Media Type: Ebook (ARC)
Title: Unwept
*Series: The Nightbirds #1
Authors: Tracy Hickman, Laura Hickman
Publisher: Tor Books
Pages: Hardcover; 272
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Source: NetGalley / Publisher
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Content Screening: Mild Violence
HDB Rating: 2 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Readers who enjoy books set in alternate worlds and are okay with open endings.
Gamin, Maine, is a remote seaside town where everyone seems to know Ellis Harkington better than she knows herself—but she doesn’t remember any of them.
Unknown events have robbed Ellis of her memory. Concerned individuals, who purport to be her friends and loved ones, insist that she simply needs to recuperate, that her memories may return in time, but refuse to divulge what has brought her to this state. For her own sake, so they say.
Ellis finds herself adrift in a town of ominous mysteries, cryptic hints, and disturbingly familiar strangers. The Nightbirds, a clique of fashionable young men and women, claim her as one of their own, but who among them can she truly trust? And what of the phantom suitor who visits her in her dreams? Is he a memory, a figment of her imagination, or a living nightmare beyond rational explanation?
Only her lost past hold the answers she seeks—if she can uncover its secrets before she fall prey to an unearthly killer.
There are two reasons I picked up this book, and I’ll lay them out for you. First off, Tracy Hickman is one of the authors. After feeding my imagination with Dragonlance books, and stealing me away into countless Fantasy adventures, I’m a fan of his. I’d give anything he writes a chance. So, when a new series comes out with his name on it? I’m sold. Second reason? The cover. It has a mysterious and gorgeous way about it that just called to me. I had a bad case of cover love, and I’m not afraid to admit it.
Sadly, this wasn’t the adventure that I was looking for. I’m honestly not sure what it was. Falling into Ellis’ story was like waking up from a long coma. She has no idea where she is, who she is, or what’s happened to her. I was initially okay with this. Characters who have to be built from the ground up can be interesting. I love discovering who they are, right along with them. The problem was, that just never happened. I finished the story. I made it to the ending. Yet I still have not one inkling of an idea who Ellis is.
Herein lies the problem with Unwept. It’s so completely confusing, that there’s nothing to grasp onto as a reader. I couldn’t connect with Ellis, because I didn’t know who she was. I wasn’t able to wonder about her story, because nothing happened. Then the ending, that wasn’t really an ending, left so many things unexplained. In the opinion of this reader, if I had purchased this book I would have felt upset at the end. It feels like this entire story is nothing but a big lead up to prompt you to buy the next one. I’m okay with open endings, but if the ending leaves everything as a big pile of knotted up yarn? I’m annoyed.
I wish I could give you more insight into this book, but I really can’t. Most of this read just felt so empty that, by the time I reached the ending of
Unwept, I had no strong feelings about it at all. Despite the two star rating, I’m still debating on whether I’d pick up the second book to see where things go. We shall see.
FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.
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