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A review by billyrusso
Silence by Michelle Sagara
5.0
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT OMFG!Books
I happened to be browsing around Chapters when I stumbled upon this book. At the time, I had far too many to buy and far too little money so I had put it back on the shelf and walked away. I went back and got it the next day because I regretted it. I love a good necromancy story and there aren't many out there in the YA sphere. The only other one that even came to mind was Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers series.
I was hooked from the start. These days it's rare for me to know I'm really going to love a book from it's first page but Silence did it for me. The writing style is fantastic and fresh. Michelle had a way of weaving words together beautiful to create the dark, interesting world of the book. I flew through the first chunk of the book. I began to pace myself because Silence was one of those gems that I didn't want to read too fast because then it would end.
The characters in Silence were fantastic. There's Emma - the lead - who has been through a lot in her life. She's lost two people that she loved very much: her father and her boyfriend Nathan. After Nathan's death she shut down, pulled away from the world and the people around her. Even though she is still very much grieving, she's still so very strong. She puts her friends and family before herself. She's even willing to put strangers before herself sometimes. She's been through so much that you sympathize with her and begin to really feel her pain and sadness. The other characters were brilliant as well. They each had their own distinct personalities and ways that they fit into Emma's life. Allison and Amy are vastly different and yet they fit into Emma's life in their own ways. Ally is the quiet girl on the sidelines. She is definitely not an outcast but she is fine with where she stands in the social sphere of Emma and her other friends. Amy is the queen bee. She's headstrong, stubborn and she throws all the parties. Out of all of Emma's friends, I liked Michael the most. He is a high-functioning autistic boy. He is no burden to his friends. They are very protective of him. They help him day to day but that's their norm; they wouldn't have it any other way. He's especially helpful in all the supernatural things they are now knee deep in. He sees things in black and white. While others might try to explain the ghosts as a trick of the mind or rationalize it because they're afraid of the unknown and the weird, Michael sees it as 100% truth because he saw it with his own eyes and it is now his reality. The group of friends was such a thrill to read about. I found myself wanting to be one of them too.
It was nice, for a change, that the story didn't focus on a romance. There were romantic aspects such as Emma's love lost with Nathan, and a spark with her and Eric but by no means was it a central plot point and that was very refreshing. The first installment of the series focused more on the necromancy, what Emma was, who Eric and Chase were and the lore that will surely take off in book two and beyond.
Silence was by far one of my favorite reads this year. I love how Michelle tackled real life problems in such a supernatural setting. It was the perfect blend of fantasy with reality and it worked brilliantly. There were many mysteries that were revealed slowly as opposed to one big reveal and I thought that was a great way to keep the reader going and guessing. I cannot wait for book two to come out. Michelle has me hooked.
I happened to be browsing around Chapters when I stumbled upon this book. At the time, I had far too many to buy and far too little money so I had put it back on the shelf and walked away. I went back and got it the next day because I regretted it. I love a good necromancy story and there aren't many out there in the YA sphere. The only other one that even came to mind was Kelley Armstrong's Darkest Powers series.
I was hooked from the start. These days it's rare for me to know I'm really going to love a book from it's first page but Silence did it for me. The writing style is fantastic and fresh. Michelle had a way of weaving words together beautiful to create the dark, interesting world of the book. I flew through the first chunk of the book. I began to pace myself because Silence was one of those gems that I didn't want to read too fast because then it would end.
The characters in Silence were fantastic. There's Emma - the lead - who has been through a lot in her life. She's lost two people that she loved very much: her father and her boyfriend Nathan. After Nathan's death she shut down, pulled away from the world and the people around her. Even though she is still very much grieving, she's still so very strong. She puts her friends and family before herself. She's even willing to put strangers before herself sometimes. She's been through so much that you sympathize with her and begin to really feel her pain and sadness. The other characters were brilliant as well. They each had their own distinct personalities and ways that they fit into Emma's life. Allison and Amy are vastly different and yet they fit into Emma's life in their own ways. Ally is the quiet girl on the sidelines. She is definitely not an outcast but she is fine with where she stands in the social sphere of Emma and her other friends. Amy is the queen bee. She's headstrong, stubborn and she throws all the parties. Out of all of Emma's friends, I liked Michael the most. He is a high-functioning autistic boy. He is no burden to his friends. They are very protective of him. They help him day to day but that's their norm; they wouldn't have it any other way. He's especially helpful in all the supernatural things they are now knee deep in. He sees things in black and white. While others might try to explain the ghosts as a trick of the mind or rationalize it because they're afraid of the unknown and the weird, Michael sees it as 100% truth because he saw it with his own eyes and it is now his reality. The group of friends was such a thrill to read about. I found myself wanting to be one of them too.
It was nice, for a change, that the story didn't focus on a romance. There were romantic aspects such as Emma's love lost with Nathan, and a spark with her and Eric but by no means was it a central plot point and that was very refreshing. The first installment of the series focused more on the necromancy, what Emma was, who Eric and Chase were and the lore that will surely take off in book two and beyond.
Silence was by far one of my favorite reads this year. I love how Michelle tackled real life problems in such a supernatural setting. It was the perfect blend of fantasy with reality and it worked brilliantly. There were many mysteries that were revealed slowly as opposed to one big reveal and I thought that was a great way to keep the reader going and guessing. I cannot wait for book two to come out. Michelle has me hooked.