A review by novelbloglover
Voiceless by E.G. Wilson

4.0

Book Review
Title: Voiceless
Author: E. G. Wilson
Genre: YA/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: ****
Review: The opening to Voiceless was pretty good we meet Adelaide Te Ngawai who is a student at Te Maru Girls’ Grammar and is helping another student Maunga runs a study session. However, when it is Addy’s turn to present Maunga stabs her with something, a drug that makes her pass out, definitely a really gripping first chapter. It turns out the shot Maunga gave Addy was a man-made disease commonly known Vox Pox where it made its victims mute but also destroyed all their creative abilities. Addy slowly adjusts to being voiceless, but it isolates her greatly and despite learning to type well she lacks creativity in her stories and therefore fails every creative assignment at school and she can’t tell anyone how she lost her voice but Maunga threatens to go after her friends if she does plus no one would believe her.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel it has been eighteen months since Addy lost her voice, when Theo informs her that the virtual pyschoidentity simulator has been created and soon becomes life changing for many people and Addy thinks about going to TheraPRG for some time but always held herself back because writing is a required part of the session. However, things change when Theo returns home one day, and he has Vox Pox too, Addy immediately prepared to go to TheraRPG and prove Maunga and everyone else wrong.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Addy Enters to virtual world looking for Maunga to get her voice back but for a while everything she encounters is designed to mess with her mind unless she comes across Seth a ghost in the system. As he is the first person she has encountered she realises she can talk her and tells Seth everything that has lead her to this point and he agrees to help her as she knows where Maunga is gone and really seems like he actually wants to help Addy. I was a bit disappointed that the virtual world doesn’t go into extreme depths about its origins or what others experience but I hope we will learn more through Seth as they head out on a quest of sorts to find the woman who stole her voice.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Addy and Seth makes their way out of the city with some help from another ghost Dave which is a lot more difficult than it seems as most of the transportation is designed for ghosts meaning pilgrims like Addy can’t use them, but they manage it through some smart intellect and quick thinking. When the final reach the area of the mountain Maunga is supposedly waiting in Addy realises that Seth has been playing her fulfilling both his promise to her and Maunga. When they finally come face to face Maunga confesses she was dating Seth’s original and after they drifted apart she met ghost Seth and they started up again. When Addy demands to know why she stole her voice she learns that Maunga was being blackmailed by the woman who created the Vox pox saying that if Maunga didn’t steal someone’s voice she would lose hers and Addy was just a convenient opportunity. Maunga also tells Addy that because she can influence the sim and her timer has gone over the regulated four hours she is the only one that can help Maunga track down the woman who has destroyed both their lives.
As we cross into the final section of the novel Maunga and Addy have to find the woman, but Seth can’t come with them. We learn they are going to see Caroline York the overseer at Breach who has a ghost of herself inside the system and it is ghost Caroline they are going to see. When they get there Caroline explains why she did everything and Addy makes a decision that is going to change her life forever but before she has to leave her brother promises that he will return her home as soon as he can.
I can’t say too much about this book without giving away a lot of the twists but I can’t wait to get into the sequel Expression as soon as I can.