Reviews

Soundless by Richelle Mead

caeden's review against another edition

inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed this book, the premise was intriguing and the plot is very interesting. I really enjoyed the characters. I usually don’t read books with this type of setting so it was fun to try something new! However, the writing style was different for me as well. I found some parts repetitive and the flow wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. As a whole, I really liked this book and would recommend it to others. 

mozbolt's review against another edition

4.0

This book was so creatively written to the point that I actually felt physical discomfort due to my fear of heights when reading about the characters climbing down the mountain. However, I wish that the characters had been more developed, and the author did not incorporate enough Chinese folklore until the end, which kind of defeated the point of it being a "mythological" story. Also, the obligatory romance irked me slightly. Overall I really enjoyed reading it though, so 3.5 stars!

m_hubnerovaa's review against another edition

2.0

Very lackluster. That's all i can say.

roxyc's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

2.75

rhanebowreads's review against another edition

4.0

I've been putting off reading this book since I got it for my birthday back in December. Not really sure why, I guess I just wasn't ready for it yet. Well I wish I'd started it a bit sooner now! I really enjoyed this book. It was a very beautifully descriptive story that had some interesting twists. I kind of had a feeling where it was going pretty early on, but it was still an enjoyable read all the same. I described the story to my girlfriend and she mentioned that it had sort of a reference to The Giver which I found interesting as well (having knowledge of The Giver story, but having never read it). All in all I'd recommend this one for sure.

katief25's review against another edition

4.0

One of the quickest reads ever. It's interesting and I love the scenes that Richelle Mead paints throughout the book. There's not much background on their village or most of the characters going in, so I felt like I couldn't connect to the other characters as much as I would've liked. The story shifted so fast from detail/event to detail/event it seemed a little rushed. Otherwise I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected.

abadoom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

cvsuthie's review against another edition

3.0

I really can't decide how I feel about this, so I'm just gonna give it a standard 3 stars.

There are both good and bad aspects to this book. Some things I enjoyed were the writing, the fantasy aspects and the plot in general. Some things I did not enjoy so much were the pacing (a lot of things happened WAY too quickly and unrealistically and conveniently for me), the main character Fei's personality in general (she was super bland

Spoiler

and apart from her artistic ability I honestly don't understand why the pixiu bonded with her because she was honestly such a boring and annoying protagonist. Her needless debate over whether or not to like Li Wei was so pointless, because Sheng was never even presented as a love interest at all.

) and the world building.

Honestly, apart from the names and the fantasy aspect of this book, there was nothing to distinguish it as being set in an Eastern-inspired culture.

Overall, my thoughts are that if you are looking for an exciting YA Eastern book (and let's be real, those are few and far between) I'd say that you should not waste your time on this one because there are way better ones to be found, like Eon and Eona by Alison Goodman. Those books are a perfect blend of romance, adventure and fantasy, and the Eastern culture in those books permeates every aspect of the novels which is AMAZING. I almost feel like Richelle Mead was trying to recreate those books in this and just failed epically.

SO yeah. Don't waste your time on this one, guys. It's really not worth it.

ungodlybri03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

kdl_gadzella's review against another edition

3.0

Okay so I went into this with pretty low expectations and it was not as bad as I thought it might be. while I did enjoy the story I don't think it did everything it was trying to do in terms of culture.