Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Blogger

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Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

A fast-paced fantasy which leaves you wanting more.

3stars

Synopsis

Nov-10For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation.

But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.

Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiguo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever….

My Review

The concept of the narrative in Soundless is amazing. I love the idea of a silent village, where everyone has lost their hearing for inexplicable reasons. Soundless was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I had high expectations… sadly I don’t think the actual story lived up to its potential. I longed for a richer cultural backdrop, for more complex characters, for a deeper, more intricate plot and for a more thoughtful ending (as opposed to deus ex machina). The novel was fast-paced and enjoyable nonetheless, I definitely kept reading to figure out what was happening, it’s just that I wanted more.

The story centers around a remote village atop an asperous mountain, where for generations people lived without sound and speech. Their ancestors slowly began to lose their hearing, and now, the silent community can’t grasp any other way of life. Unfortunately and inexplicably however, villagers have begun to lose their sight too. There are miners who work mercilessly to mine out metals they send to the town below, in trade for meager amounts of food delivered by zipline. But when the food begins to dwindle as miners increasingly go blind, the villagers worry for their future as chaos looms.

“Death. Starvation. Blindness. Another grim day in our village.”

Fei, our heroine, is a talented apprentice who along with others, paints a daily record of the news, heralding each day’s activities with graceful brushstrokes. Now, the canvases capture worry, hunger, blindness. One night, after a flurry of haunting dreams, she wakes with her hearing in tact. She’s never heard a sound before. Afraid and confused, she doesn’t understand why she would suddenly wake with this ability. Around this time, she collides with her childhood sweetheart and miner, Li Wei, who is sure they must do something before matters worsen.

Their adventure begins then, as they descend the treacherous mountain, hoping they won’t perish before they uncover the truth and save their village from hunger and blindness. What they learn changes everything and what they bring to the village is more danger than they imagined.

Fans of Richelle Mead may love the romance and adventure aspects, but devoted fantasy readers may be disappointed.

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