Soundless

Soundless by Richelle Mead is a standalone YA novel, set in a mountainous Chinese (fantasy) village. The main labour in the village is mining and the unique premise of the story/world building is that the entire village is deaf and has been for several generations.

Fei lives in an isolated and oppressed village that is forced to mine and send valuable metals down the mountain (via a pulley system) in exchange for barely enough food to survive. Due to her skill as a painter, Fei doesn't have to work in the mines and instead gets to live a life of relative luxury. However, when her sister starts to lose her sight and an accident drives her star-crossed love interest to take action, Fei finds herself taking action too. A perilous climb down show more the cliff side of their mountain takes the two teens on a journey that shows them the truth about the outside world and their village's circumstances. Redressing the wrongs done to their village isn't straightforward, of course.

An important thing to know about the premise of Soundless is that Fei, the main character, magically gains hearing fairly early on. Although the rest of the village remains deaf and Fei continues to sign all the time (because magic hearing does not come with magic speech recognition), it's not a book about a deaf main character. (However, as my husband pointed out when I was telling him about it, some of Fei's experiences may be similar to those of people hearing for the first time after getting cochlear implants.)

In any case, I found this a more interesting and compelling read than I initially expected. I ended up reading it in about two sittings — it's not a long read — and enjoyed the reasonably straightforward plot. I admit I wasn't sure how much of a spec fic novel it was going to turn out to be since there are minimal fantasy elements other than at the very start and end, but the ones at the end are especially fantastical.

I would recommend this to fans of YA, especially those looking for a quick read and to whom the premise appeals. I wouldn't specifically recommend it for people looking for disability in their fiction. It doesn't do a terrible job in that respect... but on the other hand there is the whole magical cure aspect for the main character. Your mileage may vary.

4 / 5 stars

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I am a long time fan of Richelle Meads' and Soundless is unlike anything I've ever read, YA or otherwise. I mean, have you ever read a book where everyone is deaf and the entire story is told by the characters using sign language? Didn't think so. I absolutely loved the ancient Chinese mythology that she incorporated into the story. The romance was fantastic! And I love that it featured non-Caucasian characters and fantasy settings not modeled after Medieval Europe.
... And while all that was amazing, my favorite part of the book was the way she describes Fei hearing for the first time. It's still giving me chills.

Also, it's a bit refreshing to read a novel that actually ends. As much as I love a good series, this stand-alone(finally) show more was a breath of fresh air!!!

5 STARS!!!!!! show less

There were a lot of things that didn't work for me with this book. The two biggest and most problematic were the vague Asian influences that felt appropriative and the way the whole story revolved around the main character's disability being magically "healed." Seriously, these two elements were gross, and I cannot possibly recommend this book to teens.

I read a review of a different book (School Library Journal vol. 62, issue 4, p155) that put into words perfectly my problem with the cover and Asian elements of the story: "borrowing of vaguely Asian-influenced cultural markers without deeper engagement or authenticity is too troubling to overlook." It feels like a cheap way to make the story more "exotic" and fanciful, and it rubbed me show more the wrong way all the way through.

I only finished the story because I'd hope that something in the book would subvert the early overtones, but it just got worse as the story went on. I really rarely give things one star, but this rating isn't just because I didn't like the story, it's because I think it's deeply and hurtfully problematic. show less

Pleasantly written, nicely populated, smartly plotted, totally competent... and also, for me, totally meh.

I've been thinking a lot, as I plodded through the final third of this, about just what makes it a plod, and how that might be avoidable. I think a big part of the problem, for me, is that some major conflict sequences revolve around physical rather than emotional/character challenge, and personally I find that sort of thing downright tedious.

Let me explain with an example. (Spoiler cutting for digression, not for spoilers.) Our heroine has to climb a thing - will she make it? Now, this can be a character challenge moment, if climbing, or physical exertion, or heights, or something else has been established as a character weakness, show more and especially if she has previously tried and failed at a similar challenge. In that circumstance, I would be interested in how she overcomes the challenge, because it's about character growth. But when it's just a matter of will she physically achieve a thing, then there's no tension, as far as I'm concerned. She either will or she won't, depending on which the author thought offered more interesting story options. I'm not interested in the doing of the thing, just in what the outcome is, and what comes next. So when the doing of the thing is described with effort and near-misses and eventual result (of whatever kind), I feel that that is wasted space, because none of that really mattered. Either make it important, or give it in summary and move on to things that are important.

Anyway, regardless of that, I also felt a little thin about the world. Not so much in the detail, because I actually do admire the way the author has built the world with consideration for the sensory detail available to the narrator, but somehow in the depth. It just doesn't quite feel big and wondrous and real and tangible. It is a little story in a little setting. Now, I'm wrestling with this one, because in a way the story is bounded by the incredibly limited experience of the narrator. But I also wonder how much of the thinness is because the author is writing outside her own cultural experience. (By which I mean, you bring an unconscious depth of personal experience to a setting that is a historical part of your own culture, and that isn't present when you're writing from research, however thorough, unless you think and work long and hard at it.) I must confess, I haven't read enough of her other work to know whether the things that are bugging me are just part of her style, or a weakness in this book alone.

ANYWAY anyway, some interesting aspects to this, in the exploration of the world with a sensory limitation, and it's perfectly charming, but it didn't spark any great excitement in me. show less

Interesting hook, likeable heroine. Very quick read, leaving me wishing for quite a bit more story, but for many YA readers, this will be a satisfying romantic adventure.

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Con una portada preciosa, Richelle Mead se separó en 2015 de sus tan conocidos vampiros, trayéndonos una historia completamente nueva y bastante interesante, aunque no del todo comercial.

Soundless sigue la historia de una joven, quien vive en una aldea donde el 100% de sus habitantes tiene sordera. Una premisa extremadamente interesante, personajes discapacitados en los libros es extremadamente difícil de encontrar, y ¿uno donde sea el protagonista? ¿Encima, toda una aldea de personas discapacitadas, donde no sea tan solo un recurso fácil de agregarla drama? La verdad, es que son rarísimos de encontrar.

Pero Richelle Mead lo logra, la sordera puedes leerla en cada página, puedes sentir toda show more la investigación y cuidado que la escritora tuvo al escribir este libro, desde las señas para comunicarse, hasta la manera en la que la aldea se acomodó para sobrevivir a pesar de su sordera. Vivir con una discapacidad no significa que no puedas llevar una vida normal, claro, con algunas modificaciones, pero ¿quién no modifica sus alrededores para hacerse la vida más fácil?

Y, ¿cuándo Fei empieza a oír por primera vez? Richelle Mead es el tipo de escritora que me gustaría ser, tiene un cuidado con los detalles exquisito.

NO ES UN LIBRO PERFECTO

Su error ha sido que es muy lento, demora mucho en entrar a la historia que se supone nos tendrá devorando párrafos. El ritmo del libro no lo sentí Young Adult, creo que si me hubieran vendido este libro como que iba para un público adulto, lo hubiera tomado un poco diferente.

La verdad es que no lo sé con exactitud, lo que Mead me mostró, me gustó bastante. He visto muy, muy pocos dorama de época como para comparar, además que las culturas chinas, japonesas y coreanas, son diferentes. Pero no lo sentí cliché o falso.

NO TODOS TENEMOS LAS MISMAS OPORTUNIDADES

Lo que más me gustó del libro, es que su mensaje durante toda su lectura es que no todos nacemos con los mismos privilegios, hay una conversación entre los protagonistas que me dejó asintiendo cual muñeco cabezón. Soundless es una gran crítica social, sobre todo para USA, quizá eso sea un problema para algunos.

Sobre todo me gustó su punto en la falsa modestia o el disculparte porque todos tus esfuerzos y sacrificios te llevaron a conseguir lo que querías. SIENTETE ORGULLOS@ DE LO QUE HACES Y DE TUS LOGROS, es lo que yo digo.

Sus fallos para mi han sido el ritmo demasiado lento, pero ha sido completamente adorable leer el romance, ¿por qué hay parejas tan adorables en los libros? Quizá no sea mi número uno en recomendaciones, pero es un libro que me ha dejado pensando mucho, varias de sus citas las recuerdo a diario, así que si puedes, dale una oportunidad, solo debes tomar tu tiempo considerable para agarrarle cariño.

Este es uno de esos libros con muy buena premisa, pero mal desarrollo, me da mucha pena porque esas cosas que resalté del libro siento son muy importantes, PERO SE HACE DIFÍCIL DE LEER UGH.

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I really enjoyed this book and I loved the setting and the characters. I'd never read a book with an Asian setting or with disabilities playing a major role in the story.
The romance didn't seem forced, which I like, and the main character Fei is strong and independent, which is something the YA genre needs more of.