Thursday, January 30, 2014

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan- Review


10866624 

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?
(goodreads.com)


So this is an older book and it emerged on my radar when I was looking for an author to do another Skype chat at my library. Although we had a small group last years chat with Marissa Meyer was great. So I found a list of authors who'll do Skype chats for free (theoretically) and I went down the list to see what names I recognized. I hadn't read any of Brennan's books but I knew that I knew the name for some reason, so I bought this book on my Nook and I wasn't dissapointed.

First, I really like that the book took place in England, I felt like it gave the town a cloak of mystery, but I have to say that my favorite part of this book was the dialogue. My speech patterns and those of Kami as basically identical (which may not be a great thing because she's like 16 and I'm about a decade older than that). I've read books that I've liked but there has always been something off about the character like their annoying habit of trying to save the world alone, or throw themselves in the face of danger, or their too helpless, or too fearless. Basically I just can't imagine a real person doing what they characters in the book did. That's wasn't a problem in this book. Kami and her friends could have been any group of teens that walked into my library, minus the mind reading thing.

The story was quickly paced and there was just enough suspense to keep you reading, but not too much that you said "Screw it" and went to read spoilers on Goodreads. I don't want to give to much away, so I'm just going to say read it, it's not like it's going to take you very long. 

Minor irritations... Kami, I really think you made the wrong decision. I understand how difficult it probably was being around Jared, but I think you too it too far. For the love of all that matters in this world, open up you mouth and communicate with the man. (That's what I would have said to her if I was in the book... but I wasn't.)

I look forward to reading the second book but I was so worked up over and slightly annoyed by how the first one ended that I don't know when I'm going to be able to manage it.

6 comments:

  1. I loved the way the characters spoke and interacted as well. It was very similar to how I talk, and I'm a bit older than that! :-) The next book is pretty good too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I need to read the next book but I was a bit afraid because of how the first book ended :/

      Delete
  2. I've got the sequel but haven't read the first book. I really enjoyed the humor in Team Human which the author cowrote so I'm hoping to find just as much snark in this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't read Team Human but I'll definitely be looking into it :)

      Delete
  3. I loved it! Especially the interactions between the characters, and the sense of realness to them, you know? Especially between Kami and Angela. I agree with you where I think she was a bit hasty to cut the cord, but I do get why she did. AND IT KILLED ME. I have the next, but not reading it until the third comes out, because you just know it's going to hurt, might as well read them altogether. Glad you enjoyed it! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I might wait for the third book to come out too. I love Kami and Angela's friendship, and I love what we learn about Angela in the end (I wont say it in case anyone reads this and hasn't read the book, but you know what I'm talking about). We still don't see a lot of that in books so it plastered a smile on my face :)

      Delete