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Sunday, August 26, 2012

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

Publisher: Random House
Published: September 11, 2012
Pages: 370
Source: For Review from Random House/NetGalley
Rating: 3.5 Stars


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?

In short: Sarah Rees Brennan's trademark wit is in full blown hilarity in Unspoken, though her frenzied writing and pacing could have benefited from some clarity.
I can't believe it's taken me so long to read a Sarah Rees Brennan book. You see, back in the day when all I ever read was Harry Potter, over and over again, and Harry Potter fanfiction, Sarah was one of my favourite fanfic authors. I remember she had a real talent at writing memorable dialogue and humour in the bucketloads. And she has absolutely proven that she continues to maintain this skill at entertaining her readers with her wit in Unspoken.

Unspoken has a large cast of completely loveable and unique characters, at the centre of which is Kami Glass, clever detective-in-training and a bit of a social outcast on account of her Asian heritage and the voice that she converses with in her head. When the mysterious Lynburn family moves back into town, Kami and her brilliant friends put on their investigative caps to sleuth out some answers, Scooby Gang-style.

I mentioned that Sarah Rees Brennan has a special proficiency with humour, and this trademark wit of hers is present in abundance in Unspoken. That she is able to infuse every event in the story and multiple lines of dialogue with absolute hilarity is evidence that she is one funny lady. I've always thought that humour is tough to get right in writing so the fact that Sarah Rees Brennan manages it throughout the entirety of Unspoken is impressive indeed and also made for a wholly enjoyable read.

I think if there was one thing that didn't work for me in Unspoken, it would be the frenetic plot and pacing that often left me either confused or disbelieving of a character's motives or of a plot event. I would have preferred more clarity in the writing of certain scenes as the unfortunate frenzied writing and pacing took away from the significance of these scenes and surprise reveals that should've packed a punch fell flat.

Overall though, Unspoken is an entertaining and hilarious read with memorable and loveable characters. And it's my love for the characters that has me invested in this series, The Lynburn Legacy, and I look forward to continuing on with the story. I also vow to read Sarah Rees Brennan's previous books because she's freaking brilliant and I love her. And I think you'll love her, too!

Other Reviews:
Musings of a Reader Happy

Author Links:
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36 comments :

  1. I never thought Brennan was a fanfiction author. I was (and still am) addicted to FFnet, and I love it when I hear fanfiction authors getting published. Anyhow, I'm so glad you liked this, Aylee! I have this on NetGalley but I'm having second thoughts whether I should read it or not. I never knew this was a hilarious book too so that's a plus.

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    1. Oh, I know, I was so proud of her when she got her publishing contract because I knew the talent that she had. I would recommend it, definitely. If you were to follow her on twitter, then you would know she is one funny lady! I would imagine all her books are fairly humourous.

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  2. I've never read her books and I didn't realise she was a fanfic writer! I want to read this though. Sounds like a good book!

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    1. Yeah, a lot of people don't know that about her!

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  3. Glad to hear this is good. The cover is gorgeous and I can't say I've heard of the authoress before.

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    1. The cover is one of my most favourite of this year! I hope more people get to know her because she is really awesome!

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  4. "I mentioned that Sarah Rees Brennan has a special proficiency with humour, and this trademark wit of hers is present in abundance in Unspoken."

    Yes! I recently read Team Human which she co-wrote and I adored the humor running rampant in that story, I'm so glad to know it's a trademark for her. Too bad about the somewhat frenetic pace, but all in all, it sounds like this would be something I would enjoy. Really fantastic review Aylee!

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    1. It really is her trademark. If you've ever seen her in interviews or on twitter, she is seriously one of the funniest people ever. And it makes for a super fun read. I hope you love it if you get the chance to read it!

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  5. I googled Jared and Ash recently because I remembered the names from a synopsis and didn't know the book. Obviously nothing came up, so now I'm a happy girl! Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan. Gotta remember that now.

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    1. Heh, read that many books, eh? Now so long as you can just remember the title, you'll be good to go! :)

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  6. I love it when fanfiction authors find success with their own published work! I used to read a ton of SVM and Twilight fanfic, so it's fun to hear about others.

    Humor is hard to pull off, and good humor even more of a challenge. Sounds like Sarah is a natural at it though.

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    1. I know, it's so great seeing people whose work that you love succeed and do well! It almost feels like I helped get them there just by being a fan... that sounded much more self-centred than I meant it to be. I'm just proud is all :)

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  7. mmm, interesting!
    I'm amazing how many former fanfic authors are making it out there!
    :) It's awesome.
    I wonder if I ever read any of her stuff (big fan fic lover here, I even wrote a few, though mostly Marauders era).

    Anyway, the book sounds like it could be lots of fun but I get what you mean about the frantic pacing. and how that can't affect a plot.

    So, what book by hers would you recommend?

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    1. Yeah, it's amazing because I was such a big fan of hers and so it's amazing to see other people discovering her work now. She wrote almost exclusively Harry/Draco slash fanfiction. She has since had to remove all of her stuff when she got published. This was my first published read of hers, but I hope to read much more from her in the future!

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  8. I need to read more by Sarah. I was lucky enough to meet her once and she really is great. I'm excited to check this one out; love humor in books.

    -Lauren

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    1. Oh, jealous! I would LOVE to meet her. I bet you she is just as great in person as she seems online.

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  9. Ahh I forgot she was a former fanfic author! I haven't read any of her fanfic but I think it's very cool. I've heard such good things about this one, especially in terms of humour! I'm glad she gets it right in this one and you enjoyed it so much. I haven't read a book by her yet but hopefully it will rectified with this one!

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    1. I have always heard good things about her books, but have never gotten around to reading one of them, which was silly considering how much of a fan of her fanfiction I was. I'm so glad I finally took the plunge and i hope you will, too!

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  10. Love able characters are always a huuuuuge plus point for me. I have to like them in order to love the book, so I'm glad to hear that. I also like some humor in my books :D It sounds wonderful! Thanks for the great review.

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    1. Oh yes. Me too. The characters can absolutely make or break a book for me, depending on whether I like them or not.

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  11. I wasn't sure whether to read this one or not, though I am a fan of the author from her previous series. Might consider borrowing it first. Anyway great review!

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    1. Good idea. Not everyone will love it, but if you liked her previous work then there's a chance you'll love this one as well.

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  12. Great review Aylee. I wasn't able to get this one from NG. It sounds good to me, one that might be better to wait for until the digital library picks it up or the price drops on amazon. The humorous parts would work great for me but the pacing sounds a little wacked.

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    1. Yeah, I would recommend borrowing it from the library because I'm not sure everyone would like the pacing, which -as you say - was kind of wacked. But the humour was phenom!

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  13. Aylee, I'm about halfway through this and I can't help but totally agree with your review. I've never read a Brennan book so I wasn't expecting it to be so witty. But, things also never seem serious and Kami sometimes just does random stuff.

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    1. Hmm, yeah it would seem a lot more weird if you weren't used to the author's writing or her personality like I am. Hope the read wasn't too weird for you!

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  14. Yes, Brennan is very funny. I'm looking forward to this read but surprised and a little disappointed to hear humor is in abundance in this novel. I was kind of hoping for something a little darker and less cheeky. Oh well! Still sounds good.

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    1. I can understand that. Probably if this wasn't the only book of hers that I had read, I would be hoping for something a bit more serious, as well. That's not to say that there aren't serious parts in the book though because there are.

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  15. I wondered about this book, and requested it from NetGalley, but I didn't end up reading it. I think I will though. I like to laugh and it sounds like you get that in this novel.

    Thanks for the review.

    Sara @ Just Another Story

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    1. Yeah, it's definitely good for if you're looking for something with some humour. And really well done humour at that.

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  16. Too bad about the pacing...the humor sounds awesome, though! :)

    Nice review!

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  17. Hmm ... I've only read one other Sarah Rees Brennan book, Team Human, and it really wasn't my favourite. That sucks about the pacing -- I hate it when a book seems like it's all over the place! I may check this one out, but it'll definitely be a library read for me.

    Great review!

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    1. I wish I could speak as to whether all her books are very similar or not so I could recommend this one to you or not when you didn't like Team Human. The pacing was equivalent to the shaky camera move in movies where they try to make it seem like a lot of action is taking place, but it's really just confusing...

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  18. Being addicted to FF.net, this discovery made me really really happy. Are her fanfics still posted? And where can you find them? Thanks!

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    1. Hey, you can email me at ayleejaine(at)gmail(dot)com and I can send you her complete works :)

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