Review: Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan
Series: The Lynburn Legacy #2
Published: 24 September 2013
by Random House Books for Young Readers
Hardcover, 370 pages
Source: Library

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WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR UNSPOKEN.

It’s time to choose sides…. 

On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

A darkly humorous take on Gothic romance, Sarah Rees Brennan’s Lynburn Legacy weaves together the tale of a heroine desperate to protect those she loves, two boys hoping to be saved, and the magical forces that will shape their destiny.

Rating: ★★★

After Untold, my feelings, both positive and negative are all left in a tangled mess. I liked it yet I did not. Its high and low points are all on opposing ends of a spectrum and I’m going to apologize in advance if this review ends up all jumbled and disorganized.

Firstly, as we know from the end of Unspoken, Rob Lynburn turned out to be evil & is building a malevolent mini sorcerer army to overthrow his wife and official leader of the Lynburns, Lillian Lynburn.  Also, the link between Kami and Jared was cut so she is no longer his source. After all that, one would really expect an exciting and action-packed sequel, right? Unfortunately, Untold was disappointingly downright boring.

The problem was not the plot because the general gist of it does show that Kami was doing everything in her ability to be of help (despite unwanted) to Lillian and save Sorry-in-the-Vale from Rob’s wrath. However, the execution was all weird and it gave the story a similar vibe to that of idling. The whole town is on the verge of chaos and instead of focusing on the tension of the dire situation, it felt like Brennan put too much emphasis on the mundane and unimportant bits of the story that leave you wondering how in the world said bits even contribute to the plot.

The romance, on the other hand, was insanely spectacular and worlds away from the monotonous story-telling. Kami and Jared’s relationship is the Paragon of all complicated relationships. Although I’m usually not a fan of volatile guys who seem like bad news, I really loved Jared. He was such an intricate character and throughout the entire book, all I wanted to do was crawl into his mind and figure out everything about him. While Jared was a complete enigma, Kami was like an open book. She’s definitely a unique character what with all her sassiness and her determination and hardworking attitude actually seemed genuine. Because in some books I’ve come across, when a protagonist tries to be diligent, it comes off a little like a forced & lousy attempt to make him/her seem more human.

Regardless of being so different, Jared and Kami fit together like puzzle pieces. Moreover, Brennan beautifully portrayed their relationship, both the ups and downs, through simple yet poignant scenes that never ever felt even the tiniest bit cliché or cheesy. One of my favorites was this particular segment where they were cleaning each others’ wounds due to another particular event that caused them to be slightly wounded in the first place. It was such a normal yet intimate activity and an utterly lovely scene. If the carrying out of the plot had been as incredible of the implementation of Jared and Kami’s link, Untold would’ve been a seriously good book.

Around the middle of Untold, I did consider not continuing with The Lynburn Legacy after this sequel but unsurprisingly, the events surrounding Jared and Kami changed my mind at the very end, just like back when I had finished Unspoken. Had it not been for Jared’s actions in the very last chapter, I honestly would not have considered reading the final novel, Unmade, unless I had a lot of time on my hands. Now, however, I’m really looking forward to finding out how Kami will handle the situation and what, exactly, are Rob Lynburn’s plans for Sorry-in-the-Vale. Should you read this? That of course, is up to you alone but do prepare to be slightly let down. Yet, if you live for the Kami-Jared moments like I do, then that is one aspect of Untold that will definitely leave you satisfied.

Adelena