Hello everyone! How's Monday going? Mine gives the start to a fairly busy week, where I'll have to juggle reading and blogging with a very full week of work and quite a few errands, appointments and a co-worker's wedding on Saturday! I'm feeling tired already! I foresee a VERY lazy Sunday this week!
I'm starting the week and my Mark This Book Monday with a book that I got for review on NetGalley and that's been one of my quite awaited books of the year. Thanks for the approval Flux Books! As an eARC it counts for my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!
Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey Sutton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I loved Kelsey's debut novel last year, Some Quiet Place, so when I saw the companion novel on NetGalley I requested it, and was super happy to get approved by Flux once again!
I have to say that I didn't manage to enjoy the book as much as I did the previous one. It's not that the story wasn't compelling or the writing fantastic but I just couldn't connect with Alexandra, the main character.
Alex's story is quite opposite from Elizabeth's on Some Quiet Place. Where Elizabeth can see emotions but doesn't feel anything, Alex can see AND feel the emotions. She lost her parents and her brother in a car crash where she survived and since then she's twisted herself around her grief, holding on to it as if that was all that's left. Combine that with getting attached to an Emotion like Revenge, and you can see what a twisted character she is.
The story follows Alex to all her mistakes and her inability to face or deal with her grief, her search for information about the truth about her father and her godfather, and her infatuation/love for Revenge and her confusion when Forgiveness enters the picture.
Even if I can understand how grief can consume us and shape who we are, no matter how long ago a loss has happened and I've seen quite a lot of loss in my line of work, and even if I could see how much Alex was suffering and how wrapped up was in it and how nearly impossible it can be to break from it... I just couldn't connect with her. I kept feeling more for the family and friends she kept pushing away and hurting than for Alex herself. She felt so removed from everyone around her that I ended up feeling removed from her too.
This book gives us a bit more of glimpse into a world where some people can see Emotions and Elementals when the majority can't, and although we don't get too many clear explanations, we get a few glimpses that can help us draw our own conclusions.
I'm giving this book 3 stars, it could have been 4 or more easily if I could have connected with Alex, and it's a brave risk that the author has taken, to write a character like her. I will surely be keeping an eye on whatever Kelsey writes next, cause she's an author to watch!
View all my reviews
I'm starting the week and my Mark This Book Monday with a book that I got for review on NetGalley and that's been one of my quite awaited books of the year. Thanks for the approval Flux Books! As an eARC it counts for my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge!
Where Silence Gathers by Kelsey SuttonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I loved Kelsey's debut novel last year, Some Quiet Place, so when I saw the companion novel on NetGalley I requested it, and was super happy to get approved by Flux once again!
I have to say that I didn't manage to enjoy the book as much as I did the previous one. It's not that the story wasn't compelling or the writing fantastic but I just couldn't connect with Alexandra, the main character.
Alex's story is quite opposite from Elizabeth's on Some Quiet Place. Where Elizabeth can see emotions but doesn't feel anything, Alex can see AND feel the emotions. She lost her parents and her brother in a car crash where she survived and since then she's twisted herself around her grief, holding on to it as if that was all that's left. Combine that with getting attached to an Emotion like Revenge, and you can see what a twisted character she is.
The story follows Alex to all her mistakes and her inability to face or deal with her grief, her search for information about the truth about her father and her godfather, and her infatuation/love for Revenge and her confusion when Forgiveness enters the picture.
Even if I can understand how grief can consume us and shape who we are, no matter how long ago a loss has happened and I've seen quite a lot of loss in my line of work, and even if I could see how much Alex was suffering and how wrapped up was in it and how nearly impossible it can be to break from it... I just couldn't connect with her. I kept feeling more for the family and friends she kept pushing away and hurting than for Alex herself. She felt so removed from everyone around her that I ended up feeling removed from her too.
This book gives us a bit more of glimpse into a world where some people can see Emotions and Elementals when the majority can't, and although we don't get too many clear explanations, we get a few glimpses that can help us draw our own conclusions.
I'm giving this book 3 stars, it could have been 4 or more easily if I could have connected with Alex, and it's a brave risk that the author has taken, to write a character like her. I will surely be keeping an eye on whatever Kelsey writes next, cause she's an author to watch!
View all my reviews
I need to read this one--so sad to see you didn't connect to the MC. I'm a bit worried now. I loved the first book. Do you know if there will be more set in this world?
ReplyDeleteIt was such a hard review to write! I so wanted to love the book but I just did not connect with Alex at all! I can only hope you'll have better luck than I did!
DeleteI dunno, but I wouldn't mind at all!
Too bad about being unable to really connect to Alex Pili! I have to be able to connect to the protagonist to really enjoy the story, so I'm bummed Alex remains out of reach in this one. I can definitely see how her grief (and association with Revenge) would keep her at arm's length though, it's hard to break through something like that and find something tangible to hold on to. I think I'm going to pass on this one for now, but I so loved reading your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jenny!
DeleteI think the author took a big risk writing this character, cause it's written so well, but it's the kind of character that'd be super hard to connect to.
Aw, I'm sorry that you didn't love this one sweetie. It sucks when you cannot connect with the main character :\ But I'm happy you still managed to enjoy the book :) Great review. <3
ReplyDeleteYeah, even if the experience wasn't perfect it was still quite good!
DeleteWhile I didn't hate Some Quiet Place, I didn't really find it that compelling either so I wasn't really looking forward to the sequel or the companion novel and so I didn't request it. Seeing your opinion here now of the book, I'm glad that I didn't try... I'm not sure I would've connected with Alexandra either. I hate it when you can't connect with a character because that makes it so much harder to get into the story as a whole, ESPECIALLY when it's in a first person POV :/
ReplyDeleteFaye at The Social Potato Reviews
Yep, Alex was a tough character to relate to, but wonderfully written!
DeleteIt's pretty common for me to not like book 2 as much I've noticed. Like it's rare when I do. Though when it's a different MC like in this series it has a bigger chance though but it's always unfortunate when you just don't connect to the MC. It can def, make it a hit or miss. And personalities like Alex really keep you at arm's length when they're dealing with grief which makes it even harder to truly get emotionally invested in them. It still sounds like a really interesting series though and Some Quiet Place is still on my TBR I should get to that soon >.<
ReplyDeleteI do hope you'll get to Some Quier Place sooner than later, it was a fantastic book!
DeleteAnd yeah, Alex would always be a tough character to relate to, but she was written so well!
I I haven't read Some Quiet Place (I know it as the book with that super awesome cover!) but I think I really like the world both stories take place in, from what you've described. I can't say that I know how I would react if something tragic happened to me- so far, it hasn't, and I'm curious to read about Alex.
ReplyDeleteGreat review Pili, and I'll definitely be looking for Kelsey Sutton's books!
-P.E.
Some Quiet Place was an amazing book and I highly recommend it, P.E.!
DeleteBooo, Alex, I couldn't connect with her either. It was very frustrating. I think I disliked this one more than you did, so I suppose you did indeed like it more than I did! Awesome review, Pili!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Thank you, Alyssa! Alex was really hard to connect to, indeed!
DeleteI found the first book in this series to be utterly fascinating. I've been anticipating this release for months. It's a bummer you weren't able to connect more :(
ReplyDeleteI was so looking forward to this one too! I'm sad that despite how amazingly well written the book and the characters are, I just couldn't connect with Alex...
DeleteI definitely need to read this one! I enjoyed book one. Didn't love it, but definitely enjoyed it. I'm really bummed that you couldn't connect with the main character since that's such an important part of a book. I'll definitely go into this one hesitantly.
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll get to enjoy this one too, Lili!
DeleteI always loved this covers (I know, they're weird) but I never wanted to read the books, and since I've read a lot of spoilers I'm really sad to find myself wanting to read them, now.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Pili!
I love the covers too! They're beautifully creepy!
Delete