SO, I follow Sarah Rees Brennan on tumblr and I see a LOT of posts about this book breaking people’s hearts. And that’s how I’m starting this review because I want everyone to be as prepared as I was (hhaha. Just kidding.) I read this right after Black Spring which is amusing if you think about it because this is like a twist on a gothic novel and Black Spring was a dark fantasy twist on the ultimate gothic novel (Wuthering Heights blissful sigh) so apparently I was in a mood that week (or every week, I tell ya.) So, how about inverted tropes, y’all? (I’m not even southern I’m from Ohio don’t listen to me I’m writing these late at night). I love inverted tropes and I love what Brennan did with a bunch of the usual gothic novel ones here. Kami is a darling protagonist and the banter in the book is a+ as usual and everything is a delight. Another random happenstance that happened to me with this book was that the whole thing is centered around the fact that Kami has this ‘imaginary friend’ in her head that she talks to who is obviously real. Ok, now remember that book, Shadow Girl I reviewed a few weeks ago? Similar plot. Unspoken was executed in a much better manner (mostly because I didn’t call the plot twists a quarter of the way in…) and I’m not just saying that because I’m totally biased towards magic over clones. (But I AM totally biased about magic over clones). Now, ok, I admit in the scope of books by Sarah Rees Brennan, I prefer The Demon’s Lexicon (if you’re surprised, well, it was one of the 3 factors that nudged me to start writing Rosewater + Wine. So. Demons you know) and because TDL is pretty high up on my favourites list I couldn’t help but mentally compare them a little bit (I try to avoid that but I found I couldn’t help it here?) The main two guys are kind of similar two the main two of TDL - not the same but like archetypically similar? (I don’t think that’s a thing but we’re making it a thing here) in that one is drastically darker and more brooding. (This isn’t a bad thing, I actually really like it. It was just interesting that I couldn’t help but think of Nick when I was reading abut Jared). That said, those similarities didn’t exist with the girls (and all the girl characters were a delight! Angela was especially my favourite). What I loved loved loved was how Kami and Jared reacted when they realised that the other was real and not just their imaginary friend in their head. Because it was pretty realistic. You wouldn’t like it if this person you thought was probably not real all of the sudden was right in front of you, in fact, you’d be pretty darn freaked out - and that was their initial reaction which was great. (I also loved the ~*reason*~ for their imaginary friend link business but I suppose that’d be a spoiler so…) And then, of course, as I was nearing the end I stopped reading and was staring into the middle distance and my mom asked me what was wrong and I just said, “This is the first book in a Sarah Rees Brennan series. I know how this is going to end and it’s going to be ‘not good’ because that’s just how she does things.” (guess who was right: it was me.) If I said the ending was my favourite part I would not be lying. The ending was my favourite part OH, IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I actually didn’t realise how much I crave disastrous endings, like, I LIVE for endings like this. The atmosphere with the town was spectacular. Kami’s sleuthing was great (and I’m usually not a fan of the journalist character at all so great job there because I genuinely liked her). All the characters were intriguing and ohhhhh the ending. I’m so excited for the next book really I am.
