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I really enjoyed Unspoken when it came out, so I waited until the trilogy was finished in order to zoom through a reread/first read of Untold and Unmade.
To recap, the premise: Sorry-in-the-Vale is a peaceful English town with a DARK SECRET! The Lynburns are the deeply dysfunctional local gentry who've just popped back in after twenty years abroad, possibly with SINISTER MAGIC POWERS, MURDEROUS IMPULSES and DESIRES TO RULE! Kami is the plucky teenaged journalist who is determined to EXPOSE ALL, mildly hampered by an inconvenient psychic soulbond to the youngest and most dysfunctional Lynburn! It's Sarah Rees Brennan, so everything is very quippy interspersed with periods of extremely intense emotion!
You probably know already if this is the sort of thing you like. In addition to a devotion to quips and a high level of joy in lampshading EXTREME GOTHIC TROPES, here are some other things that I like about the series:
- Kami has parents and a family, and increasingly they are involved and do things! (Kami's dad is wonderful and I have a deep emotional attachment to him. I do feel sort of bad for Kami's mom because while I appreciate her storyline I think she is literally the only person in the books who never gets to make a single clever quip. Sorry, Kami's mom!)
- families in general! lots of people having emotional arcs to do with weird complicated families that are nonetheless there for each other in important ways, mostly
- Kami's angry friend Angela whose anger is wonderful to me
- Kami's less angry friend Holly whose emotional self-confidence arc is wonderful to me
- and Kami herself, who is a nonstop bundle of terrifying energy and whom I love!
- generally a sense that the story takes place in a community where people know each other, and various people are affected by the EVIL GOINGS-ON! in different ways, and all of those people are important, not just the protagonists
- the B-plot romance is lesbians!
There is also a lot of complex love polygon soulbond-festooned relationship drama, which teetered frequently on the verge of being too much for me but usually managed to pull back into something non-annoying just in time. I kept being torn between frustration at the occasional Giant Misunderstandings and going, well, no, it's fair, because a.) the lack of effective communication sans soulbond because people aren't used to having to use their words is one of the things being examined about the relationship and b.) stupid teenagers ... and yet, and yet. SO MANY. Please note that this applies only to the Kami/Jared/Ash/Rusty/Holly/whoever het angles, I have really no complaints at all about the development of Angela and Holly's relationship, although I do agree with
saramily who pointed out that sometimes all the kids veer over a little too rapidly from COMPLETE FAILURE TO USE THEIR WORDS EFFECTIVELY to using their words SUSPICIOUSLY MATURELY AND WELL.
Also a lot of people die! I will admit I was not expecting quite so many people to die and was effectively sad about their deaths. Depending on who you are, this may be a bug or a feature. I was very sad the helpful Jewish magician died. :( :( :( I'M SORRY JEWISH MAGICIAN. You were my favorite! I'm especially sad since he didn't have a chance to do much in the story except tragically die and maybe provide a brief false love polygon angle.
But, like, the moms didn't die (well, most of the moms didn't die) and the lesbians didn't die, and the cute kids didn't die, so I don't actually have real complaints! I'm not still not sure all of them were necessary, but I'm not upset or angry about it like I was some of the deaths in the Demon's Lexicon books.
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/389921.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.
To recap, the premise: Sorry-in-the-Vale is a peaceful English town with a DARK SECRET! The Lynburns are the deeply dysfunctional local gentry who've just popped back in after twenty years abroad, possibly with SINISTER MAGIC POWERS, MURDEROUS IMPULSES and DESIRES TO RULE! Kami is the plucky teenaged journalist who is determined to EXPOSE ALL, mildly hampered by an inconvenient psychic soulbond to the youngest and most dysfunctional Lynburn! It's Sarah Rees Brennan, so everything is very quippy interspersed with periods of extremely intense emotion!
You probably know already if this is the sort of thing you like. In addition to a devotion to quips and a high level of joy in lampshading EXTREME GOTHIC TROPES, here are some other things that I like about the series:
- Kami has parents and a family, and increasingly they are involved and do things! (Kami's dad is wonderful and I have a deep emotional attachment to him. I do feel sort of bad for Kami's mom because while I appreciate her storyline I think she is literally the only person in the books who never gets to make a single clever quip. Sorry, Kami's mom!)
- families in general! lots of people having emotional arcs to do with weird complicated families that are nonetheless there for each other in important ways, mostly
- Kami's angry friend Angela whose anger is wonderful to me
- Kami's less angry friend Holly whose emotional self-confidence arc is wonderful to me
- and Kami herself, who is a nonstop bundle of terrifying energy and whom I love!
- generally a sense that the story takes place in a community where people know each other, and various people are affected by the EVIL GOINGS-ON! in different ways, and all of those people are important, not just the protagonists
- the B-plot romance is lesbians!
There is also a lot of complex love polygon soulbond-festooned relationship drama, which teetered frequently on the verge of being too much for me but usually managed to pull back into something non-annoying just in time. I kept being torn between frustration at the occasional Giant Misunderstandings and going, well, no, it's fair, because a.) the lack of effective communication sans soulbond because people aren't used to having to use their words is one of the things being examined about the relationship and b.) stupid teenagers ... and yet, and yet. SO MANY. Please note that this applies only to the Kami/Jared/Ash/Rusty/Holly/whoever het angles, I have really no complaints at all about the development of Angela and Holly's relationship, although I do agree with
saramily who pointed out that sometimes all the kids veer over a little too rapidly from COMPLETE FAILURE TO USE THEIR WORDS EFFECTIVELY to using their words SUSPICIOUSLY MATURELY AND WELL.
Also a lot of people die! I will admit I was not expecting quite so many people to die and was effectively sad about their deaths. Depending on who you are, this may be a bug or a feature. I was very sad the helpful Jewish magician died. :( :( :( I'M SORRY JEWISH MAGICIAN. You were my favorite! I'm especially sad since he didn't have a chance to do much in the story except tragically die and maybe provide a brief false love polygon angle.
But, like, the moms didn't die (well, most of the moms didn't die) and the lesbians didn't die, and the cute kids didn't die, so I don't actually have real complaints! I'm not still not sure all of them were necessary, but I'm not upset or angry about it like I was some of the deaths in the Demon's Lexicon books.
This entry is cross-posted at Livejournal from http://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/389921.html. Please feel free to comment here or there! There are currently
comments on Dreamwidth.