Scan barcode
A review by navsy
The Unnaturalists by Tiffany Trent
3.0
The Unnaturalists is a brilliant book in terms of creative world building, well paced plot, intriguing story line and beautiful mythical creatures set in an alternate Victorian era with a mixture of steampunk and fantasy. However even with such strong premise it didn't make it into my list of favorites due to reasons I'll discuss shortly.
We are introduced to a strange New London in this book that is full of mythical creatures known as Unnaturals, Pedants responsible for caging and studying these creatures, an Empress who rules over this city, Architects who are like male witches trying to save these creatures and Tinkers, more like gypsy mechanics who understand and speak the language of these Unnaturals and live outside the city. This city is powered by a substance called "myth" that is extracted from Unnaturals in large refineries where Tinkers are worked as slaves and which is guarded by the Empress' royal raven-headed guards and wights. However, there is a side effect of removing Unnaturals from their natural habitat in the form of a wasteland that consumes everything on its way and grows threatening every passing day as more and more Unnaturals are endangered.
Quite a setting huh?
So the story begins with Vespa, an aspiring Unnaturalist (scientists who work in the Museum that holds many of these magical creatures) being pushed into a force field that cages a Sphinx. She is pretty certain that the Sphinx would kill her but strangely it doesn't and she's rescued by a mysterious new guy who happens to be the *ding ding ding* love interest. She expects to be admonished by her father (who is the head of the Museum) but since he's on his way to an important task, he doesn't acknowledge her mistake and takes her along. She realizes that her father is hiding something from her and is shocked to find out what that is when they are stopped on their way from thugs and rescued by Tinkers.
The story switched between Vespa and a 13-year old tinker, Syrus who was a really smart and brave guy. Vespa on the other hand was a whiny, angsty, love-struck, unfocused protagonist whose monologue in present tense not only felt weird but was also boring and annoying. Syrus' story was in third person and far more interesting and engrossing than Vespa's. The story, in turn, mainly focused on stopping the destruction of their world, aggravated by the villains who brought in quite a few twists.
Let me first mention all the things that I really liked:
-Imaginative world building
-Vivid descriptions
-Underlying message of conserving nature
-Unexpected twists
-Story behind wights' creation
-Werehounds mystery
-Horrors of the refineries
Now all the things that I didn't like: (and 'cause I'm a nasty critic, the dislikes will be more detailed *cackles*)
-Vespa: She went on and on about how much she wanted to be the second female Unnaturalist in the history of New London and how much she despised being bogged down by lady-like chores that her Aunt insisted she excelled atwho could blame her though but there wasn't ever a time that I found her talking or caring about science. What she mostly did was complain and fret about her situation. She was so very predictable and her sulking over Pedant Lumin/Hal/Bayne was completely ridiculous. I was satisfied to see her suffer a little during the end but disappointingly it didn't last for as long as I'd have appreciated.
-Lack of explanation: Even though the author presented us with some basic history of how it all started, I stayed unsatisfied. A lot of the details were fuzzy and I still have a lot of unanswered questions. To begin with: How did those raven-headed guards come into being? Were they magical creatures too or some other horrendous experiment? How was the force field able to trap Unnaturals? Did I miss it or I don't remember? Did it have something to do with myth? Why were Tinkers the only people who understood the language of Unnaturals? What happened that labeled them as outcasts? Also, what exactly happened in the end?
-The ending: Everything was going on smoothly (if you ignore the parts where Vespa threw herself a pity party) until the last two chapters ended in a rush and ruined it for me. It went down too quickly and was quite open-ended. I don't even understand how Vespa. Also there was big talk of working on a machine to get back to old London but when time for its execution came, it was done rather hastily and then everything after it was wrapped up in a nice shiny package.
-Romance: Even if romance didn't play a major role in this story and was mostly (or completely?) one-sided, it irritated me because of Vespa. I'm being unnecessarily harsh and nit-picking but the whole deal with that love-potion and everything it followed seemed really stupid and useless to me. We were made to believe that Vespa was but all she did was make a trivial thing like a love-potion? Can you give me a good reason why?
Anyways, my 3 star rating is for the remarkable premise and the author's ingenuity. The unpredictability of the book was also a saving grace for me. It is a quick read but Vespa and other books made me abandon it for a week or longer. Not that I regret my decision, but my rating is also biased based on how quickly I devour a book. If I were to rate Vespa's and Syrus' pov's/stories individually, I'd give Vespa a 2 or 1.5 and Syrus a solid 3.5. So, overall, if you're looking for a mystical, peculiar yet a little perplexing read, go for it.
We are introduced to a strange New London in this book that is full of mythical creatures known as Unnaturals, Pedants responsible for caging and studying these creatures, an Empress who rules over this city, Architects who are like male witches trying to save these creatures and Tinkers, more like gypsy mechanics who understand and speak the language of these Unnaturals and live outside the city. This city is powered by a substance called "myth" that is extracted from Unnaturals in large refineries where Tinkers are worked as slaves and which is guarded by the Empress' royal raven-headed guards and wights. However, there is a side effect of removing Unnaturals from their natural habitat in the form of a wasteland that consumes everything on its way and grows threatening every passing day as more and more Unnaturals are endangered.
Quite a setting huh?
So the story begins with Vespa, an aspiring Unnaturalist (scientists who work in the Museum that holds many of these magical creatures) being pushed into a force field that cages a Sphinx. She is pretty certain that the Sphinx would kill her but strangely it doesn't and she's rescued by a mysterious new guy who happens to be the *ding ding ding* love interest. She expects to be admonished by her father (who is the head of the Museum) but since he's on his way to an important task, he doesn't acknowledge her mistake and takes her along. She realizes that her father is hiding something from her and is shocked to find out what that is when they are stopped on their way from thugs and rescued by Tinkers.
The story switched between Vespa and a 13-year old tinker, Syrus who was a really smart and brave guy. Vespa on the other hand was a whiny, angsty, love-struck, unfocused protagonist whose monologue in present tense not only felt weird but was also boring and annoying. Syrus' story was in third person and far more interesting and engrossing than Vespa's. The story, in turn, mainly focused on stopping the destruction of their world, aggravated by the villains who brought in quite a few twists.
Let me first mention all the things that I really liked:
-Imaginative world building
-Vivid descriptions
-Underlying message of conserving nature
-Unexpected twists
-Story behind wights' creation
-Werehounds mystery
-Horrors of the refineries
Now all the things that I didn't like: (and 'cause I'm a nasty critic, the dislikes will be more detailed *cackles*)
-Vespa: She went on and on about how much she wanted to be the second female Unnaturalist in the history of New London and how much she despised being bogged down by lady-like chores that her Aunt insisted she excelled at
-Lack of explanation: Even though the author presented us with some basic history of how it all started, I stayed unsatisfied. A lot of the details were fuzzy and I still have a lot of unanswered questions. To begin with: How did those raven-headed guards come into being? Were they magical creatures too or some other horrendous experiment? How was the force field able to trap Unnaturals? Did I miss it or I don't remember? Did it have something to do with myth? Why were Tinkers the only people who understood the language of Unnaturals? What happened that labeled them as outcasts? Also, what exactly happened in the end?
-The ending: Everything was going on smoothly (if you ignore the parts where Vespa threw herself a pity party) until the last two chapters ended in a rush and ruined it for me. It went down too quickly and was quite open-ended. I don't even understand how Vespa
Spoiler
turned into a bird to fly out of the palaceSpoiler
The princess' involvement IMO was added like an after-thought to the story and also felt like a mere convenience for Vespa to become a Pedant.-Romance: Even if romance didn't play a major role in this story and was mostly (or completely?) one-sided, it irritated me because of Vespa. I'm being unnecessarily harsh and nit-picking but the whole deal with that love-potion and everything it followed seemed really stupid and useless to me. We were made to believe that Vespa was
Spoiler
the only remaining witch and really powerfulAnyways, my 3 star rating is for the remarkable premise and the author's ingenuity. The unpredictability of the book was also a saving grace for me. It is a quick read but Vespa and other books made me abandon it for a week or longer. Not that I regret my decision, but my rating is also biased based on how quickly I devour a book. If I were to rate Vespa's and Syrus' pov's/stories individually, I'd give Vespa a 2 or 1.5 and Syrus a solid 3.5. So, overall, if you're looking for a mystical, peculiar yet a little perplexing read, go for it.