A review by breabooks
A Sea of Unspoken Things by Adrienne Young

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5? This book had a major identity crisis. It’s listed as sci-fi/fantasy and mystery/thriller on NetGalley and Goodreads. It is most definitely not sci-do fantasy by any stretch of the imagination. There were more horror elements in it than whatever the publisher thought constituted sci-fi/fantasy. I rate books a 3 when I like the book but I had some major issues with it and don’t see myself rereading it or thinking about it again. 

The overall story itself was great, but the pacing was all over the place. It started off interesting with lots of mystery and some almost horror aspects, was boring until about the 60% mark, and was back to faster pacing and thriller status towards the end. All the twists and action happened in the last 15%. 

All the characters are very traumatized, so it’s a hard start if you’ve ever suffered a similar familial loss. I’m not sure how to put it but James did a lot of self-reflection without any actual change until the very end. It was repetitive and become boring. However, the plot was good! Just not the absolute best?

I also wish the owl motif was explored more. 

Thanks to Delacorte Press for the advanced digital galley.