Soundless

by Nikki Loftin

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER

From Richelle Mead, the #1 internationally bestselling author of Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, comes a breathtaking new fantasy perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Laini Taylor and Sabaa Tahir.
 
"Fans of characters like Rose Hathaway and Sydney Sage will flock to this impressive stand-alone novel."
--Booklist

For 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....

• ISBN10: 1595147640
• ISBN13: 9781595147646
• Publish Date: 8 November 2016 (first published 10 November 2015)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Razorbill
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781595147646

Reviews

[inlibrisveritas]

Soundless is a light fantasy novel, with a rather quick story but written in a way that provides a richness to the mere 250+ pages.

Soundless will be (is) without any doubt a book that either works for you or doesn’t. It’s not that it has a polarizing topic or quirky character, it’s simply…simple. Personally I didn’t mind the simplistic nature of the story, for two reasons. One is Richelle Mead’s writing, which is fantastic. She puts so much life and detail in a few words that it really brought the mountain side village to life. And the second was the narrator, Kim Guest, whose voice really fit the story. She has a light airy voice, but it’s strong and she has a great grasp of each character she’s portraying. I think if I had been reading it the rating would have more around the 3 star range, but having Kim really push the emotions at the right times made it even more enjoyable.

I really liked Fei and those in her village, all of whom are deaf and communicate through sign language and rich paintings. I will say that while I think Fei is great and has a kind heart, I didn’t really ‘know’ her or any of the other characters. So I think that aspect Soundless sort of fell short, and focuses mostly on story driven descriptions.

The fantasy element in this one is very slight, and really only comes up on occasion so it’s easy to forget you’re reading a fantasy novel. I actually liked how light it was. I read fantasy novels that are loaded with tons of new ideas, names, and races…and sometimes it’s nice to kick back and read a story that is easy to grasp and ties up nicely at the end. Not everything needs to be Game of Thrones, right?

Overall it was a really enjoyable one that served as a much need palette cleanser. I think Richelle Meads excellent writing style and Kim Guest’s beautiful voice it makes for one delightful listen, and I’ll be on the lookout for more from both of them.

[ellieroth]

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Con una portada preciosa, Richelle Mead se separó en 2015 de sus tan conocidos vampiros, trayéndonos una historia completamente nueva y bastante interesante, aunque no del todo comercial.

Soundless sigue la historia de una joven, quien vive en una aldea donde el 100% de sus habitantes tiene sordera. Una premisa extremadamente interesante, personajes discapacitados en los libros es extremadamente difícil de encontrar, y ¿uno donde sea el protagonista? ¿Encima, toda una aldea de personas discapacitadas, donde no sea tan solo un recurso fácil de agregarla drama? La verdad, es que son rarísimos de encontrar.

Pero Richelle Mead lo logra, la sordera puedes leerla en cada página, puedes sentir toda la investigación y cuidado que la escritora tuvo al escribir este libro, desde las señas para comunicarse, hasta la manera en la que la aldea se acomodó para sobrevivir a pesar de su sordera. Vivir con una discapacidad no significa que no puedas llevar una vida normal, claro, con algunas modificaciones, pero ¿quién no modifica sus alrededores para hacerse la vida más fácil?

Y, ¿cuándo Fei empieza a oír por primera vez? Richelle Mead es el tipo de escritora que me gustaría ser, tiene un cuidado con los detalles exquisito.

NO ES UN LIBRO PERFECTO

Su error ha sido que es muy lento, demora mucho en entrar a la historia que se supone nos tendrá devorando párrafos. El ritmo del libro no lo sentí Young Adult, creo que si me hubieran vendido este libro como que iba para un público adulto, lo hubiera tomado un poco diferente.

La verdad es que no lo sé con exactitud, lo que Mead me mostró, me gustó bastante. He visto muy, muy pocos dorama de época como para comparar, además que las culturas chinas, japonesas y coreanas, son diferentes. Pero no lo sentí cliché o falso.

NO TODOS TENEMOS LAS MISMAS OPORTUNIDADES

Lo que más me gustó del libro, es que su mensaje durante toda su lectura es que no todos nacemos con los mismos privilegios, hay una conversación entre los protagonistas que me dejó asintiendo cual muñeco cabezón. Soundless es una gran crítica social, sobre todo para USA, quizá eso sea un problema para algunos.

Sobre todo me gustó su punto en la falsa modestia o el disculparte porque todos tus esfuerzos y sacrificios te llevaron a conseguir lo que querías. SIENTETE ORGULLOS@ DE LO QUE HACES Y DE TUS LOGROS, es lo que yo digo.

Sus fallos para mi han sido el ritmo demasiado lento, pero ha sido completamente adorable leer el romance, ¿por qué hay parejas tan adorables en los libros? Quizá no sea mi número uno en recomendaciones, pero es un libro que me ha dejado pensando mucho, varias de sus citas las recuerdo a diario, así que si puedes, dale una oportunidad, solo debes tomar tu tiempo considerable para agarrarle cariño.

Este es uno de esos libros con muy buena premisa, pero mal desarrollo, me da mucha pena porque esas cosas que resalté del libro siento son muy importantes, PERO SE HACE DIFÍCIL DE LEER UGH.

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[Heather]

Fei lives in a small village on the top of a mountain.  Generations ago the passes through the mountains were blocked by avalanches cutting off the village from the land below.  The village survives by mining metals and sending them down the mountain on a small zip line.  Food is sent up in return.  It is hardly enough to keep the village fed and the amounts that are being sent up are getting smaller.

No one can go down the mountain because of avalanches.  Everyone in the village is deaf so they can't hear the rocks falling as they are repelling down.  Now, people are starting to go blind also so something has to be done.  When Fei mysteriously regains her hearing, she knows that she can guide a trip down the side of the mountain to the city below.

I liked the author's description of how a town with only deaf residents would function.  She also did a good job of trying to describe what it would be like to suddenly have a whole new sense that no one you know has ever had before.

Interacting with the outside world for the first time after the isolation of the mountain village was interesting.  This book lost me a bit though at the end.  I swear I've never said these words before in my life but I don't think the fantasy elements of this story were necessary or helped the story.  They don't show up until the end and seem jarring to a story that was well grounded with scientific explanations for events.

It was like I was reading along and then:

Magic!

It was very deus ex machina and not needed.



I was looking at some other reviews and noticed that there aren't a whole lot of nice reviews about this one.  A lot of those are done by people who DNFed it.  I don't get that. If you didn't read the whole thing, you can't complain that you don't understand things that aren't explained until after you quit reading it.

Some readers seem to think "world building" means "explain everything to me in one chapter right at the beginning so I understand how everything works and don't have to figure it out as I go along."  I think of that as lazy reading.

Yes, the book isn't as Chinese as it is touted as being except for the names and the calligraphy and the fantasy part at the end and I don't know what people were expecting.  People are complaining that it could have taken place anywhere like China is the most insanely different place that isn't at all like anywhere else.  It isn't like people living in China run around pointing and yelling, "Oh look!  That's a Chinese person.  There's another one!"  Were people expecting more stereotypes?

This is why I shouldn't read reviews while I'm still writing mine.  I go off on rants.

Take home message

Soundless is an okay way to spend a few hours.  Don't expect to be blown away but it isn't as hideous as some other reviews make it sound.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

[jeannamichel]

On top of the mountain, there is a mining town. Its people lost their hearing long ago, their world becoming a soundless one. The only means of survival comes in the form of a zipline which transports food from the bottom of the mountain to the top in exchange for the metals they mine. The metals soon become rare, the mines are depleting. The village begins to starve. Fei wakes from a fitful dream to noise. She is able to use sound to embark on an adventure that will save her people and all she cares about. Soundless by Richelle Mead is a flawless take on a fantastical Chinese folktale.

Richelle Mead has always been an amazing writer. She floored readers with her great Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series. And she is back to wow her audience again, this time with an entirely different idea.

Regarding the original folktale, the retelling Mead created stays true to the story. She must have researched about Chinese culture—adding names and certain gesticulations to follow the original tale.

In most books, dialogue is what drives the plot forward. However, with Soundless, the dialogue comes in form of sign language. The dialogue seamlessly belongs to the plot, making its readability easy and fast. Readers dive right in to a world with no sound, a quiet story which makes them notice other, smaller details. When Fei regains her hearing, the world becomes noisy and bright. The audience is able to see the world through another person’s eyes, experiencing something for the first time.

It would not be a work from Richelle Mead if there wasn’t a love that couldn’t be. Mead knows how to add the drama on thick, twisting readers’ emotions to their maximum.

With the romance, adventure and always pending doom, readers are going to fly through Soundless. It is a retelling which forces readers to delve deeper into a soundless world. The true focus is on its characters with a strong female lead, a courageous sidekick and a quiet sister.

Soundless is not about a girl who regains hearing in a sea of quietness. It is about a girl who strives to better her people, to save them from a fate she wished does not exist. You definitely do not want to miss the next Richelle Mead novel. Even without sound, Mead creates a retelling readers will be making noise about for a long time.