Unspoken, by Sarah Rees Brennan

[rowyn]

Unspoken is the fifth book I've read by Sarah Rees Brennan. At first, it reminded me of Team Human, but by the end it had a lot more in common with the Demon books. It's in the urban fantasy genre, although in this case "urban" = "small town".

I need to start by noting that the protagonist has an imaginary friend who she talks to in her head and who has an entire life separate from hers. Not like Harvey or Hobbes, who exist alongside their companions, but more like having a best friend you can only talk to in your head and who lives on another continent and/or world. And who probably doesn't exist and who doesn't entirely think you exist either. This is completely awesome. As soon as this was introduced, I was all "why have I never seen this before? Can I use this in a story without plagariazing Brennan? Surely this cannot be the first story to use this device!" There must be some portal fantasy or something that also did it.

So there's that, which I loved. The cast as a whole is well-written and likeable while remaining distinct. There's a lot of silly, entertaining banter. The book largely revolves around one key relationship, which is intense and compelling. I greatly enjoyed the first half of the story, liked the next third or so, and cannot even make sense of the ending. As in wait what why is this happening what wait that is the END? You are stopping? There? What

....

What?

I kinda wish Brandon Sanderson would give Sarah Rees Brennan lessons on How to Write a Good Ending. v_v

This is book one of I-don't-know-how-many, so maybe the sequel(s) will explain some of the what? I am willing to give the next book a shot whenever it comes out, anyway. I'm giving this book a 7, though. Because .... really ... what?

Comments

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

Hmmm the closest thing I can think of is Grainger's mental parasite in Brian Stableford's Hooded Swan series. He calls it "the wind" and it is a separate being but completely incorporeal, existing only in his head.

[rowyn]

What I loved about this was that they were each other's imaginary friends, so that the voice in her head was no more convinced she was real than she was convinced the voice was. Instead of it being just 'her companion no one else could talk to' it was clear the voice had a whole separate real life with people who didn't think she was real. :D

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

You should spend more time in multiplicity and otherkin communities, hehehehe...

[rowyn]

Hee! I guess that would do it.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Yea, there are lots of people that live that sort of thing in their day to day lives... and since these people are (often) fully functional in society and cognizant that what they are seeing isn't normal perceptions, we don't always consider them 'crazy'. Especially if it is a spiritual/religious sort of thing.

[rowyn]

I am reminded of the modern-day BBC Sherlock's "I am a high-functioning sociopath". There's quite a lot you can do in the way of irrational beliefs and behaviors while remaining perfectly capable of functioning in society.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

The webcomic Untitled! had a character like that. They were each others' imaginary friends although I think the one in the magic world always believed the other character was real.

It was also a central feature of one of the campaigns Lazar ran for us. Everyone had a double in the other world, but certain people could speak to their doubles sort of like you're talking about, and the only people who could cross over were the ones whose doubles were dead (IIRC).

And there's Homestuck's dream selves. And various other duplicate-world stories and games where the main character is someone else in their dreams but time passes when they're not dreaming, which is not *exactly* the same idea.

[rowyn]

Cool! I was thinking it must be something that happens in portal fantasy (where characters are from different universes), although I couldn't think of any instances. :) Brennan's book surprised me by not actually being a portal fantasy. Anyway, now I won't have to feel bad when I steal the concept.

I don't think that "main character is someone else in another world that they only experience when dreaming" is the same thing at all, though. It is something I've seen a lot more often.