Review – Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan (The Lynburn Legacy #1)

Synopsis from Good Reads:

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?

I’ve read a couple of favorable reviews on Unspoken lately, so I decided to give it a try. I’m very glad I did! Love.

PLOT
While not every idea in the book was original, everything was done in it’s own unique way. Our main characters, Kami and Jared, have each grown up – in separate countries- with imaginary friends, who never went away as they grew older. When Jared moves back to Sorry-in-the-Vale, they discover their imaginary friend is a real person. They each thought they made everything up about each other and their worlds and experiences. They know everything about each other. They can read each other’s minds. While there’s a good deal of stories out there that include some form of mind reading, I’ve never seen it quite like this before.

Kami is an aspiring journalist and has made it her mission to find out the mystery of the Lynburns. With the help of her friends, Angela and Holly, and a couple of Lynburns themselves, Jared and Ash, Kami goes on a search for answers. There are a few twists I didn’t see coming and a few that I did, but it was all enjoyable.

The only issue I really had with the plot is towards the very end where it veered a little into the romantic cliché: “I’m-going-to-say-one-thing-and-mean-another-and-everyone-will-realize-it-but-you”. Unless said person really did mean it. I haven’t read the next book so I can’t say for sure, but I doubt it.

CHARACTERS
I love Kami! She’s funny and smart and caring and stands up for herself. She was a very well-rounded, very likable character. I also very much liked her family, especially her dad who I found super humorous. I actually would’ve liked to have seen a little more of him. I liked Holly, Angela, and Rusty (Angela’s brother), but I feel there is still plenty of development to be done.

I also liked Jared a lot. Though he’s got the whole bad boy cliché going for him, Kami knows who he really is and thankfully we’re spared the annoying bravado. I liked his relationship with Kami and his growth throughout the story. I would’ve liked to have seen a little more of the other Lynburns, but they were pretty well developed, as well.

READABILITY
I loved, loved Brennan’s writing. It’s clever and witty and the humor often took me by surprise, but was never out of place. Though there were moments where not much happened, it never felt like it was dragging. The pacing, the level of description, the emotion – it was all pretty close to perfect.

ENJOYABILITY
I really enjoyed Unspoken. It was fun and intriguing and emotional. I would definitely recommend it – to everyone, but especially fans of Gothic literature. I’m definitely reading the rest of the series.

Rating (out of 5):
Plot: 4
Characters: 4
Readability: 4.5
Enjoyability: 5
Overall Average: 4.375 stars