Island of Silence Series: The Unwanteds #2 Published by Aladdin on September 4, 2012
Genres: Action & Adventure
Pages: 416
Find the Author: Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Instagram
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads
Reading Challenges: 2024 Audiobook challenge, Beat the backlistSecond book in the middle grade dystopian fantasy series, Unwanteds.
The battle is over. The magical barrier between the dreary land of Quill and the fantastical world of Artimé is gone. Now residents of both places are free to mingle, but tensions are high. The artistic warriors of Artimé struggle to forgive those in Quill who condemned them to death, while the Quillens attempt to recover from the shock of Artime’s existence, the loss of their leader, and the total collapse of their safe, orderly world.
14-year-old Alex Stowe has recovered from his physical wounds since his death-defying role in Artime’s victory, but his confidence is shattered. He battles self-doubt after Artimé’s beloved mage, Mr. Today, makes a stunning request, which is further complicated by the mysterious arrival of two silent, orange-eyed teenagers.
Meanwhile in Quill, Aaron is devastated by his fall from grace and seething with anger toward his twin brother Alex. Spurred by rage, Aaron recruits a team of Restorers and devises a masterful plan of revenge that will return him to power… if no one gets in his way.
Review:
What a fun ride! I read that so quickly! This one picks up very soon after the events in the first book, and so many more complications are added to the story. I liked following Alex as he learned more about the foundations of Artime. I appreciated getting more chapters from Aaron’s POV as well. Aaron’s chapters allow the reader to understand Aaron a lot more and sympathize with him a little (not fully because he’s still annoying). Alex is great. He has some fantastic traits that make him an excellent example for children. The world that Lisa McMann has built with Artimé and Quill is lovely, for lack of a better word, even for me as a grown-up. Quill is so dark and dreary; by contrast, Artimé is so colorful and ALIVE. Now, we also have The Island of Silence – which could be the scariest place I have ever read in a book. (umm, and I read A LOT of horror!)
The characters are so well-developed that I feel like I know them. I want to be friends with them (or NOT) and hug them (or NOT!)… The author has done such a fantastic job here. The characters you are supposed to care about, you do – and the ones you are supposed to despise, YOU DO! I would not be lying if I said the inhabitants from the Island of Silence could have been plucked from one of my crazy ass nightmares. They SCARED ME. As in: sat up in bed, gasping for air, praying “my friends” got away from them.
About Lisa McMann
Lisa McMann lives in Tempe, Arizona. She is married to fellow writer, Matt McMann, and they have two adult children. Her son is artist Kilian McMann, and her daughter is actor Kennedy McMann.
Lisa was born in Holland, Michigan, and she lived there until 2004, when she moved to Arizona with her family. She also spends parts of the year in Sacramento, CA, and Vancouver, BC, Canada. Her first book, Wake, came out in 2008.
In her spare time, Lisa likes to take walks and cook. She also likes to watch TV and movies and loves to read fantasy, realistic fiction, memoirs, and books about cooking and wine.
Lisa is the author of over two dozen books for young adults and children. Some of her most well-known books are The Unwanteds series for middle grade readers and the Wake trilogy for young adults
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is magnificent, as well as the content!
I been blogging for well over ten years. My blog is hosted my nose graze which helps with the layout, theme etc of the blog layout. I tweak aroudn with how it looks as i discover new things. Like this year i started using the bookly app which generates the book graphic i have next to my review. I also started doing a weekly round up post on sundays so you can quickly see what i reviewed over the week. If you have any questions feel free to ask.