Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan, UK edition cover

Title: Unspoken (Book One of The Lynburn Legacy)
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Publisher: Simon and Schuster (13th September 2012)
Blurb:

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. Having an imaginary friend has made fitting in hard – but that’s never bothered Kami. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is just the way she likes it.

But all that changes when the mysterious Lynburn family returns to Kami’s village, along with teenagers, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami . . .

As life as she knows it begins to unravel, Kami is determined to get to the bottom of every mystery. 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?

And can she trust him?

Rating: ****(4 stars)
Review:

I really loved Sarah Rees Brennan’s (SRB) The Demon’s Lexicon Trilogy; she has a way with words, so when I heard about this book I wanted to get my hands on it. Gothic novels aren’t generally to my taste, and in many ways Unspoken can be seen as a” modern Gothic” novel I really enjoyed reading it.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of reading SRB’s writing before, then you are in for a treat! SRB writes some of the most humourous lines and scenes that I have read. Don’t get me wrong, these moments of humour don’t take away anything from the book – personally I think they add to it, and make the characters seem more real. She also has the ability to capture moments and emotions brilliantly.

To be honest, I had a little trouble getting into the book to begin with, but I persisted and found myself falling more and more into the story with every page. I really liked Kami Glass as a character, I could totally related to her love of getting to the bottom of mysteries – of having to have questions answered. I also liked the fact that SRB chose to write Kami as an a-typical heroine – she’s not white, or thin, and we’re not told she’s beautiful (but then we aren’t told she’s not either). I think SRB did a great job at writing Kami’s relationship with her best friend Angela – I really loved the banter between them, and Angela as a character.

The Lynburn family were suitably mysterious and sinister – as you’d expect in any good Gothic. The Lynburn’s have an “interesting” family dynamic. Jared and Ash were two interesting, though very different, characters. To be honest, I’m not totally sure what I think of either of them as they were good at keeping their secrets from both Kami and the reader – and for one of them, keeping secrets from Kami, was no mean feat!

The plot of Unspoken was really quite complicated, and I didn’t see a lot of it coming. I cannot review this book without mentioning its ending – and I will only say that it has left me desperate for the next book, which unfortunately doesn’t come out until Summer 2013 (I think). 😦

If you’ve read any of SRB’s work before then you should try this series, but be aware that it might different from what you’re expecting. If you like Gothic novels, but fancy something a little more modern than you should definitely check this book out. And finally, if you are  a fan of paranormal romance or urban fantasy then you should add it to your tbr pile.