Book Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

By: Sarah Rees Brennan

Published by: Random House

Released on: September 11th, 2012 TODAY

Source: ARC/book from publisher to review

5 stars: I LOVED It!

Purchase from: Random House | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Lynburn Legacy series: Book #1

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? - quoted from Goodreads

Oh Sarah Rees Brennan how you slay me with your beautiful, complex relationships, and much like Cassie Clare, and Holly Black, you don't hold back on allowing your characters to hurt. I am in love with UNSPOKEN. It's not just the beautiful cover that did me in (which by the way is one of my favorites from this year), but it's what I felt emotionally while reading this book. I'm a huge fan of Sarah's writing, and I personally feel this is Sarah's best book yet! When a book leaves me yearning for more, as well as for the characters you know the author has done their job in hooking you and holding you in their clutches. I feel like somewhere in a quiet room Sarah Rees Brennan is doing her evil laugh over this, because of everything that transpires in this book, and the way it ends, this book broke my heart, as well as gave me hope, and made me sigh. 

UNSPOKEN has this complex, beautiful, heartbreaking relationship between two incredible in-depth characters, Kami and Jared. With this book I felt Sarah really allowed me to understand Kami and Jared's motives, their feelings for one another and the situation they're in, as well as the two of them in a way that made both of them feel very real and relatable. Often times I feel like I get glimpses of the characters when I read a book, but Sarah wrote Kami and Jared in a way that made me feel like I totally got them. I loved feeling like I understood every emotional moment between Kami and Jared, because it's often those same feelings we feel in our realistic relationships. I got why Kami felt vulnerable, scared and unsure of what was happening with her and Jared. At the same time I got the feelings of love and security that also illuminated from both characters at different points in the story. I got the desire, comfort, and wanting that Jared and Kami had, as well as their connection. It made perfect scene to me as a reader when the characters flip flopped on their feelings, because of all that's going on and the secrets they uncover. I loved that one thing always remained the same between them, their loyalty to each other. 

Sarah's writing in my opinion is simply beautiful. It's beautiful for the reasons I mentioned above as well as because she creates these unforgettable characters who leave a lasting impression on me. They're not going to be those characters who ten books later I forget about it. I'm not talking about just Jared and Kami, but  Kami's family, her three close friends and Jared's family as well. The secondary characters each had just as an important role in the book as Kami and Jared did. The richly detailed, complicated history of Jared's family, and the ties it has with Kami's family, along with the gothic feeling of the setting all working together made for an absolutely incredible read that I completely fell in love with. I love it when everything and everyone that is in a book has  purpose. It makes for a much richer storyline, and I felt like there wasn't anything in UNSPOKEN that didn't have a purpose for being in the story or mentioned.

I loved this book! I love it for the reasons I mentioned above and for the many reasons I can't mention for the sake of spoilers. I HIGHLY recommend picking UNSPOKEN up. I really think UNSPOKEN will be the type of book that readers who have not read anything previously of Sarah's will pick it up and love, and those who have been huge fans of Sarah's will be pleasantly surprised with how much they love it. Though they might lovely call her evil with the way she messes with our hearts *insert Sarah Rees Brennan's evil laugh* I am now eagerly awaiting the next installment to be released in The Lynburn Legacy, which I might add can not come soon enough. 

** To learn more about this book, you can read my interview with the Sarah here. You can find out more about The World of the Lynburn here, and the Characters here. And, if you're in the Austin area, be sure to stop by the Austin Teen Book Festival this weekend to meet her in person!