Review by kari_f - A Sea of Unspoken Things

kari_f 's review for:

A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young

4.0

If there is one word that sums up all of Adrienne Young’s adult books so far, that word would be “atmospheric.” Whether it’s a remote island village, a mountainous farming area, or a small town in the middle of the California redwood forests; you feel as if you are there with the characters in an incredibly visceral way.

I don’t tend to gravitate toward thrillers because I solve them quickly and then tend to be bored if there isn’t enough character depth and development to hold my interest. The ones I enjoy flow like this one, where the suspense builds slowly and the story is built upon the character layers and development in such a way that it’s tied to the mystery. I had my suspicions early on, but the mood, the characters, the setting, and the hints of magical realism kept me entranced even after I was pretty sure about what happened and why.

The pacing is deliciously slow because we are unpacking so much history and emotional content between the main character and the town she left behind twenty years prior. We are on her journey to figure out what caused the death of her brother, but we also see her journey toward combining who she was in the past and who she is now to figure out what she wants for her future.

For me, this was another hit novel by Young, and I’ll be sticking around to see what she comes up with next! Thank you so much for the advanced copy of the book, Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine!

Content Warnings