On This Page
Description
"Kami Glass is in love with someone she's never met--a boy she's talked to in her head since she was born. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she has learned ways to turn that to her advantage. Her life seems to be in order, until disturbing events begin to occur. There has been screaming in the woods and the manor overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in 10 years. The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all show more left without warning, have returned. Now Kami can see that the town she has known and loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets--and a murderer. The key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy she thought was imaginary is real, and definitely and deliciously dangerous"-- show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
dizzyweasel A more complex novel about magic and the mysterious family that rules a sleepy town.
11
Member Reviews
So I was warned that this book made one feel *feels*. But I was not really cognizant that those feels would be anger and despair about the thing that happens on the very last page and then the book would end abruptly when something important was about to happen. So...if you have problems with cliffhangers perhaps you would rather wait until the following book in the series is somewhere close to existing and being available. As it is, it was just CRUEL.
Still, if she hadn't made the characters and the story matter so much, it wouldn't have been so heartbreaking and rage-causing. So there's that. It was a good story, with fun, oft witty teenage characters and a good mystery, and then it punches you in the gut so that you wished you had the show more next bit right away. It might have been less devastating if I hadn't stayed up half the night to finish it...maybe. show less
Still, if she hadn't made the characters and the story matter so much, it wouldn't have been so heartbreaking and rage-causing. So there's that. It was a good story, with fun, oft witty teenage characters and a good mystery, and then it punches you in the gut so that you wished you had the show more next bit right away. It might have been less devastating if I hadn't stayed up half the night to finish it...maybe. show less
What an idea. What a story. What a wonder this book is. I've gone all fangirly and fear for this review – it could so easily just become OMG-awsum!!1!! blither. But I'll try not to slaver all over the place.
Our heroine, Kami, isn't altogether sure whether she's altogether sane. For as long as she can remember she has had an imaginary friend, Jared … It was cute when she was little, a bit worrying when she was a bit older, and those around her look very much askance now that she's seventeen and still talks to him in her mind. And he talks back.
Her mother wants her to stop it; so, he tells her, does Jared's mother – which could be the response of a real boy, or it could, of course, be what an imaginary friend in this situation would say. And neither wants to end it, at all – they've had each other to turn to with laughter and tears all their lives, and the thought of losing her best friend makes Kami deeply uneasy.
When she abruptly meets him face to face, though, everything changes.
I loved everything about this book. I loved Kami and Jared, neither the stereotype of Young Adult Main Character but unique, very much themselves. I loved the people in their circles – Kami's best friend Angela had at least half of the best lines in the book. I loved Angela's brother Rusty, Kami's family (in some ways, a little like mine, only so much more consistently witty), the new addition to the circle of friends, Holly; I loved to hate Jared's family.
I loved the horror-tinged mystery that suddenly dropped into Kami's life – the suspense was beautifully done. I loved the writing – the highly literate, utterly naturalistic tone. I would have loved more of Jared's point of view – but there are good reasons why there are only glimpses. (This would have been a much more gut-wrenching book if the world had been viewed through Jared's eyes.) I started screencapping the Adobe Digital edition just a few pages in (The publisher, whom I adore for letting me read this ARC through Netgalley, unfortunately did not provide a Kindle option), and I started worrying about my hard drive when I realized just how many quotes I was taking screenshots of.
I loved the writing. The tone had a Whedonesque flavor, with sharp kids (and Kami's quite-awesome parents) exchanging clever and witty banter, and all with genuine affection behind it. (Angela: "Your soul is like the souls of a thousand monkeys on crack, all smushed together.")
My new standard for crazy is whether someone has a pet fire extinguisher.
I laughed out loud:
I squeed in Shakespeare-geeky delight:
and
and
I went back and savored choice descriptions:
I cried:
I rooted for Kami almost to the point of pom-poms:
And I laughed some more:
In short, I was rendered completely fangirl.
I loved, most of all, the rapidly changing relationship between these old friends who have never met before. They know everything about each other – the fundamentals, at least, since there are some things you just don't talk about even with your invisible best friend – and this means that in many ways they have a great partnership now they've actually met. But … they know everything about each other. This is, shall we say, awkward. Kami laments at one point that all of the language that she can find to use about her connection to Jared leaves the impression that they are soul mates, each other's One True Love … and … that's not what this is. Probably. She doesn't think. No, not at all.
I was a little surprised that the secret behind the bond was revealed as early as it was – but it worked for the plot. That was only background. That was only part of the driving force of the plot.
Then SRB finished me off by creating a big honking painful gut-wrenching cliffhanger at the end. Well, no. A lot of reviews have bewailed the cliffhanger – but it's not, really. There's no one left tied to the railroad tracks with a train coming – it's more like the book was the train and I was tied to the tracks and run over at high speed. There are unresolved issues – but the cliffhanger is more of an emotional one. From a quick shuffle through other reviews it looks as though others who adored the book might have knocked down their rating because of the ending. I can't do that. To me, the fact that the ending left me as torn up as it did is a testament to the quality of the book: it couldn't hurt me if it hadn't made me care to begin with. And, not to get too cryptic and mysterious for those who haven't read it (unless cryptic and mysterious encourages holdouts to read it, in which case I will crypt and myster some more), once I'd picked myself up off the floor I – eventually – realized that this was the only way it could end, given everyone and everything involved.
This, I must point out, doesn't make the wait for Book 2 any less agonizing.
One of the besetting sins of mystery novels, particulary young adult mysteries – and Unspoken has a strong element of mystery – is the driving need for non-professionals to throw themselves into an investigation to "help" the police. It's one of the pillars of the "cozy", the amateur detective. Usually it annoys me, as it takes quite a suspension of disbelief for me to accept that most of these intrepid investigators actually come up with solutions without being either arrested or killed themselves; usually it just makes me want to snarl something at the intrepid investigator about for the pete's sake get out of the way and let people who know what they're doing handle it. But Kami and Jared have the only valid excuse there really is to investigate themselves: Jared is a very, very good suspect. Kami – who after all knows him better than anyone – believes in him. She doesn't know he's innocent, mind – but she does believe it. Almost entirely.
Jared broke my heart completely. His life has been hell; his parents are among the worst I've ever seen in fiction; all he's ever had, his whole short life, has been Kami. And now there she is. More than that I will not say. But he broke my heart.
I almost hesitate to say it, but this was very nearly the perfect book. Bright and sharp and funny and painful. Exhilarating and heart-breaking. I'll repeat the so-pithy comment I left immediately after finishing: Wow.
If the world ends before the second book arrives, I shall be very put out. show less
Our heroine, Kami, isn't altogether sure whether she's altogether sane. For as long as she can remember she has had an imaginary friend, Jared … It was cute when she was little, a bit worrying when she was a bit older, and those around her look very much askance now that she's seventeen and still talks to him in her mind. And he talks back.
How do you deal with it? Kami asked Jared. The laughing at nothing and occasionally stopping dead in your tracks.show more
I have a system where when I stop, I lean casually against something,
Jared told her. It makes people think I'm a bad boy. Or possibly that I have a bad back.
Her mother wants her to stop it; so, he tells her, does Jared's mother – which could be the response of a real boy, or it could, of course, be what an imaginary friend in this situation would say. And neither wants to end it, at all – they've had each other to turn to with laughter and tears all their lives, and the thought of losing her best friend makes Kami deeply uneasy.
When she abruptly meets him face to face, though, everything changes.
I loved everything about this book. I loved Kami and Jared, neither the stereotype of Young Adult Main Character but unique, very much themselves. I loved the people in their circles – Kami's best friend Angela had at least half of the best lines in the book. I loved Angela's brother Rusty, Kami's family (in some ways, a little like mine, only so much more consistently witty), the new addition to the circle of friends, Holly; I loved to hate Jared's family.
I loved the horror-tinged mystery that suddenly dropped into Kami's life – the suspense was beautifully done. I loved the writing – the highly literate, utterly naturalistic tone. I would have loved more of Jared's point of view – but there are good reasons why there are only glimpses. (This would have been a much more gut-wrenching book if the world had been viewed through Jared's eyes.) I started screencapping the Adobe Digital edition just a few pages in (The publisher, whom I adore for letting me read this ARC through Netgalley, unfortunately did not provide a Kindle option), and I started worrying about my hard drive when I realized just how many quotes I was taking screenshots of.
Kami was accustomed to people thinking she was crazy.
"You're crazy," said her best friend, Angela, as the bell rang…
"They said that about all the great visionaries," Kami informed her, hurrying down the hall to match Angela's long-legged stride.
"You know who else they said it about?" Angela demanded. "All the actual crazy people."
I loved the writing. The tone had a Whedonesque flavor, with sharp kids (and Kami's quite-awesome parents) exchanging clever and witty banter, and all with genuine affection behind it. (Angela: "Your soul is like the souls of a thousand monkeys on crack, all smushed together.")
My new standard for crazy is whether someone has a pet fire extinguisher.
I laughed out loud:
"And we're taking a picture of you being all lord of the manor, outside on the hill. Do you own, like, an old-fashioned white shirt? Because you should wear it, and maybe it should be all wet, as if you were swimming in the lake."
I squeed in Shakespeare-geeky delight:
"Hark," he said, his tone very dry. "What stone through yonder window breaks?"
and
"Talking like this is very classical of us," Kami suggested. "Think of Pyramus and Thisbe."
and
She used to tell him she was Rosaline, not Rosalind, and nobody told Rosaline's story.
I went back and savored choice descriptions:
Kami also saw why Holly had called the delinquent Ash's brother. They were alike enough to be brothers, but in this case the fairy-tale prince had been cast into shadow and ruin. Jared literally looked like Ash under a shadow: Ash with a tan, darker blond hair, and dark gray eyes with odd, cold lights in them. Crazy eyes, Holly had said.
I cried:
Here he was, her oldest and closest friend, and she couldn't help wishing him out of existence.
I rooted for Kami almost to the point of pom-poms:
I found something. And it was horrible, and the only way I know how to deal with something horrible is to do something about it.
And I laughed some more:
"Hi," Kami said to Dorothy, the head librarian…"Can you tell me where I could find the books on Satanism?"
Twenty minutes later, she had Dorothy convinced that it was for a school project, and she really did not have to telephone Kami's parents.
In short, I was rendered completely fangirl.
I loved, most of all, the rapidly changing relationship between these old friends who have never met before. They know everything about each other – the fundamentals, at least, since there are some things you just don't talk about even with your invisible best friend – and this means that in many ways they have a great partnership now they've actually met. But … they know everything about each other. This is, shall we say, awkward. Kami laments at one point that all of the language that she can find to use about her connection to Jared leaves the impression that they are soul mates, each other's One True Love … and … that's not what this is. Probably. She doesn't think. No, not at all.
I was a little surprised that the secret behind the bond was revealed as early as it was – but it worked for the plot. That was only background. That was only part of the driving force of the plot.
Then SRB finished me off by creating a big honking painful gut-wrenching cliffhanger at the end. Well, no. A lot of reviews have bewailed the cliffhanger – but it's not, really. There's no one left tied to the railroad tracks with a train coming – it's more like the book was the train and I was tied to the tracks and run over at high speed. There are unresolved issues – but the cliffhanger is more of an emotional one. From a quick shuffle through other reviews it looks as though others who adored the book might have knocked down their rating because of the ending. I can't do that. To me, the fact that the ending left me as torn up as it did is a testament to the quality of the book: it couldn't hurt me if it hadn't made me care to begin with. And, not to get too cryptic and mysterious for those who haven't read it (unless cryptic and mysterious encourages holdouts to read it, in which case I will crypt and myster some more), once I'd picked myself up off the floor I – eventually – realized that this was the only way it could end, given everyone and everything involved.
This, I must point out, doesn't make the wait for Book 2 any less agonizing.
One of the besetting sins of mystery novels, particulary young adult mysteries – and Unspoken has a strong element of mystery – is the driving need for non-professionals to throw themselves into an investigation to "help" the police. It's one of the pillars of the "cozy", the amateur detective. Usually it annoys me, as it takes quite a suspension of disbelief for me to accept that most of these intrepid investigators actually come up with solutions without being either arrested or killed themselves; usually it just makes me want to snarl something at the intrepid investigator about for the pete's sake get out of the way and let people who know what they're doing handle it. But Kami and Jared have the only valid excuse there really is to investigate themselves: Jared is a very, very good suspect. Kami – who after all knows him better than anyone – believes in him. She doesn't know he's innocent, mind – but she does believe it. Almost entirely.
Jared broke my heart completely. His life has been hell; his parents are among the worst I've ever seen in fiction; all he's ever had, his whole short life, has been Kami. And now there she is. More than that I will not say. But he broke my heart.
I almost hesitate to say it, but this was very nearly the perfect book. Bright and sharp and funny and painful. Exhilarating and heart-breaking. I'll repeat the so-pithy comment I left immediately after finishing: Wow.
If the world ends before the second book arrives, I shall be very put out. show less
ARGH THAT CLIFFHANGER. THAT WAS A CRUEL, CRUEL WAY TO END THE BOOK.
I just finished it two hours ago. I still have strong feelings.
I love the way all the relationships play out -- how being able to read someone's mind doesn't automatically make you understand what they mean, and all the different secrets people who love each other hide from one another. Kami and Jared's relationship was painfully and believably complicated by what seems to be this gift.
Probably my favorite part, though, was the friendship between Kami, Angela, and Holly. It would have been very easy for Kami's other relationships to get neglected in favor of her all-consuming thing with Jared, but Angela's friendship was just as important, and I loved watching her show more friendship develop with Holly. (Holly and Angela were also really, really sweet and parts involving them tended to be my favorite.)
THAT CLIFF-HANGER, THOUGH. ARGH. It's one thing to have a cliff-hanger like that when it's a tv show and you know you're just going to have to wait a week. But a year? That's just cruel. show less
I just finished it two hours ago. I still have strong feelings.
I love the way all the relationships play out -- how being able to read someone's mind doesn't automatically make you understand what they mean, and all the different secrets people who love each other hide from one another. Kami and Jared's relationship was painfully and believably complicated by what seems to be this gift.
Probably my favorite part, though, was the friendship between Kami, Angela, and Holly. It would have been very easy for Kami's other relationships to get neglected in favor of her all-consuming thing with Jared, but Angela's friendship was just as important, and I loved watching her show more friendship develop with Holly. (Holly and Angela were also really, really sweet and parts involving them tended to be my favorite.)
THAT CLIFF-HANGER, THOUGH. ARGH. It's one thing to have a cliff-hanger like that when it's a tv show and you know you're just going to have to wait a week. But a year? That's just cruel. show less
Sarah Rees Brennan has been my favorite writer since I was first introduced to her work. Still, I was a little nervous about reading this -- I loved The Demon's Lexicon so much, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get "into" a new series for missing the cast of DL. Plus, in the past I've loved one series by an author, but been put off or underwhelmed by another. I was afraid this would be the case with Unspoken, and I didn't want it to me.
My worries were for naught. Sarah Rees Brennan remains a master of her craft. Her characters and plotlines are unique and beautifully crafted. I love the dialogue between her characters, the friendship and easy banter. I love Brennan's descriptions, the way she uses a few vivid sentences to create a show more fully formed image in your head of a location or situation.
I'm also, I must admit, fascinated by the mind that comes up with these plotlines. I don't know what inspired Rees Brennan to write this book and these characters, but I suspect it has something to do with how song lyrics and storybooks present the image of love. I'm amazed by someone who could take such an abstract concept and make it so literal, yet so believable. She really is a stunning writer, and you have to just admire the sort of creativity that inspires such unique plots. show less
My worries were for naught. Sarah Rees Brennan remains a master of her craft. Her characters and plotlines are unique and beautifully crafted. I love the dialogue between her characters, the friendship and easy banter. I love Brennan's descriptions, the way she uses a few vivid sentences to create a show more fully formed image in your head of a location or situation.
I'm also, I must admit, fascinated by the mind that comes up with these plotlines. I don't know what inspired Rees Brennan to write this book and these characters, but I suspect it has something to do with how song lyrics and storybooks present the image of love. I'm amazed by someone who could take such an abstract concept and make it so literal, yet so believable. She really is a stunning writer, and you have to just admire the sort of creativity that inspires such unique plots. show less
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: A deeply, imaginative gothic fantasy with hilariously snarky characters.
Opening Sentence: Every town in England has a story.
The Review:
I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up, Unspoken, the first book in the Lynburn trilogy. I was hooked right away by Kami Glass’ snarky and brutal humor. She has no problem letting people know what she thinks and she equally has no problem throwing herself into potentially dangerous situations.
Kami Glass is strangely inquisitive and wants to know all the secrets of her little England town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. She really wants to learn about the mysterious Lynburn family that has “protected” the town for hundreds of years. Coincidentally, the show more Lynburns have just returned back to town after many years away. Kami starts up a newspaper in her school and her first big breaking story will be to tell the Lynburn’s secrets. But Kami is hiding a huge secret of her own. She has an imaginary friend. She has been speaking to Jared her whole life and little does she know that she will soon find out that Jared isn’t so imaginary.
Kami doesn’t have to wait long before she starts to get the answers she seeks, both of the teenaged Lynburn cousins enroll in her school. Ash is the cute and charming Lynburn, he soon has Kami gushing over him and recruiting him to work on the newspaper. Jared (yes that Jared!) is not a good looking as his cousin Ash. He has a scar cutting across the side of his face. He is (of course) the bad boy and always getting into fights.
Sorry-the-the-Vale holds some really dark secrets and when Kami finds a mutilated fox in the woods she wants to discover the culprit. Not long afterwards, she is knocked down a well and almost drowns. Jared comes to her rescue and quickly decides that he will keep an eye on her in case someone is out to kill her.
Unspoken is the gothic tale of Kami who has always kind of been an outsider in her town. Kami’s Asian ancestry also has her not quite fitting in in her little England town. She really tries to not let that get her down so she is very snarky and often says what she thinks because she doesn’t care what other people think of her. Sometimes Kami gets a little too overboard with her snarkiness but I still enjoyed it. Kami’s best friend Angela had me chuckling a lot especially with her disdain for other people and her complete love of laziness and sleeping.
When Kami and Jared learn that they are in fact real people and not imaginary, they are both devastated. I really liked Jared but he was a bit frustrating about all the mixed signals that he kept giving Kami. Although Kami didn’t help with that much especially in the beginning but after she made her decision it was really hard to see him keep shying away from her.
I felt like the first half of Unspoken really focused on the fun, snarky Kami and her friends with a little bit of mystery before turning into the full blown mystery with a little bit of snark thrown in. The first half of the book really flew by for me while I felt the second half slowed down a bit. It wasn’t because the story really slowed down, I felt like more and more questions kept getting thrown onto the mystery before anything finally happened. The story did get much darker and this novel doesn’t have a happy ending, but that is why it is part of a trilogy, right? I am really happy that I have the next book in the series ready to pick up.
Notable Scene:
His hand shot out and slammed down on a button. The doors closed and he slammed another hand on the lift wall, close to her head. The clang reverberated in her ears. He was standing next to her suddenly, much too close, bowed down so she was looking directly into those cold eyes. “Kami.”
Kami wasn’t shaking. The world was shaking her, the world was shaking apart and about to fall to pieces. Nothing made sense anymore. “Jared?” she whispered. Her voice was changed like everything else, sounding as if it did not belong to her. She lifted a hand, seeing her fingers tremble in the dim lights of the lift, up to touch his face.
Jared grabbed her wrist.
They stood absolutely still for a moment, looking at each other. Kami didn’t dare move. She could feel her pulse pounding against his palm. He was real. He was here, and she was scared.
He let go of her and stepped back.
They were on opposite sides of the lift again, just like before, except now he was watching her. The cold lights had swallowed up his eyes: they were pale and awful, the kind of eyes you might fear watching you in the darkness when you walked home alone. His feelings hit her, not like having someone reaching out but like someone throwing something at her. She had never felt anything like this before in her life. It was like being enveloped by a storm with no calm center, with no calm anywhere to be found. Kami felt blinded by it, by Jared’s fury and panic, and above all his black terror.
The link between them had become an onslaught. Kami could not just tell what Jared was thinking, she could feel it. She could not escape, could not untangle the strands of herself from him. She tried to visualize walls in her head, shields that she could hide behind, feeling both exposed and lost.
“Stop it,” she said, her voice catching.
“You stop it!” he whispered back.
They sounded like terrified children, and strangers who hated each other. Kami could not tell who was the most afraid.
FTC Advisory: Random House Books for Young Readers provided me with a copy of Unspoken. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less
Quick & Dirty: A deeply, imaginative gothic fantasy with hilariously snarky characters.
Opening Sentence: Every town in England has a story.
The Review:
I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up, Unspoken, the first book in the Lynburn trilogy. I was hooked right away by Kami Glass’ snarky and brutal humor. She has no problem letting people know what she thinks and she equally has no problem throwing herself into potentially dangerous situations.
Kami Glass is strangely inquisitive and wants to know all the secrets of her little England town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. She really wants to learn about the mysterious Lynburn family that has “protected” the town for hundreds of years. Coincidentally, the show more Lynburns have just returned back to town after many years away. Kami starts up a newspaper in her school and her first big breaking story will be to tell the Lynburn’s secrets. But Kami is hiding a huge secret of her own. She has an imaginary friend. She has been speaking to Jared her whole life and little does she know that she will soon find out that Jared isn’t so imaginary.
Kami doesn’t have to wait long before she starts to get the answers she seeks, both of the teenaged Lynburn cousins enroll in her school. Ash is the cute and charming Lynburn, he soon has Kami gushing over him and recruiting him to work on the newspaper. Jared (yes that Jared!) is not a good looking as his cousin Ash. He has a scar cutting across the side of his face. He is (of course) the bad boy and always getting into fights.
Sorry-the-the-Vale holds some really dark secrets and when Kami finds a mutilated fox in the woods she wants to discover the culprit. Not long afterwards, she is knocked down a well and almost drowns. Jared comes to her rescue and quickly decides that he will keep an eye on her in case someone is out to kill her.
Unspoken is the gothic tale of Kami who has always kind of been an outsider in her town. Kami’s Asian ancestry also has her not quite fitting in in her little England town. She really tries to not let that get her down so she is very snarky and often says what she thinks because she doesn’t care what other people think of her. Sometimes Kami gets a little too overboard with her snarkiness but I still enjoyed it. Kami’s best friend Angela had me chuckling a lot especially with her disdain for other people and her complete love of laziness and sleeping.
When Kami and Jared learn that they are in fact real people and not imaginary, they are both devastated. I really liked Jared but he was a bit frustrating about all the mixed signals that he kept giving Kami. Although Kami didn’t help with that much especially in the beginning but after she made her decision it was really hard to see him keep shying away from her.
I felt like the first half of Unspoken really focused on the fun, snarky Kami and her friends with a little bit of mystery before turning into the full blown mystery with a little bit of snark thrown in. The first half of the book really flew by for me while I felt the second half slowed down a bit. It wasn’t because the story really slowed down, I felt like more and more questions kept getting thrown onto the mystery before anything finally happened. The story did get much darker and this novel doesn’t have a happy ending, but that is why it is part of a trilogy, right? I am really happy that I have the next book in the series ready to pick up.
Notable Scene:
His hand shot out and slammed down on a button. The doors closed and he slammed another hand on the lift wall, close to her head. The clang reverberated in her ears. He was standing next to her suddenly, much too close, bowed down so she was looking directly into those cold eyes. “Kami.”
Kami wasn’t shaking. The world was shaking her, the world was shaking apart and about to fall to pieces. Nothing made sense anymore. “Jared?” she whispered. Her voice was changed like everything else, sounding as if it did not belong to her. She lifted a hand, seeing her fingers tremble in the dim lights of the lift, up to touch his face.
Jared grabbed her wrist.
They stood absolutely still for a moment, looking at each other. Kami didn’t dare move. She could feel her pulse pounding against his palm. He was real. He was here, and she was scared.
He let go of her and stepped back.
They were on opposite sides of the lift again, just like before, except now he was watching her. The cold lights had swallowed up his eyes: they were pale and awful, the kind of eyes you might fear watching you in the darkness when you walked home alone. His feelings hit her, not like having someone reaching out but like someone throwing something at her. She had never felt anything like this before in her life. It was like being enveloped by a storm with no calm center, with no calm anywhere to be found. Kami felt blinded by it, by Jared’s fury and panic, and above all his black terror.
The link between them had become an onslaught. Kami could not just tell what Jared was thinking, she could feel it. She could not escape, could not untangle the strands of herself from him. She tried to visualize walls in her head, shields that she could hide behind, feeling both exposed and lost.
“Stop it,” she said, her voice catching.
“You stop it!” he whispered back.
They sounded like terrified children, and strangers who hated each other. Kami could not tell who was the most afraid.
FTC Advisory: Random House Books for Young Readers provided me with a copy of Unspoken. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less
In short: Sarah Rees Brennan's trademark wit is in full blown hilarity in Unspoken, though her frenzied writing and pacing could have benefited from some clarity.
I can't believe it's taken me so long to read a Sarah Rees Brennan book. You see, back in the day when all I ever read was Harry Potter, over and over again, and Harry Potter fanfiction, Sarah was one of my favourite fanfic authors. I remember she had a real talent at writing memorable dialogue and humour in the bucketloads. And she has absolutely proven that she continues to maintain this skill at entertaining her readers with her wit in Unspoken.
Unspoken has a large cast of completely loveable and unique characters, at the centre of which is Kami Glass, clever show more detective-in-training and a bit of a social outcast on account of her Asian heritage and the voice that she converses with in her head. When the mysterious Lynburn family moves back into town, Kami and her brilliant friends put on their investigative caps to sleuth out some answers, Scooby Gang-style.
I mentioned that Sarah Rees Brennan has a special proficiency with humour, and this trademark wit of hers is present in abundance in Unspoken. That she is able to infuse every event in the story and multiple lines of dialogue with absolute hilarity is evidence that she is one funny lady. I've always thought that humour is tough to get right in writing so the fact that Sarah Rees Brennan manages it throughout the entirety of Unspoken is impressive indeed and also made for a wholly enjoyable read.
I think if there was one thing that didn't work for me in Unspoken, it would be the frenetic plot and pacing that often left me either confused or disbelieving of a character's motives or of a plot event. I would have preferred more clarity in the writing of certain scenes as the unfortunate frenzied writing and pacing took away from the significance of these scenes and surprise reveals that should've packed a punch fell flat.
Overall though, Unspoken is an entertaining and hilarious read with memorable and loveable characters. And it's my love for the characters that has me invested in this series, The Lynburn Legacy, and I look forward to continuing on with the story. I also vow to read Sarah Rees Brennan's previous books because she's freaking brilliant and I love her. And I think you'll love her, too! show less
I can't believe it's taken me so long to read a Sarah Rees Brennan book. You see, back in the day when all I ever read was Harry Potter, over and over again, and Harry Potter fanfiction, Sarah was one of my favourite fanfic authors. I remember she had a real talent at writing memorable dialogue and humour in the bucketloads. And she has absolutely proven that she continues to maintain this skill at entertaining her readers with her wit in Unspoken.
Unspoken has a large cast of completely loveable and unique characters, at the centre of which is Kami Glass, clever show more detective-in-training and a bit of a social outcast on account of her Asian heritage and the voice that she converses with in her head. When the mysterious Lynburn family moves back into town, Kami and her brilliant friends put on their investigative caps to sleuth out some answers, Scooby Gang-style.
I mentioned that Sarah Rees Brennan has a special proficiency with humour, and this trademark wit of hers is present in abundance in Unspoken. That she is able to infuse every event in the story and multiple lines of dialogue with absolute hilarity is evidence that she is one funny lady. I've always thought that humour is tough to get right in writing so the fact that Sarah Rees Brennan manages it throughout the entirety of Unspoken is impressive indeed and also made for a wholly enjoyable read.
I think if there was one thing that didn't work for me in Unspoken, it would be the frenetic plot and pacing that often left me either confused or disbelieving of a character's motives or of a plot event. I would have preferred more clarity in the writing of certain scenes as the unfortunate frenzied writing and pacing took away from the significance of these scenes and surprise reveals that should've packed a punch fell flat.
Overall though, Unspoken is an entertaining and hilarious read with memorable and loveable characters. And it's my love for the characters that has me invested in this series, The Lynburn Legacy, and I look forward to continuing on with the story. I also vow to read Sarah Rees Brennan's previous books because she's freaking brilliant and I love her. And I think you'll love her, too! show less
I don't read a ton of YA, and I can't even remember why I picked this one up (the Squeecast, maybe?) but I do not regret it for a minute, except that I am sad that I don't have the sequel immediately to hand. Plucky girl reporter has an imaginary friend who turns out to not actually be imaginary, and then things get really weird.
Plus, girls who take self-defense classes! Adorable queer teenagers! Complicated romantic power balances taken seriously! I am a fan.
Plus, girls who take self-defense classes! Adorable queer teenagers! Complicated romantic power balances taken seriously! I am a fan.
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction
818 works; 51 members
Wishlist
25 works; 1 member
Talk Discussions
Past Discussions
YA Paranormal "Imaginary Friend" in Name that Book (July 2016)
Author Information
46+ Works 14,455 Members
Sarah Rees Brennan (b. 1983) is an Irish writer known primarily for YA fantasy fiction. She began her first novel, The Demon's Lexicon, while working on her MA in Creative Writing. It was published in 2009, and followed by The Demon's Covenant and the Demon's Surrender, the second and third books in the Demon Lexicon Trilogy. She also pens The show more Lynburn Legacy series, and is a co-author of The Bane Chronicles. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
All Editions
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Unspoken
- Original publication date
- 2012
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Teen, Fantasy, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 823.92 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 2000-
- LCC
- PZ7 .B751645 .U — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 1,248
- Popularity
- 19,581
- Reviews
- 116
- Rating
- (3.86)
- Languages
- English, Italian, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 10
- ASINs
- 4