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ohmyrimuru's review against another edition
I can't exactly pinpoint it but there's something in this book that frustrates me. Maybe it's the writing style--kind of choppy. And the coherence of each paragraph too!!! One minute you're reading something about Emma and the next thing you know, you're reading about what Eric is doing the next day.
Sorry, this book just did not have the oomph to get me hooked. Had to drop it halfway through the story.
shai3d's review
2.0
I love Michelle Sagara but I wasn't able to finish this book in the audio format. The plot kept jumping around and I felt as though I was missing too much.
emsterino19's review against another edition
3.0
This book happened upon my doorstep, but I'm not entirely sure how. I did enter a First Reads giveaway for it, but was never notified that I won. With that in mind, I believe it deserves an honest review.
I like the plot, but it left a lot of open ended questions. It is the first in a series, and maybe the questions are answered later on, but half the time I didn't understand what was really going on. And I have no idea where the title came from.
Most of the characters are never fully explained/developed, so there are people who I think have some sort of supernatural ability, or are very old, but I'm not really sure. I think the character I understood the best was the autistic boy, Michael.
I wouldn't say Don't read this book, I would just say read it if you don't have anything else.
I like the plot, but it left a lot of open ended questions. It is the first in a series, and maybe the questions are answered later on, but half the time I didn't understand what was really going on. And I have no idea where the title came from.
Most of the characters are never fully explained/developed, so there are people who I think have some sort of supernatural ability, or are very old, but I'm not really sure. I think the character I understood the best was the autistic boy, Michael.
I wouldn't say Don't read this book, I would just say read it if you don't have anything else.
p0laris's review against another edition
2.0
I was excited to read Silence, mainly because it is refreshing to find necromancy in YA; a subject I love, but don't come across very often. I was excited to read Michelle Sagara's take on it, and began this book shortly after receiving it.
The story in these pages is full of thrilling moments that kept me reading on. It contains mystery, action, and a little romance. Oh, and a touch of that slightly darker stuff that is *necromancy goodness*. I was enticed by some of the characters, and I wanted to know what their part in the story would be. This is especially true for Michael, who is a character with autism; his character is so realistic and well-written. He is definitely my favorite of them all. I was also drawn to Emma, and I wanted to know how she would handle her new-found ability.
Yet in all honesty, it's been a while since I finished reading it, and it has taken me forever to actually type this review up. I waited so long because I had planned to read it again before reviewing it. The truth is that I really didn't understand a lot of the book. I was pretty lost while reading, and I don't think I got the full effect. There were many times when thoughts and conversation subjects changed mid-sentence, and I then had no idea what was being discussed, or where the turning point in the conversation had happened. This was very frustrating, and left me utterly confused most of the time. (It's not just me!)
Keep in mind that I'm a heavy reader; I devour books (as I'm sure most book bloggers and avid readers do), and I know how to read and comprehend a conversation between characters. This is not my first ballgame, y'all! I have felt confused in a book a couple times before, but it was always just a sentence or two that threw me off. This was....something different. This was the entire book. Anyway, I had meant to read it again just to give it a fair shot, but I couldn't get into it a second time. I had already read the story, and I found myself reaching for other books each time I tried to pick it up again.
Despite the things I liked about it, I wasn't that impressed with the story. Not only was I confused, but the secondary characters seemed very contrived, and present only when they were useful. Emma herself blindly trusts people without having any reason to do so. She falls in love with a character very quickly, and he falls for her too. Very quickly.So quickly that he spared her life instead of killing her like he was sent to do.
On top of all of that, there really isn't much necromancy beyond the basics. Yeah, Emma can see and talk to dead people. She helps a few spirits in trouble (don't let me get started on some of the powers she is conveniently capable of). But it is all very tame, compared to some of the amazing necromancy books out there. It's really more of a supernatural/ghost story, than it is about necromancy. And maybe that's the problem: there are better necromancy books out there, and I've read them. I think I just expected more. *shrug*
This review was originally published on my blog: The Reading Fever.
*I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story in these pages is full of thrilling moments that kept me reading on. It contains mystery, action, and a little romance. Oh, and a touch of that slightly darker stuff that is *necromancy goodness*. I was enticed by some of the characters, and I wanted to know what their part in the story would be. This is especially true for Michael, who is a character with autism; his character is so realistic and well-written. He is definitely my favorite of them all. I was also drawn to Emma, and I wanted to know how she would handle her new-found ability.
Yet in all honesty, it's been a while since I finished reading it, and it has taken me forever to actually type this review up. I waited so long because I had planned to read it again before reviewing it. The truth is that I really didn't understand a lot of the book. I was pretty lost while reading, and I don't think I got the full effect. There were many times when thoughts and conversation subjects changed mid-sentence, and I then had no idea what was being discussed, or where the turning point in the conversation had happened. This was very frustrating, and left me utterly confused most of the time. (It's not just me!)
Keep in mind that I'm a heavy reader; I devour books (as I'm sure most book bloggers and avid readers do), and I know how to read and comprehend a conversation between characters. This is not my first ballgame, y'all! I have felt confused in a book a couple times before, but it was always just a sentence or two that threw me off. This was....something different. This was the entire book. Anyway, I had meant to read it again just to give it a fair shot, but I couldn't get into it a second time. I had already read the story, and I found myself reaching for other books each time I tried to pick it up again.
Despite the things I liked about it, I wasn't that impressed with the story. Not only was I confused, but the secondary characters seemed very contrived, and present only when they were useful. Emma herself blindly trusts people without having any reason to do so. She falls in love with a character very quickly, and he falls for her too. Very quickly.
On top of all of that, there really isn't much necromancy beyond the basics. Yeah, Emma can see and talk to dead people. She helps a few spirits in trouble (don't let me get started on some of the powers she is conveniently capable of). But it is all very tame, compared to some of the amazing necromancy books out there. It's really more of a supernatural/ghost story, than it is about necromancy. And maybe that's the problem: there are better necromancy books out there, and I've read them. I think I just expected more. *shrug*
This review was originally published on my blog: The Reading Fever.
*I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
hollylynna's review against another edition
3.0
Creepy in good way. Hope to read more adventures. Writing was a little choppy and a little slow in the beginning but finally picked up.
beth_dawkins's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Emma’s father died, and last summer her boyfriend, Nathan, died. One night when visiting Nathan’s grave she meets Eric, a new school mate, who is much more than he seems. Beside him is a ghost, and it won’t be the last time Emma sees a ghost. Emma discovers why she can see the dead, and what that makes her. She also seems to start a new trend by helping the dead.
When I first cracked the book open I expected what we get a lot in YA novels. Main character has a secret power she doesn’t know, boy is looking for her for some reason, and they fall in love, blah, blah, blah. I was half right. She does have a super power she didn’t know about. She has powers over the dead. Anyway, Eric’s reason for finding her is bad, very bad, but a good kind of bad. I can’t say what they are. I feel like it might give away too much.
This isn’t really an original story amongst YA novels. There is a girl who discovers a secret about herself, and saves people—sort of. She is helped by friends, and a lead guy who is also a hero himself. There is no love triangle here, there isn’t any romance at all here, but I actually thought that made it better. There isn’t even much of any kind of subplot going on. I thought the story was very simple, which helps make it a very quick read. Where it stands out from most novels is in the prose. There are a good many turn of phrases that sound close to poetry.
The characters are what shine through in this novel. Emma is genuine. She cares about other people, and other people care about her. She is a little down in the dumps, but who could blame her, so many people in her life are gone, and then ghosts get thrown into the mix. Each of the side characters, mainly her friends, carries distinct personalities. They don’t feel like place holders, in fact they are very interesting individuals.
If I liked all this other stuff why didn’t it get a better score? It doesn’t move very fast. When the story does move it gets very confusing. The start of the novel moves along at a brisk pace, but towards the end of the novel I felt like there was a lot of uninteresting pages of description when it came to the magic, and what was going on. I had to re-read tons of pages at the end because I didn’t understand what was trying to be described, or had lost interest. This is also true when the characters are in conversation. I was left in many pages wondering which character had said what, and even wondering what they were talking about. I did way too much re-reading!
The magic system was neat, but at the same time seemed like it took all day to read about. No, seriously, I get that necromancers use the dead for power, and I get that you are new at this whole thing, but I don’t need five pages of figuring it out. Especially when the other characters have told you ten plus times you only have like two minutes. I wanted to feel so much more danger in the end than I did, and this kind of made the story a wash. That was, until the last page. The last page I was like ‘What? Wait? Why did… I am going to have to read the next on now!’
I think this story has flaws. It is a quick read to the end, but loses a lot of its tension and drive. This is YA, and I feel like many teens would get bored with it in the same parts I was forced to re-read pages. I never felt like any of the characters were really in danger. That being said the start of the novel is good, and the characters are also very well done. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, but leaves the reader with just the right about of questions to want to continue with the series.
Emma’s father died, and last summer her boyfriend, Nathan, died. One night when visiting Nathan’s grave she meets Eric, a new school mate, who is much more than he seems. Beside him is a ghost, and it won’t be the last time Emma sees a ghost. Emma discovers why she can see the dead, and what that makes her. She also seems to start a new trend by helping the dead.
When I first cracked the book open I expected what we get a lot in YA novels. Main character has a secret power she doesn’t know, boy is looking for her for some reason, and they fall in love, blah, blah, blah. I was half right. She does have a super power she didn’t know about. She has powers over the dead. Anyway, Eric’s reason for finding her is bad, very bad, but a good kind of bad. I can’t say what they are. I feel like it might give away too much.
This isn’t really an original story amongst YA novels. There is a girl who discovers a secret about herself, and saves people—sort of. She is helped by friends, and a lead guy who is also a hero himself. There is no love triangle here, there isn’t any romance at all here, but I actually thought that made it better. There isn’t even much of any kind of subplot going on. I thought the story was very simple, which helps make it a very quick read. Where it stands out from most novels is in the prose. There are a good many turn of phrases that sound close to poetry.
The characters are what shine through in this novel. Emma is genuine. She cares about other people, and other people care about her. She is a little down in the dumps, but who could blame her, so many people in her life are gone, and then ghosts get thrown into the mix. Each of the side characters, mainly her friends, carries distinct personalities. They don’t feel like place holders, in fact they are very interesting individuals.
If I liked all this other stuff why didn’t it get a better score? It doesn’t move very fast. When the story does move it gets very confusing. The start of the novel moves along at a brisk pace, but towards the end of the novel I felt like there was a lot of uninteresting pages of description when it came to the magic, and what was going on. I had to re-read tons of pages at the end because I didn’t understand what was trying to be described, or had lost interest. This is also true when the characters are in conversation. I was left in many pages wondering which character had said what, and even wondering what they were talking about. I did way too much re-reading!
The magic system was neat, but at the same time seemed like it took all day to read about. No, seriously, I get that necromancers use the dead for power, and I get that you are new at this whole thing, but I don’t need five pages of figuring it out. Especially when the other characters have told you ten plus times you only have like two minutes. I wanted to feel so much more danger in the end than I did, and this kind of made the story a wash. That was, until the last page. The last page I was like ‘What? Wait? Why did… I am going to have to read the next on now!’
I think this story has flaws. It is a quick read to the end, but loses a lot of its tension and drive. This is YA, and I feel like many teens would get bored with it in the same parts I was forced to re-read pages. I never felt like any of the characters were really in danger. That being said the start of the novel is good, and the characters are also very well done. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, but leaves the reader with just the right about of questions to want to continue with the series.
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
5.0
If you've read my reviews before you know that I am enormously wary of most young adult fiction these days, particularly the kind that fall into the urban fantasy/paranormal genre. If you haven't read it before, well, now you know.
They're all so formulaic and the formula is like these old 1950's romance books for teens that I used to read when I was a kid (5th/6th grade). Boy meets Girl. Girl likes Boy. Boy is standoffish. Girl likes Boy even more. Boy ignores Girl and chooses Slutty Girl. Slutty Girl behaves like Slutty Girl so Boy realizes that Girl is the one to take to the prom.
I know, I know, out here in the real world Boy tends to especially like Slutty Girl when she behaves like Slutty Girl, but this is fiction with message, damn it. For your basic urban fantasy/paranormal romance simply throw in a ghost, sparkly vampire, angel, whatever, make Boy even more emotionally unavailable and abusive and you've got a winner! Only I don't really want to read that so I avoid it.
I was excited to receive Silence for review, however. Michelle Sagara West is one of my absolute favorite writers whether she's writing as Michelle Sagara or by her full name. I am a huge fan of her Sun Sword and House Wars series and also like the series she writes for Luna. She tells a great story, her worldbuilding is reliably interesting, and her female characters cover the gamut from heroic to villainous and everything in between. She rocks. I thought, "Well, if anyone can pull off a book in this genre that I'll want to read, she's the one."
It was wonderful with all kinds of unexpected elements, perhaps best of all the tight friendship among a group of girls and the autistic boy that they have adopted as their own. So often girl friendships in books are fraught with tension and jealousy and stupid games of dominance, but while these girls have those girl moments they are friends who have each other's backs and who try to do the right thing, even when that's not so obvious.
The paranormal element is that the main character, Emma, learns that she is a necromancer. The two Boys in the traditional Boy role are witch hunters who arrive in town to kill her only that's not how it turns out. Instead, Emma behaves like the person she really is and the witch hunters invest in her and her friends who take them along for the ride. The romance element? Let's just say that it's not what you think it's going to be.
I loved this book. It's well-written, smart, rarely obvious, and celebrates the things that girls can do. If I had a middle school to teenaged girl I'd have already given her this book. As always, Ms. Sagara hits it out of the ballpark, entertains and delights me, and makes me really happy. Go read this book!
They're all so formulaic and the formula is like these old 1950's romance books for teens that I used to read when I was a kid (5th/6th grade). Boy meets Girl. Girl likes Boy. Boy is standoffish. Girl likes Boy even more. Boy ignores Girl and chooses Slutty Girl. Slutty Girl behaves like Slutty Girl so Boy realizes that Girl is the one to take to the prom.
I know, I know, out here in the real world Boy tends to especially like Slutty Girl when she behaves like Slutty Girl, but this is fiction with message, damn it. For your basic urban fantasy/paranormal romance simply throw in a ghost, sparkly vampire, angel, whatever, make Boy even more emotionally unavailable and abusive and you've got a winner! Only I don't really want to read that so I avoid it.
I was excited to receive Silence for review, however. Michelle Sagara West is one of my absolute favorite writers whether she's writing as Michelle Sagara or by her full name. I am a huge fan of her Sun Sword and House Wars series and also like the series she writes for Luna. She tells a great story, her worldbuilding is reliably interesting, and her female characters cover the gamut from heroic to villainous and everything in between. She rocks. I thought, "Well, if anyone can pull off a book in this genre that I'll want to read, she's the one."
It was wonderful with all kinds of unexpected elements, perhaps best of all the tight friendship among a group of girls and the autistic boy that they have adopted as their own. So often girl friendships in books are fraught with tension and jealousy and stupid games of dominance, but while these girls have those girl moments they are friends who have each other's backs and who try to do the right thing, even when that's not so obvious.
The paranormal element is that the main character, Emma, learns that she is a necromancer. The two Boys in the traditional Boy role are witch hunters who arrive in town to kill her only that's not how it turns out. Instead, Emma behaves like the person she really is and the witch hunters invest in her and her friends who take them along for the ride. The romance element? Let's just say that it's not what you think it's going to be.
I loved this book. It's well-written, smart, rarely obvious, and celebrates the things that girls can do. If I had a middle school to teenaged girl I'd have already given her this book. As always, Ms. Sagara hits it out of the ballpark, entertains and delights me, and makes me really happy. Go read this book!
cheermio's review against another edition
3.0
I liked many of the characters a lot and things about them. I didn't love how EASY everything was. Like, oh suddenly I can see the dead and these cute boys want to kill and or kiss me and I have deep inexplicable powers and can do almost anything suddenly with little to no effort? Okay. Cool. I can handle that.
And then just to prove she could handle it, the author would remind us AGAIN that she had loved a boy and lost him. And honestly something seems weird about that boy which maybe we will read about now that he's back.
But my point is, who can handle all of that without losing their cool even a little? And all of her friends ALSO could handle it without losing their cool? It was a little too unbelievable.
And then also she would repeat the same phrasing on things a lot. And if you don't know how I feel about repetition, lemme tell you: I do not like it.
But I really did like a lot of the characters. Michael and Eric a lot and Chase a little and Emma quite a bit even in her unrealistic way. And the story was good and interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
Do she and Eric make out??? It's only a matter of time.
And then just to prove she could handle it, the author would remind us AGAIN that she had loved a boy and lost him. And honestly something seems weird about that boy which maybe we will read about now that he's back.
But my point is, who can handle all of that without losing their cool even a little? And all of her friends ALSO could handle it without losing their cool? It was a little too unbelievable.
And then also she would repeat the same phrasing on things a lot. And if you don't know how I feel about repetition, lemme tell you: I do not like it.
But I really did like a lot of the characters. Michael and Eric a lot and Chase a little and Emma quite a bit even in her unrealistic way. And the story was good and interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.
Do she and Eric make out??? It's only a matter of time.
quirkycatsfatstacks's review against another edition
3.0
I’m a huge fan of Michelle Sagara’s other series, the Chronicles of Ellentria so I wanted to give her other series a try. While I enjoyed Silence, I don’t think it’s a strongly written and her Ellentria series, so I find myself wishing I had read them in opposite order. Oh well, what’s done is done, right?
Emma is fine, or at least that’s what she keeps telling everyone. Her father passed away years ago, and her boyfriend passed much more recently. But she’s fine, she promises. She enjoys spending time in the cemetery at night; it calms her, the silence of it all. Until that one time the graveyard wasn’t empty, and the creature she met changed everything.
It turns out that Emma is actually a necromancer, most of whom are on the whole terrible people who either end up being killed or becoming killers themselves. Emma’s one of the rare ones, with no temptation to kill everyone around her, especially because doing so would drain the helpless ghosts around her. Something that she is loathe to do.
There are about a dozen side characters in Silence, most of them being friends of Emma. They help to round out the world shown to us. They also explain Emma’s attachment to said world, and why she wouldn’t be willing to turn her back on everything, like most necromancers apparently do.
Emma’s determination to help save a young boy (well, ghost really) is very endearing, as well as a huge plot point for the book. She and her friends willingly endanger themselves to try and help a person that most would (and do) consider a lost cause. The whole thing just felt very human, which I’m sure was the point.
All in all Silence was a pretty quick read – I finished it in less than a day. So I was able to get right into it and therefore the plot. I liked Emma and the world Sagara created, I just find myself wishing there was more to it. Perhaps it’s a series that depends on build up. It is the first in a trilogy, which implies there will be more world building in the later novels as well. Or at least one can hope.
As I stated earlier, I am a huge fan of Michelle Sagara’s other works, so I do think this was worth reading. I also believe that I will continue with the series, if nothing else to see where it takes me.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
Emma is fine, or at least that’s what she keeps telling everyone. Her father passed away years ago, and her boyfriend passed much more recently. But she’s fine, she promises. She enjoys spending time in the cemetery at night; it calms her, the silence of it all. Until that one time the graveyard wasn’t empty, and the creature she met changed everything.
It turns out that Emma is actually a necromancer, most of whom are on the whole terrible people who either end up being killed or becoming killers themselves. Emma’s one of the rare ones, with no temptation to kill everyone around her, especially because doing so would drain the helpless ghosts around her. Something that she is loathe to do.
There are about a dozen side characters in Silence, most of them being friends of Emma. They help to round out the world shown to us. They also explain Emma’s attachment to said world, and why she wouldn’t be willing to turn her back on everything, like most necromancers apparently do.
Emma’s determination to help save a young boy (well, ghost really) is very endearing, as well as a huge plot point for the book. She and her friends willingly endanger themselves to try and help a person that most would (and do) consider a lost cause. The whole thing just felt very human, which I’m sure was the point.
All in all Silence was a pretty quick read – I finished it in less than a day. So I was able to get right into it and therefore the plot. I liked Emma and the world Sagara created, I just find myself wishing there was more to it. Perhaps it’s a series that depends on build up. It is the first in a trilogy, which implies there will be more world building in the later novels as well. Or at least one can hope.
As I stated earlier, I am a huge fan of Michelle Sagara’s other works, so I do think this was worth reading. I also believe that I will continue with the series, if nothing else to see where it takes me.
For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks