I can't feel sadness, anger, or fear. I can't feel anything. I've grown talented at pretending. Elizabeth Caldwell doesn't feel emotions . . . she sees them in human form. Longing hovers around the shy, adoring boy at school. Courage materializes beside her dying friend. Fury and Resentment visit her abusive home. They've all given up on Elizabeth because she doesn't succumb to their touch. All, that is, except beautiful Fear, who sometimes torments her and other times plays her compassionate savior. He's obsessed with finding the answer to one question: What happened to Elizabeth to make her this way? They both sense that the key to Elizabeth's condition is somehow connected to the paintings of her dreams, which show visions of death and grief that raise more questions than answers. But as a shadowy menace begins to stalk her, Elizabeth's very survival depends on discovering the truth about herself. When it matters most, she may not be able to rely on Fear to save her.
I can honestly say that I had not read anything even remotely like Some Quiet Place before. It is just completely strange and unique. Elizabeth cannot feel emotions. Not even a little bit. She's just numb, or maybe she's a zombie. But she can see them. Emotions appear as humans (with varying appearances) and touch people who are feeling that emotion. They can't touch Elizabeth though. This, of course, causes her problems in her day to day life. She's picked on at school, and her parents are terrified of her. Her mother even goes as far as to say she's not her daughter, just some replacement. Then Elizabeth starts having these dreams that feel more like memories and some of the Emotions are acting strangely around her.
I loved the premise of Some Quiet Place. Elizabeth literally feels nothing. Not when her father beats her. Not when her best friend dies of cancer. Not even when she learns that she may not be entirely human. She just goes over the facts and acts accordingly, sometimes putting on a happy/sad/whatever face to appear to be feeling something. The Emotion entities were also great. They come and go as people are feeling things, some of them talk to Elizabeth, others ignore her. Fear is one that is inexplicably drawn to her, and has been since she was a little girl. Despite his name, he's not scary or dangerous at all. He's more mysterious and I liked that.
Some Quiet Place's plot does get a bit jumbled near the end. Elizabeth is trying to figure out what happened to her that caused her to not be able to feel emotions and who did it to her. There's also someone after her and she doesn't know why. Well, all of this gets resolved, but then there's more. It was starting to lose me a bit, but I did think it was a great set up for the sequel which I was excited to get to. Then I realized Where Silence Gathers is a companion, and has nothing to do with Elizabeth and Fear. Their story didn't feel complete, so that made me drop a star.
