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kristinareadz's review against another edition
4.0
I received this audiobook as a ARC via NetGalley.
Wow! I am not sure what I was expecting but it definitely wasn't all of this! What a wonderfully woven story full of mystery, wonder, courage and loss.Lilla Glass is a talented author. I quickly fell in love with the characters and I can't wait to return to Rhysia!
The audiobook narrator Patricia Santomasso was fantastic. ...So many accents and tones. She really brought the story to life.
Grab this once you can and get ready for a delight!
#netgalley #theUnseen #LillaGlass
Wow! I am not sure what I was expecting but it definitely wasn't all of this! What a wonderfully woven story full of mystery, wonder, courage and loss.Lilla Glass is a talented author. I quickly fell in love with the characters and I can't wait to return to Rhysia!
The audiobook narrator Patricia Santomasso was fantastic. ...So many accents and tones. She really brought the story to life.
Grab this once you can and get ready for a delight!
#netgalley #theUnseen #LillaGlass
paganhill's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
crs1179's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
es_reading_corner's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
chaos_carrie's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The Unseen follows the stories of two assassins, two little girls, and one bored price. Elwyn just wants to disappear into “normal” life and seems to think she’s been successful… unfortunately not so much. Things just get more interesting when she becomes determined to save a lost little girl, who may not be exactly what she seems. All the while, a world away another little girl is hiding from her mother’s goblin friends while playing with her fae bestie, while wondering how a mortal like her got so lucky as to live here… Lots of mischief, adventure, and magic in this read!
While the audio narrator attempted to differentiate voice’s between characters and world, with the slow build at the start I struggled a bit to wrap my mind around the parallel and tangential storylines. It all came together in the end though.
While the audio narrator attempted to differentiate voice’s between characters and world, with the slow build at the start I struggled a bit to wrap my mind around the parallel and tangential storylines. It all came together in the end though.
pellepanda's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
[Arc from Netgalley]
Going into this book, it instantly has a very cozy and familiar feel to it. The beginning is a slow start with some world building and introducing the characters, but after that the tempo is kept very engaging. The characters are well written, and likeable despite some having questionable careers.
The world is familiar with fae sorted into seelie and unseelie, but Glass has still managed to create a unique and vivid world. The descriptions of both the characters and the surroundings paint a nice picture. The writing in general is great, and the book sometimes reminded me of Neil Gaimans writing. Overall I really enjoyed the book as it was a sweet well written story.
Audiobook thoughts: It took me some getting used to the narrator as she is kinda low tempo, and the sing-song reciting of the rhymes felt a bit out of place for me. She is also doing accents to differentiate the different characters which felt weird to me, but at the same time it is a helpful way to show who's talking. Very subjective opinions.
Going into this book, it instantly has a very cozy and familiar feel to it. The beginning is a slow start with some world building and introducing the characters, but after that the tempo is kept very engaging. The characters are well written, and likeable despite some having questionable careers.
The world is familiar with fae sorted into seelie and unseelie, but Glass has still managed to create a unique and vivid world. The descriptions of both the characters and the surroundings paint a nice picture. The writing in general is great, and the book sometimes reminded me of Neil Gaimans writing. Overall I really enjoyed the book as it was a sweet well written story.
Audiobook thoughts: It took me some getting used to the narrator as she is kinda low tempo, and the sing-song reciting of the rhymes felt a bit out of place for me. She is also doing accents to differentiate the different characters which felt weird to me, but at the same time it is a helpful way to show who's talking. Very subjective opinions.
lktx's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The Unseen by Lilla Glass is a fantasy novel, primarily about Elwyn, a former thief on the run from her past life, who is accompanied by a small fae, Luatha. We also see point of views from multiple other characters, including the assassin sent to return her to her criminal syndicate, a young girl with a mysterious gift, a fae prince bored of life in Faerie, his father, and a human girl living in Unseelie Wilds, among others.
There was a lot going on in this story, in a good way. Though there were ultimately world altering consequences, the novel focused on the stories that mattered to the characters, and I loved the character arcs we got out of that. My only nitpick is that the ending is so abrupt after all the reader goes through with the character. I understand there’s a sequel, and perhaps more, but the abrupt ending gave me whiplash.
The world itself was interesting and easy to follow. There was the human world and the Faerie Realms, and different places within each of those that we got to experience. The author made them all feel so different and so real. I also thought the author brought in the worldbuilding in a way that weren’t too awkward, for example the game that Elwyn and Aedyn play, and the judicial council where some things are explained to one of the characters, though really for the reader.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Patricia Santomasso, did a bang up job with all the voices and accents. She really pulled me along throughout the story and added so much to my experience.
Favorite quote: “Those who truly love themselves need not say it so loudly or so often.”
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for allowing me to listen to this book as an ARC to review.
reading_fox's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
THE UNSEEN - LILLA GLASS
Thank you #netgalley and #dreamscape for a free audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely loved this.
It was action packed, had a complex and immersive magical system and a group of well- developed, three dimensional, characters.
The writing style is fluid and well paced. The multi- character narrative works well because all of them are distinctive. The plot is rich and busy, while the world is perfect for an escape from reality.
I thought the narrator - Patricia santomasso - did a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life.
I cannot wait for the second book in the series to be released next year. I really hope more readers find their way to this one! If you need more convincing then I would say that if you are fans of #leighbardugo or #rachelgillig
Or #twincrowns then you would love The Unseen.
az_green's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This book felt disjointed to me. There were so many POV changes and characters being thrown at me, it was difficult to get into the story.
It was left on a cliff hanger, so if that is not your prefere ce I would recommend holding off reading until the next book releases.
I didnt love it, but it wasnt so bad that I would not consider reading another book by this author.
It was left on a cliff hanger, so if that is not your prefere ce I would recommend holding off reading until the next book releases.
I didnt love it, but it wasnt so bad that I would not consider reading another book by this author.
iread2dream's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and City Owl Press for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
The Unseen is the first book in The Reel of Rhysia series. We follow Elwyn, a lonely thief described as remarkably unremarkable, trying to escape her past life. She is sooned joined by a bitter assasin, a strange child, and a deviant royal, as they set out to each save themselves but instead end up trying to save each other and the rest of the world.
I loved the multiple points of view, especially within individual chapters. I thought the continuity of the story was well maintained, even with multiple POVs within one chapter. I really enjoyed the speaking in rhymes. I was a bit thrown off by it at first because I wasn't quite sure what was going on, but once I figured out it was Luatha that speaks that way, I was able to better appreciate what she was trying to say and how she said it.
I felt the worldbuilding was a bit dense. At some point, I felt like the story wasn't quite going anywhere. I think the story finally picked up around 60%, when the heavy traveling was underway, but then the story also felt like it sort of fell down. We went from dense worldbuilding to everyday-ness without a good transition, considering the heaviness of the first 60%. I thought we had a good grasp of some of the characters but their transformations felt a little choppy, such that at times I didn't understand what was happening with the character.
The book also had quite a few typographical errors, which were hopefully fixed for publishing. I found a lot of these distracting because I couldn't figure out if there was a word missing, or if the wrong word was written and I would spend time analyzing what the paragraph really means or what it could mean with the missing word.
The story felt rushed at the end, especially considering the dense worldbuilding we got at the beginning. It felt like there were too many things happening and not enough resources were being directed to that.
I did enjoy learning about the characters' pasts via dreamt memories, and about the world's past via board game. The latter was a very clever way to give more background to the story without taking the story back to the past.
I know nothing of fae mythology – I'm not even sure if that's the correct way to refer to it – but this story felt like it had a lot more of the mythology intertwined than other books I've read. It actually made me want to look more into the mythology. I appreciated the glossary at the end of the book and the pronunciation guide for some of these words. I'm happy to see more of the actual mythology instead of just "fae are magical beings with pointy ears." It's refreshing.
I will definitely look for the second installment to see where the story goes.
The Unseen is the first book in The Reel of Rhysia series. We follow Elwyn, a lonely thief described as remarkably unremarkable, trying to escape her past life. She is sooned joined by a bitter assasin, a strange child, and a deviant royal, as they set out to each save themselves but instead end up trying to save each other and the rest of the world.
I loved the multiple points of view, especially within individual chapters. I thought the continuity of the story was well maintained, even with multiple POVs within one chapter. I really enjoyed the speaking in rhymes. I was a bit thrown off by it at first because I wasn't quite sure what was going on, but once I figured out it was Luatha that speaks that way, I was able to better appreciate what she was trying to say and how she said it.
I felt the worldbuilding was a bit dense. At some point, I felt like the story wasn't quite going anywhere. I think the story finally picked up around 60%, when the heavy traveling was underway, but then the story also felt like it sort of fell down. We went from dense worldbuilding to everyday-ness without a good transition, considering the heaviness of the first 60%. I thought we had a good grasp of some of the characters but their transformations felt a little choppy, such that at times I didn't understand what was happening with the character.
The book also had quite a few typographical errors, which were hopefully fixed for publishing. I found a lot of these distracting because I couldn't figure out if there was a word missing, or if the wrong word was written and I would spend time analyzing what the paragraph really means or what it could mean with the missing word.
The story felt rushed at the end, especially considering the dense worldbuilding we got at the beginning. It felt like there were too many things happening and not enough resources were being directed to that.
I did enjoy learning about the characters' pasts via dreamt memories, and about the world's past via board game. The latter was a very clever way to give more background to the story without taking the story back to the past.
I know nothing of fae mythology – I'm not even sure if that's the correct way to refer to it – but this story felt like it had a lot more of the mythology intertwined than other books I've read. It actually made me want to look more into the mythology. I appreciated the glossary at the end of the book and the pronunciation guide for some of these words. I'm happy to see more of the actual mythology instead of just "fae are magical beings with pointy ears." It's refreshing.
I will definitely look for the second installment to see where the story goes.