Untold review

Untold
Sarah Rees Brennan
August 29th 2013
Simon & Schuster UK

Free from bonds, but not each other

It’s time to choose sides… On the surface, Sorry-in-the-Vale is a sleepy English town. But Kami Glass knows the truth. Sorry-in-the-Vale is full of magic. In the old days, the Lynburn family ruled with fear, terrifying the people into submission in order to kill for blood and power. Now the Lynburns are back, and Rob Lynburn is gathering sorcerers so that the town can return to the old ways.

But Rob and his followers aren’t the only sorcerers in town. A decision must be made: pay the blood sacrifice, or fight. For Kami, this means more than just choosing between good and evil. With her link to Jared Lynburn severed, she’s now free to love anyone she chooses. But who should that be?

I enjoyed Untold, the second book in Sarah Rees Brennan's Lynburn Legancy, but I'm not sure if I thought that it was as good as the first one. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but it just sort of seemed like nothing really happened. I do love the characters in these books though, and there was plenty of drama going on there.

Kami and the gang are still in a spot of trouble with Rob and his gang of sorcerers, because he wants the town of Sorry-in-the-Vale to go back to the way it was, with sorcerers at the top of the food chain, while Kami and Lillian don't want that to happen. Now, with that being the blurb, and after the events of the first book, you would expect Untold to be action packed and full of sorcerer fights, but not really that much action takes place. There are big scenes at the start and at the end of the book, but really most of it was just planning and everyone having relationship drama. Now, I love relationship drama, but still, I'm hoping that now that a lot of it is done, there will be more focus on defeating Rob and sorting out the Jared and Ash situation in the next book.

I do love Kami, though, and I do kinda love the stuff going on with Jared and Ash in this book, so I still enjoyed it a lot. Kami is probably one of my favourite ever YA heroines, mainly because intrepid reporters are the best and Kami is hilarious and sometimes reckless and afraid, but adamant in what she believes in, and despite her doubts, she continues to fight for them. And I liked a lot of the development between her and Jared, especially with the nature of their relationship and their feelings for each other after their link was severed And, despite how brilliant and funny Kami (and SRB) are, this book definitely felt a little bit more serious because of all the relationship drama. SRB doesn't hold back on the trademark pain that her books almost always cause, either. The way that this book ended isn't as bad as the first one, but you'll still read this book and curse SRB afterwards anyway, while she sits away somewhere, cackling, as she is an evil, evil author.

I also love the rest of the characters, and they're probably most of the reason why I stuck with Untold, and why I'll be sticking with the rest of the series. I want to know what happens with Rob and how this whole situation will be sorted out, of course, but I also want to know how Holly and Angela and Rusty get on. I was really glad to see the way in which Angela's sexuality was dealt with and how that affected her friendship with Holly, and, I guess, how it didn't really affect her friendship with Kami. Also, I was glad to see Rusty was in it more! Though I can't help but feel like something terribly awful is going to happen to him. I try so hard not to get attached to characters in SRB's books, but she makes them all so loveable! And then ruins their lives. But still.

Untold was a good second book, but not quite a good as the first (in my opinion). It was a lot of fun to read though, and if you like the characters like I do then you'll still enjoy the book a lot even if not that much happens in it.