Review – Untold (The Lynburn Legacy #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan

Synopsis from Good Reads:

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

Warning – there were be spoilers from the first book and one spoiler from this book.

Plot

Now that the lines are drawn, Kami and the gang are focused on getting more sorcerers to join their side and trying to figure out how exactly to beat Rob. And now that the link has been broken, Jared has reverted back to his reckless, bad boy default and Kami can no longer read him, this boy she’s always known as well as herself. While there are some developments and sweet moments, just not a lot happened. I felt like this book kind of fell into the sophomore slump, where it’s mostly holding pace until the third book.

*SPOILER ALERT*Also, did I miss something somewhere? Jared and Kami cannot be linked again? I thought they could. Or is that only if he makes it through the suicidal ceremony in the Crying Pools? If that’s the case, then Kami linking with Ash makes more sense because at the time I was a little bewildered why she just let Jared go out and fight and then linked with Ash. And Ash didn’t really do much with the power surge. *END OF SPOILER*

Even though the ending made me a little angry, I wasn’t entirely expecting it, so that makes up for it a little bit. I hate to be able to call everything that happens. And it guarantees that I’ll be reading the next book (out sometime this year, but no release date that I’ve seen yet).

Characters

Pretty much every character is more developed in this book and I love it. In addition to Kami’s POV, we also get Holly and Ash. While I can’t say that getting their view has endeared either of them to me any more than before, I do feel like I understand them better. Ash reminds me a lot of Tobias in Allegiant – Spends most of the book feeling sorry for himself and desperately wanting the love of his parents, even though they’re horrible people.  I also enjoyed the more we got to see of Kami’s dad, Lillian, and Rusty. I would’ve liked a little more Rob, though, just to see what the other side is up to.

Readability

Brennan’s style is still clever and witty, but I didn’t find it quite as good as the first book. I spent a long time being annoyed that we weren’t getting Jared’s POV, but after thinking about it, I think it was the smart move. Kami had always known how Jared was feeling, but now with the link gone she finds that she can’t read him. By not getting Jared’s POV, we are also like Kami, not always understanding his motivation or what he means. Though I will say, as I mentioned in my review of the first book, when it comes to Jared’s feelings for Kami I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s saying one thing and meaning another. And I was pleased that we do get some of Jared’s POV towards the end of the book.

Enjoyability

While I didn’t love this book as much as the first, I still really enjoyed it. The writing style is still unique and while I felt the plot dragged a little, the character development really helped make up for it. This is a series I would still recommend and will be anxiously waiting for the next installment.

Rating (out of 5):
Plot: 3
Characters: 4
Readability: 4
Enjoyability: 4
Overall Average: 3.75 stars

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