Shiny YA Fantasy!
Oct. 22nd, 2012 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bloodygranuaileI am supposed to be doing work but I cannot make myself, so instead I am going to babble at you about the awesome new YA fantasy author I have discovered, Sarah Rees-Brennan, and the awesomeness that is her new book, Unspoken.
I saw Sarah Rees-Brennan at a book signing a few weeks ago with Libba Bray and Holly Black, both of whom I had been fans of for a while, but sadly I had never read any of Ms. Rees-Brennan's stuff so I felt like kind of an asshole at the signing, asking her to sign this book that I had just bought and had no idea what the flying fuck it was about, but she was super nice about it and said nice things about my hair and gave me a necklace with a UK penny, which I would later find out is very relevant to the plot of Unspoken.
Unspoken is a teen novel in the genre that Ms. Rees-Brennan refers to as "Sassy Gothic," which I think she made up but which makes a lot of sense. It follows in the Jane Eyre-y Gothic tradition of "Girl meets hot but totally fucking insane dude who lives in a big wacky house full of secrets." Since this is a teen novel, totally fucking insane dude is also an insecure teenager who has not grown into his totally fucking insane-ness and sexy manly scars yet, therefore there are lulz. Also, Sarah Rees-Brennan is like Ms. Witty One-Liner, therefore there are even more lulz, like "I do not think people who are freaked out by each other's physical existence should date" or "I can defenestrate my own thugs!"
Anyway. Plot is as follows: Kami Glass lives in the painfully adorable wittle English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and has an imaginary friend, a voice in her head named Jared. Sorry-in-the-Vale has a Big Spooky Manor which belongs to the local aristocratic family, the Lynburns, who have been gone for most of Kami's life. Then they move back, and it turns out Kami's imaginary friend is actually Jared Lynburn, a real dude who is actually kind of an asshole (and, as mentioned previously, totally fucking insane and bearing scars). Kami decides to go on a bout of Teen Investigative Journalism to learn about the Lynburns and their dark family secret (she is pretty sure that they MUST have a dark family secret), and also who is killing small animals in the woods, and also who seems to be trying to kill her.
This book has many fun things in it. In addition to big sketchy manors, lady detectives (or lady amateur investigative journalists, which is basically the same thing), and witty one-liners, it also has A Pair Of Evil But Hot Brothers/Cousins/Similarly-Aged-Male-Relatives (I have actually forgotten which; I think cousins?), Awesome Lady Friends, A Main Character Who Is Not White, Dark Family Secrets, some wacky creatures from Japanese folklore, delicious-sounding food (this is an important part of the British fantasy tradition), Magic With Babies (I am a total sucker for magic involving babies; I don't know why), and an ending that RIPS YOUR HEART OUT AND STOMPS ON IT and leaves you angrily waiting for the next book because THAT CANNOT POSSIBLY BE RIGHT OH MY GOD WHAT AN ASSHOLE. And it isn't even a character death. It is more upsetting than most endings involving character deaths! (Except maybe, like, Ned Stark's. Maybe.)
Ms. Rees-Brennan gives some of her own thoughts on this book over at John Scalzi's "The Big Idea," which is why the cover of the book looked so darn familiar when I finally did buy it.
I saw Sarah Rees-Brennan at a book signing a few weeks ago with Libba Bray and Holly Black, both of whom I had been fans of for a while, but sadly I had never read any of Ms. Rees-Brennan's stuff so I felt like kind of an asshole at the signing, asking her to sign this book that I had just bought and had no idea what the flying fuck it was about, but she was super nice about it and said nice things about my hair and gave me a necklace with a UK penny, which I would later find out is very relevant to the plot of Unspoken.
Unspoken is a teen novel in the genre that Ms. Rees-Brennan refers to as "Sassy Gothic," which I think she made up but which makes a lot of sense. It follows in the Jane Eyre-y Gothic tradition of "Girl meets hot but totally fucking insane dude who lives in a big wacky house full of secrets." Since this is a teen novel, totally fucking insane dude is also an insecure teenager who has not grown into his totally fucking insane-ness and sexy manly scars yet, therefore there are lulz. Also, Sarah Rees-Brennan is like Ms. Witty One-Liner, therefore there are even more lulz, like "I do not think people who are freaked out by each other's physical existence should date" or "I can defenestrate my own thugs!"
Anyway. Plot is as follows: Kami Glass lives in the painfully adorable wittle English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, and has an imaginary friend, a voice in her head named Jared. Sorry-in-the-Vale has a Big Spooky Manor which belongs to the local aristocratic family, the Lynburns, who have been gone for most of Kami's life. Then they move back, and it turns out Kami's imaginary friend is actually Jared Lynburn, a real dude who is actually kind of an asshole (and, as mentioned previously, totally fucking insane and bearing scars). Kami decides to go on a bout of Teen Investigative Journalism to learn about the Lynburns and their dark family secret (she is pretty sure that they MUST have a dark family secret), and also who is killing small animals in the woods, and also who seems to be trying to kill her.
This book has many fun things in it. In addition to big sketchy manors, lady detectives (or lady amateur investigative journalists, which is basically the same thing), and witty one-liners, it also has A Pair Of Evil But Hot Brothers/Cousins/Similarly-Aged-Male-Relatives (I have actually forgotten which; I think cousins?), Awesome Lady Friends, A Main Character Who Is Not White, Dark Family Secrets, some wacky creatures from Japanese folklore, delicious-sounding food (this is an important part of the British fantasy tradition), Magic With Babies (I am a total sucker for magic involving babies; I don't know why), and an ending that RIPS YOUR HEART OUT AND STOMPS ON IT and leaves you angrily waiting for the next book because THAT CANNOT POSSIBLY BE RIGHT OH MY GOD WHAT AN ASSHOLE. And it isn't even a character death. It is more upsetting than most endings involving character deaths! (Except maybe, like, Ned Stark's. Maybe.)
Ms. Rees-Brennan gives some of her own thoughts on this book over at John Scalzi's "The Big Idea," which is why the cover of the book looked so darn familiar when I finally did buy it.