Reviewed by Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub on
I was intrigued by the rather vague mention to dreams bleeding into reality, so I just had to pick Hush up. I have to be honest: this felt rather generic to me in many ways. Dylan Farrow is a skilled author, there’s no denying that, but the story itself felt like an idea that hadn’t been fully fleshed out yet.
Shae is the main character. When she was younger, her brother died of the Blot, a mysterious plague thought to be spread by ink. After her mother is murdered, Shae decides to track down the Bards, the only people who are now allowed to read and write. There is a reason for her choice, but it doesn’t really make a ton of sense if you think about it for too long. A good chunk of Shae’s decision to find the Bards is for knowledge. If anyone can help her, it would be them. This book is a lot of “don’t notice, don’t question”, with Shae needing to overcome her blind acceptance of things to discover the truth.
Unfortunately, Shae was a rather forgettable character. I never really got a feel on who she was. Again, I got the feel of a half fleshed-out idea. She was stubborn when it didn’t make sense to be, had the dreaded insta-attraction that I hate, and I just felt like she was more a stereotype of what people say all YA female characters are like, as opposed to being a full character. I don’t need to love a character to like reading about them, but feeling apathy regarding the main character definitely detracts from my enjoyment of a book.
The world itself is a fascinating one, full of little details that make it more three-dimensional, and it’s apparent that the author has a vision and is capable of realizing it. Even bare bones of the plot are pretty stinking cool. It just needs to be a little more developed.
I have a feeling that this series will grow and evolve into something great as it continues on. Unfortunately, I won’t be reading any subsequent books. Hush was just not for me.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 17 October, 2020: Reviewed