Get Ready for Richelle Mead’s Soundless, Your Next Addictive Read
No matter how many YA novels I read, there’s one thing I will never get tired of: awesome girls saving the day. And if you’ve read Vampire Academy or Bloodlines or any other book by Richelle Mead, then you already know she’s excellent at creating fun, interesting heroines. Her newest novel, fantasy standalone Soundless, is no exception.
Meet Fei. She’s spent her entire life in a tiny mining village atop a mountain, with no way down except the treacherous rocky cliffside and a small zipline basket used to trade minerals for food from the world below. And the villagers are cut off by more than just the landscape: for generations, no one in the village has been able to hear. As an artist, Fei is responsible for communicating the daily news to her fellow villagers through images.
Soundless
Hardcover $19.99
Soundless
Hardcover $19.99
Even though they’ve learned to cope in a world without sound, the village is now facing a new problem: failing eyesight. As the villagers begin to lose their ability to see, the production of the mine slows down, and the zipline delivers less and less food each day. Life is tense and the threat of starvation is strong, especially for those who can’t contribute to life in the village, which may or may not include Fei’s half-blind sister.
So when Fei wakes up in the middle of the night having suddenly and mysteriously regained her hearing, she knows it’s time to do something. She just isn’t sure what that something is—until she starts talking to Li Wei, an old childhood friend who grudgingly lets Fei accompany him on his mission to get more food for the village. They brave the avalanche-prone cliffs, only to find the world at the bottom of the mountain is much different (and far less kind) than they were led to believe. The truth is, they’re not alone in their plight, and starvation might just be the beginning of their worries.
You’re bound to love Soundless for plenty of reasons, not the least of them being the way Mead subtly blends Chinese culture and folklore with classic YA fantasy plot lines. Throw in Fei’s descriptions of hearing, and you can’t help but wonder how you might explain sound to someone who’d never experienced it before. What are those vibrations? How do you translate noise into meaning? Getting caught up as Fei struggles to describe the new sensations she’s feeling to her companions, you almost forget to wonder why she is suddenly able to hear, a mystery that carries you through the book. And don’t forget Li Wei, a potential love interest whose determination and loyalty are definitely swoon-worthy.
With lots of action packed in between the perfect mix of beautiful descriptions and just the right amount of romance, Soundless is exactly the kind of addictive read you’ve come to expect from Richelle Mead, and I promise, you’re really not going to be able to put it down. The only trouble? Soundless is a standalone, and you’re going to be desperately craving a sequel.
Even though they’ve learned to cope in a world without sound, the village is now facing a new problem: failing eyesight. As the villagers begin to lose their ability to see, the production of the mine slows down, and the zipline delivers less and less food each day. Life is tense and the threat of starvation is strong, especially for those who can’t contribute to life in the village, which may or may not include Fei’s half-blind sister.
So when Fei wakes up in the middle of the night having suddenly and mysteriously regained her hearing, she knows it’s time to do something. She just isn’t sure what that something is—until she starts talking to Li Wei, an old childhood friend who grudgingly lets Fei accompany him on his mission to get more food for the village. They brave the avalanche-prone cliffs, only to find the world at the bottom of the mountain is much different (and far less kind) than they were led to believe. The truth is, they’re not alone in their plight, and starvation might just be the beginning of their worries.
You’re bound to love Soundless for plenty of reasons, not the least of them being the way Mead subtly blends Chinese culture and folklore with classic YA fantasy plot lines. Throw in Fei’s descriptions of hearing, and you can’t help but wonder how you might explain sound to someone who’d never experienced it before. What are those vibrations? How do you translate noise into meaning? Getting caught up as Fei struggles to describe the new sensations she’s feeling to her companions, you almost forget to wonder why she is suddenly able to hear, a mystery that carries you through the book. And don’t forget Li Wei, a potential love interest whose determination and loyalty are definitely swoon-worthy.
With lots of action packed in between the perfect mix of beautiful descriptions and just the right amount of romance, Soundless is exactly the kind of addictive read you’ve come to expect from Richelle Mead, and I promise, you’re really not going to be able to put it down. The only trouble? Soundless is a standalone, and you’re going to be desperately craving a sequel.