Review: Unspoken

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Series: Lynburn Legacy #1

Published by Random House

Genre: YA paranormal

$17.99 (US hardback)

370 pages

 

What it's about:



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 thoughts:
Be prepared for a gusher of a review. I can't get over how much I ADORE this book.

When I read the synopsis for the book, looked at the cover, and saw people calling it a "goth" book, I obviously expected the book to be pretty dark. I've read Sarah Rees Brennan's Demons Lexicon series and that was a pretty dark series and so I thought Unspoken would be a lot like those books. I was so wrong. I really wasn't expecting this book to be as goofy as it was. I could not stop laughing at many parts and had to stop and write down or bookmark my favorite quotes because they were too priceless. The humor is very British seeing as how the author and the setting are both British. So if that's not your thing, you might just find it awkward rather than funny.  I also wasn't expecting the characters to be so...teenagery. Most YA books lately seem to have characters that are 16 or 17 but they don't act like teenagers. But Kami and her gang are definitely teenagers and I loved it. They were so out there and come up with the weirdest plans, and they most definitely had the "nothing can hurt me" personality that all teenagers have.

I also loved how Brennan didn't go with the obvious love story. Kami and Jared have been able to read each others minds since before they could remember. They are each others not so secret secret. Yet when they finally meet in person, they dislike each other and wish they would go away. It would have been so easy for Brennan to make the characters have insta love yet she went in the other way. I thought that was really interesting and loved watching Kami and Jared figure out how to be around each other and then watching all the other characters try and deal with it as well. I also loved how both Kami and Jared were not all that good looking and not all that remarkable. That was left to the other characters and I really liked that. I liked how not everyone was swooning over Kami and how she was normal looking. Then there is Jared whose flaws are constantly mentioned. He has creepy eyes and a big scar on his face, and an aura that makes you want to flee from him. So not your typical love interest.

I had checked this book out from the library and read it in 3 sittings (would have been one sitting but my social life rudely interrupted my reading). I love this book so much I will be going out and buying myself a copy. I will be rereading this and counting down the days until book 2 comes out. Damn these stupid cliffhangers.

My rating: 9/10

Here is an excerpt that I particularly liked. Don't worry, there isn't really any spoilers.

Kami strode through a froth of daisies to a half-fallen wall that might once have been part of a fortress, but was now a tumble of stones studded with spiky yellow blooms. She bent down, rummaging in the wild tangle of garden around her feet, and chose a pebble. A large pebble. Kami wound her arm back, took careful aim, and threw.
The "pebble" crashed through both glass and curtain.
There was the creak of an old sash window being thrust open, and Jared's head and shoulders appeared at the window. "Hark," he said, his tone very dry. "What stone through yonder window breaks?"
Kami  yelled up at him, "It is the east, and Juliet is a jerk!"
Jared abandoned Shakespeare and demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Throwing a pebble," said Kami defensively. "Uh...and I'll pay for the window."
Jared vanished and Kami was ready to start shouting again, when he reemerged with the pebble clenched in his fist. "This isn't a pebble! This is a rock."
"It's possible that your behavior has inspired some negative feelings that caused me to pick a slightly overlarge pebble," Kami admitted.
Jared's gaze softened slightly. His voice did not. "I saved your life, and you broke my window!"