Review: Unspoken

School newspaper editor Kami Glass has never been one to shy away from a story — and her newest is a doozy. The Lynburn family — secretive, odd, powerful — has returned to Sorry-in-the-Vale.

Rumors about the Lynburn family are numerous, and Kami is determined to separate truth from fiction. Trouble is, no one seems to want to talk — especially not to Kami, who has a reputation as being a bit of a weirdo. Shouldn’t she have dropped the “I’m talking to the imaginary friend in my head” thing in elementary school?

Nothing is as it seems in this sleepy English town. The Lynburns’ return throws the entire village into chaos, dredging up ancient secrets and poking at old wounds. And when her “imaginary friend” turns out be even more real than even she believed, Kami is pulled into a war generations in the making.

Just incredible

After a recent spate of marginally good YA novels, I was a little hesitant to pick up Sarah Rees Brennan’s novel; one can only take so much angst and love triangles, after all.

But while many of the YA prerequisites — love triangle, a heaping dose of angst, etc. — are featured, Unspoken has some unique aspects that give it a different feel.

First up is Kami herself. She’s a fantastic character, sharp as a tack, witty, sarcastic, curious. I liked her immediately, as well as her family. Her father is the most fully-realized (and it’s obvious Kami takes after him), but her brothers are funny too. Most of the characters are surprisingly well-rounded, which I love.

Then there’s the world building. Unspoken is the first in a trilogy, so we really only get glimpses of how the magic of Brennan’s world works, but it’s definitely interesting and unique enough to have me search out the rest of the series.

Brennan’s writing is spot-on. The difference between Kami’s high school world and the one into which she has blundered is like night and day, and Brennan writes about each equally well. Her writing is gorgeous, and the end is positively heartbreaking.

Unspoken is poised to be one of my favorite reads of 2015. Check it out soon!

(I read this book as a part of the 2015 Monthly Motif Challenge. June’s challenge was to read a book that takes place in a country different than my own.)