Joelene Reviews: Sarah Rees Brennan’s – “Untold”

The sorcerers in Sorry-in-the-Vale are banding together, determined to take the town back to its bloody past. Kami Glass is equally determined to stop them. It’s not going to be an easy task, considering that she doesn’t even know which of the town’s residents are the sorcerers intent on reclaiming it.

By pooling her resources and people, and researching the very past that she wants to avoid, she hopes that she’ll be able to give the town’s non-magical residents a fighting chance.

What she hadn’t anticipated was Lillian Lynburn turning her aid down and deciding that the battle for the town is best confined to the sorcerers themselves.

Untold, the second book in the Lynburn Legacy trilogy, picks up where the first left off. Jared and Kami no longer have their psychic link, and Kami’s powers have gone too. Jared isn’t talking to Kami and, with the link she had once relied upon gone, she’s struggling to adapt to her new independence. This is done remarkably well. Kami doesn’t fall to pieces, nor does she hold together entirely. She remains true to her original character, finding ways to adapt to her new situation while trying to save the day.

We’re shown a lot more of the minor characters in this novel. This is mostly positive and Rusty and Angela are two of my favourites. They’re funny and have the similarities that siblings often do while also being quite different in other ways. Holly, however, falls flat. The more her character is revealed, the less sense she seems to make.

Jared and Kami’s relationship unfolds wonderfully here. It’s true that there were many misunderstandings that could have been cleared up if either were prepared to talk– or listen. That kind of thing gets tedious, but as far as how they hold up without the other and how they now relate to each other without their link, it works. It works so well that I can’t quite decide whether the whole thing is terrible or wonderful.

Unfortunately, the plot of Untold suffers the fate of all too many second books in trilogies. After all is said and done, the ending could have served just as well as the ending for the first book. The stakes don’t seem any higher than they did at the end of Unspoken, and the positions of power have not altered much. Fortunately, the personal journeys in Untold still make it a wonderful read.

I didn’t love Untold in the same delirious way that I loved Unspoken. Some aspects, like the further insight into Angela and Rusty, were far better, but it didn’t pull together for me quite as well. It certainly didn’t mess with my emotions as much. It was always going to be difficult for the second to live up to the first, given the nature of Unspoken. Either way, having read Untold, I’m still dying for the final book. The way it’s geared up, I think it will do great things.

Untold – Sarah Rees Brennan

Simon and Schuster (September 24, 2013)

ISBN: 9780857078094