Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Title: Unspoken
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: Book One in the Lynburn Legacy
Published By: Random House (September 11, 2012)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Paranormal
My Rating: 3-3.5 Stars!

Goodreads Description:
 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?


My Review: 
  This is the first book by Brennan that I have read, although I do own at least one of her others. I am not sure what took me so long to pick one of them up, but I am so glad that I finally did.

I absolutely loved Kami's character. She was a little quirky with an unusual sense of humor, sarcastic and loveable and absolutely loyal to those she cared about and maybe a little more curious about the things and people around her than was strictly healthy.

She was such a fun character. Really she was a breath of fresh air. No teenage angst to deal with from her for a change, which was really nice.

I absolutely loved her dad! He was just so funny and great, really a great secondary character.

The Lynburns. Hmm, what can I say about them without giving too much away?

Jared was, well at first honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to love him but he slowly won me over with all his bad boy/lost sad little boy charm.

Ash was someone I didn't completely love either but he seemed so sweet and sincere that I truly wanted to like him and hoped he was what he seemed. But for whatever reason as the book progresses his character starts to disappear. He has a huge role in the beginning and end of the book but not so much in the middle, which, was a little off putting.

Really this whole book was cleverly done, if not a little slow in places. I was never quite sure what the Lynburn's were until it was revealed. I kept going back and forth between two ideas that both seemed fitting. Really is was a new, slightly unusual take on them and I really liked how slowly it was hinted at and revealed though out the story.

Really Kami and Jared made this story. I really liked their bond but the lack of romance was a little bit of a let down to be honest, and how the book ended. Well I was actually a little upset at the ending.

Yes I know this is just the first in a new series and that things can change and progress as the story goes but I still couldn’t' help but feel like I was cheated a little. However I am willing to overlook the unsavory ending and will most definitely be reading the next book in the series when it comes out, because I want more of their story. I want to make sure that by the time all is said and done, that everyone gets their HEA.



10 comments:

  1. Yes, that ending had me a bit angry too. Unsavory is a good word to describe it. I loved Kami and Jared and agree they made the story. The romance was disappointing and a bit frustrating but because I adore Kami SO much I could look past some of the more negative things.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I couldn't agree more Candace! And really, the way it ended really does leave me wanting to read the second book!

    ReplyDelete
  3. definitely need to start on this book! Great review!

    Hi, I found you via goodreads and I'm a new follower
    http://bookwormmia.blogspot.com/

    -bookworm Mia

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Jenny for stopping by! I followed your blog as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yep, no romance, bad ending, disappearing Ash, slow pace all the same reasons I had a jars time with this. Loved the dad and the quirky family, but was really disappointed in this one.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think I've only seen one review that loved this book. The rest named some of the same issues you had. I wasn't very interested in this, but in a way, I want to read it now. Great review :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yeah, I am really hoping the next one will be better and I will get that romance and those unanswered questions all taking care of. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've been wanting to read this. Great review! It'll go to my ever-expanding TBR file!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is like the third review of Unspoken I've seen today! Most people have been saying similar things so I think I'll wait to read this one.

    ReplyDelete