Review: Untold - Sarah Rees Brennan

Untold
Sarah Rees Brennan

Series: The Lynburn Legacy, #2

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Mystery

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Word Rating: Craziness
On Goodreads

Hello, everyone! I read Unspoken, the first book in the Lynburn Legacy series, earlier this year. With the cliffhanger ending of that book (grrr…), I was anxiously awaiting the release of the second book. Unfortunately, college happened and I found myself unable to read Untold until now. I really loved Unspoken and Untold did not disappoint.

It’s hard to talk about Untold without having any spoilers for the first book in the series because the plot has everything to do with a secret that isn’t revealed in Unspoken until about 75% through the book. That being said, here’s a spoiler-free summary of my full review:

Untold has great character development of the main character, Kami, as well as several of the minor characters. Sarah Rees Brennan does a lot to elaborate on the way the characters think so we can understand what they do. This book is darker than Unspoken, but still has it’s funny moments in the dialogue. Overall, I really enjoyed Untold. I’m really interested to see where the next installment goes with all the craziness that occurred in this book and I can’t wait to read it!

I know, super brief and completely unexplained, but spoilers are mean! Anyhow, onto the full review!

**This review is spoiler-free for Untold but includes MAJOR SPOILERS for Unspoken. Read at your own risk.**

Untold picks up right where Unspoken left off. Rob Lynburn and his band of sorcerers want to make Sorry-in-the-Vale how it used to be – controlled by sorcerers who spill blood for power. Of course, Kami Glass is willing to do anything it takes to stop him.

Since Kami broke her link with Jared, there relationship is as strained as ever. Even though Jared is certainly more dramatic about being without the link, Kami has to adjust as well. I liked seeing how Kami thought about her choices more in this book. Without Jared in her head all the time, she doesn’t always have someone commenting on her every thought before she makes a decision. This changes the way she thinks a lot throughout the book. The best thing about it is that even though she’s struggling with this self-doubt and lack of Jared, she still does what she needs to do and makes important decisions. Kami is so strong and it’s even more apparent in this story since she is separated from Jared and has to deal with so many other things in her life while attempting to foil an evil sorcerer.

While Kami’s struggle to live without the link is explored, we get far more insight into the minds of her friends as well. From the way Ash behaves and sees things to Holly trying to figure out her situation with Angela to Jared facing his intense longing for Kami’s voice in his head, there is so much development in these characters.

But the character who stood out to me most was Rusty. I thought he was cool in the first book, but he becomes really interesting in Untold. Rusty does things in this book that really made me question what his motives were. Who is he? We know that he’s Kami’s best friend’s older brother and that he looks after her, but there’s a lot more to him than that, which is starting to be explored in this book. I’m really looking forward to seeing where Sarah Rees Brennan goes with his character in the next book.

Once again, Sarah Rees Brennan delivers an interesting and well-paced story. This installment certainly provided more about sorcery (since we actually know that the Lynburns are sorcerers for the whole book) but it was also a lot darker in nature than the first. Near the end of the book, there are a lot of really dark and horrible things happening. Unspoken was certainly dark at times, but Untold has a lot less of the light and whimsical moments that were in the first book. (Of course, there are still a lot of funny times in Untold – I laughed so hard at some of the dialogue.) This is a good example of ignorance is bliss when It comes to knowing what’s up with the Lynburns.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Untold. I was so happy to finally get a chance to read it and I’m happy, for the most part, about where Sarah Rees Brennan took the story. Although the characters didn’t really get much accomplished during this book in regards to saving the town, I’m sure the next installment will be packed with their fight to save the town. With all the craziness that occurred in this book (I’d tell you, but that would be spoiler-y and you should read this series if you haven’t already), there is so much for Unmade to cover. I can’t wait!

- Kiersten

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