Jo Fletcher, the publisher, that I did not get a review up earlier: as a teacher June and July are in the middle of exam marking period! Sorry!
Ratings:
Overall: 
Characters: 
Plot / Pace: 
Language: 
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Date: 25th July 2019
Available: Amazon
2019ARCCalx BoleEleusiansFerensenGeryon WynterGorhamburyGormenghastGothicGregorius JonesHieronymous SeerJesus ChristJonah OblongMorval SeerOrelia RocRotherweirdThe Garden of EdenThe Tree of Knowledge of Good and EvilTykeVixen Valourhandwyntertyde
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Lost Acre, Andrew Caldecott
Posted by THE BOOK LOVER'S SANCTUARY onJUL 16, 2019

This is a deliciously quirky trilogy of novels! Many many things in the books, Rotherweirdand Wyntertyde should not work, and yet they somehow do.
Gosh! Wyntertyde had left us on a cliffhanger: a second mixing point was discovered; Bolitho was revealed as Fortemain and then dispatched; the vile Calx Bole had succeeded in resurrecting his master, Geryon Wynter, after five hundred years dead.
We return in this, the third and final book in the series, to the secluded and very British valley town of Rotherweird, cut off from the rest of England and its own history by a series of legal and historical precedents. A seclusion build on hidden secrets which the series has already generally revealed: Elizabethan child prodigies (note how I avoid the challenge of pluralising the word “genius”!) known as the Eleusians; Lost Acre, the other place, a mysterious alternate universe of wild and hybrid creatures and the ‘mixing point’ in which chimera and monsters can be created of animal and people and apparently eternal life granted; the sinister mystic, scientist, megalomaniac, monomaniac Geryon Wynter, reincarnated and returned at the conclusion of Wyntertyde through the service and sacrifice of his shape shifting colleague and Calx Bole.
Wynter’s renaissance somewhat eclipses the chaos of the election of mayor in the previous book and he slowly ingratiates himself into society, prominence and power. Some of our main point of view characters start to question the narrative which places Wynter in the villain’s mantle. Has he been misunderstood? Misrepresented?
Ranged against Wynter and his army of apothecaries and followers are a ragtag ensemble: Jonah Oblong, a gangly and socially awkward historian and outsider who struggled to find a niche in Rotherweird for two books and doesn’t seem to have much more success in this one; Gorhambury, the fastidious and particular town clerk; Vixen Valourhand, a scientist and somewhat rogue character vaulting around the rooftops of the town; Gregorius Jones, a PE Teacher whose role increases significantly in this novel; the mysterious Ferensen, previously Hieronymous Seer and his sister (and erstwhile spider-hybrid beast, now in recovery) and artist, Morval Seer; and Orelia Roc, local shopowner and mayoral candidate and the closest the series has to a hero. Maybe. And Tyke: immortal, enigmatic, innocent and Christ-like.
None of the characters particularly take prominence and it is hard to identify a protagonist of any of them; and none of them feel terribly fleshed out and at least partially identifiable as tropes. This is no Stoker-esque band of light to set against the dark but a fractured and fractious group of individuals with separate agenda and only occasionally working together – and even then a little suspicious of each other. And they seem to do a lot of waiting. Perhaps “agency” is the word I’m striving for: very few of the characters possessed agency. Events happened to them, more often than not; they didn’t particularly work towards an end point. And as for the more secondary characters, I’m not entirely able, even after three novels, to separate some of them – Smiths and Strimmers and Snorkels. As a teacher, as a reviewer, I wantto describe them as thin or two-dimensional…. and yet I still ended up caring for them and liking them. Roc – possibly underused – and Oblong perhaps had the strongest journey; and thankfully the romantic subplot trope between them was avoided – although some love interests were a little clumsily shoe-horned into the final chapters.
The central character in the novel and in the series, however, is the town of Rotherweird itself: Gothic and Dickensian and … Gormenghast-ly. Towering rickety buildings, dark alleyways, hidden catacombs, aerial walkways. Strange and arcane traditions which are both sinister and delightful. Town and country divisions and tensions strangely resonant with current politics.
There is an intellectual and erudite mind behind these books: dare I say the mind of a geek and a puzzle enthusiast. Which is not unexpected as the author is also a barrister. Mythology is entwined through and redolent within the pages of the novel in a way reminiscent of a crossword. Central images of trees and the alternative reality of Lost Acre recalled the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and explicitly Yggdrasil. Some characters consciously drew from myths: harpies and chimeras, Persephone. Christ. Nothing that required knowledge of the mythology to grasp, but enough that it sparked off those little connections – glints of light as other stories slide through the narrative warp and weft of this one.
The writing is decent – albeit on occasion with slightly dizzying shifts in narrative points of view so that it can become a little confusing whose point of view you are being presented with. But I had a few gripes: description and atmosphere was at times sacrificed for plot and I personally would have liked to have spent more time in the eponymous Lost Acre.
In short, a clever, quirky and enjoyable jaunt into a gothic mystery spanning the millenia between Roman invasions (Gregorius), the Elizabethans (Bole and Wynter, Ferensen and the Seers) and the modern day. The word that comes to mind in retrospect is perhaps charming…
Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of the novel in exchange for an honest review. And apologies to Jo Fletcher, the publisher, that I did not get a review up earlier: as a teacher June and July are in the middle of exam marking period! Sorry!
Ratings:
Overall: 
Characters: 
Plot / Pace: 
Language: 
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Date: 25th July 2019
Available: Amazon
2019ARCCalx BoleEleusiansFerensenGeryon WynterGorhamburyGormenghastGothicGregorius JonesHieronymous SeerJesus ChristJonah OblongMorval SeerOrelia RocRotherweirdThe Garden of EdenThe Tree of Knowledge of Good and EvilTykeVixen Valourhandwyntertyde
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Lost Acre, Andrew Caldecott
A Map of Days, Ransom Riggs
The Comforts of Home, Susan Hill
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The Rosie Result, Graeme Simsion
20182019ali smithA Monster CallsAngela CarterARCBen AaronovitchBram StokerBrandon SandersonbreastsBroken HarbourCat DeerbonChaos WalkingcharacterChina Miévillecoming of agecrimeDaisy JohnsonDickensDiscworldDoctor WhoDraculaDublin Murder SquadEnglandEsi EdugyanFaithful PlaceFantasyFeedfictionFrankensteinGeorge R R MartinGothicGraeme Macrae BurnetHamletHarry PotterIan McEwanIrelandJ. R. R. TolkienJ K RowlingJohn BoyneKamila ShamsieKatherine ArdenLethal WhiteLoveMiss HavishamMistbornmurderNeil GaimanPatrick NessPercy JacksonPeter GrantRachel KushnerracismRivers of LondonRobert GalbraithRomeo and JulietsexShakespeareSherlock HolmesSimon SerraillerSusan HillTana FrenchTerry PratchettThe Bear And The NightingaleThe Heart's Invisible FuriesThe Secret PlaceThe Winter of the WitchTwilightvampirevampiresWashington BlackWinternightWolf Hallyoung adultZombies
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pilebythebed's review against another edition
4.0
Lost Acre is the third and final volume in Andrew Caldecott’s Rotherweird trilogy. As such it is not a stand-alone. New readers should start with the highly original and enjoyable (and probably best of the three) first volume of the series Rotherweird. It is not fantasy that will appeal to everyone. This series takes time and patience and has a fondness for its large cast of quirky characters that only the English are able to deliver. But in all the senses that makes this series great, Lost Acre has in spades, including a satisfying resolution.
Lost Acre opens straight after the events of Wyntertide. Given the huge cast of characters this means that readers will be a quarter of the way through the book before they have caught up with everyone who matters. It also means that more than a passing familiarity with the events of the previous books is essential. Given the length of time between volumes this is a big ask for readers but Caldecott does not have time for too many recaps (only a couple are provided). The extensive character list is helpful for jogging the memory but only to a degree.
Suffice to say that Geryon Wynter has returned from the dead and is determined to take over Rotherweird to his own ends. Shades of fascist regimes come into play as he manufactures fear, manipulates the populace and cements his control. But something deeper is going on. There are wheels within wheels that not even Wynter is aware of. Meanwhile the cast of ragtag heroes slowly piece together what is going on and marshal themselves and their allies to fight back.
As with other books in this series, the action is anchored around a number of set pieces – including a masked ball that Wynter throws to draw out his enemies and the annual coracle race on the river Rother which, once again, is an opportunity for both drama and Python-esque comedy.
While Wyntertide felt sometimes like it was treading water and going over old ground, what it was actually doing was laying the groundwork for the conclusion of this series. There are plenty of callbacks to events in both that middle volume and to Rotherweird. So that while Lost Acre does not sit on its own, it does provide a conclusion in which all of the numerous twists land even though, and perhaps because, they have been foreshadowed.
Lost Acre is a triumphant final volume to what has been a constantly surprising piece of modern British fantasy. Part Gormenghast, part Monty Python, part mythology, part Terry Pratchett, a little bit steampunk but with the occasional dragon and changeling, and with plenty of word puzzles along the way. And while it has plenty of antecedents, this series, its setting and its tone is totally unique and thoroughly enjoyable and should be celebrated as such.
Lost Acre opens straight after the events of Wyntertide. Given the huge cast of characters this means that readers will be a quarter of the way through the book before they have caught up with everyone who matters. It also means that more than a passing familiarity with the events of the previous books is essential. Given the length of time between volumes this is a big ask for readers but Caldecott does not have time for too many recaps (only a couple are provided). The extensive character list is helpful for jogging the memory but only to a degree.
Suffice to say that Geryon Wynter has returned from the dead and is determined to take over Rotherweird to his own ends. Shades of fascist regimes come into play as he manufactures fear, manipulates the populace and cements his control. But something deeper is going on. There are wheels within wheels that not even Wynter is aware of. Meanwhile the cast of ragtag heroes slowly piece together what is going on and marshal themselves and their allies to fight back.
As with other books in this series, the action is anchored around a number of set pieces – including a masked ball that Wynter throws to draw out his enemies and the annual coracle race on the river Rother which, once again, is an opportunity for both drama and Python-esque comedy.
While Wyntertide felt sometimes like it was treading water and going over old ground, what it was actually doing was laying the groundwork for the conclusion of this series. There are plenty of callbacks to events in both that middle volume and to Rotherweird. So that while Lost Acre does not sit on its own, it does provide a conclusion in which all of the numerous twists land even though, and perhaps because, they have been foreshadowed.
Lost Acre is a triumphant final volume to what has been a constantly surprising piece of modern British fantasy. Part Gormenghast, part Monty Python, part mythology, part Terry Pratchett, a little bit steampunk but with the occasional dragon and changeling, and with plenty of word puzzles along the way. And while it has plenty of antecedents, this series, its setting and its tone is totally unique and thoroughly enjoyable and should be celebrated as such.
waylander101's review against another edition
5.0
Lost Acre is the final instalment of the Rotherweird trilogy and as such cannot be read as a stand-alone volume. That being said what a rollercoaster the Rotherweird trilogy turned out to be. This set of books are amongst the smartest, most involved, fantasy series I've ever read and they really do deserve all the praise... not just a bit.. ALL the praise. Anyway enough about the series as a whole on to Lost Acre.
What did I like? Well pretty much everything to be frank though I do have a minor niggle as an audiobook listener in that without giving 100% attention it is very easy to lose the thread and need to go back and hour or two to catch up. I'm not sure if this is due to the story's complexity of the narration offered by Kris Dyer who though a noted narrator (125 books on Audible as I type this) is a little dry for my taste.The story itself is as mentioned complex and engaging with plenty of action though there are instances where things are introduced but have no conclusion (what happened the the hedge wizards). This can lead to more confusion for the reader... well... it did for this reader. All in all though I can happily recommend Lost Acre to anyone who has invested time in to the previous novels.
ericmv123's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
4.25
oldmanrupee's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
annanaz's review against another edition
4.0
Very satisfying end, although so much has happened throughout the three books that keeping track of everything and everyone is quite complicated. I liked the new characters introduced in this and wish we had seen more of them and the wider mythology around Rotherweird valley, such as Hoy and the Clauds, as well as the earliest history.