Rating: Three and a half
stars—Enjoyable
If any of you were wondering, THE SOUND OF SILVER (by Rachelle Rea) is the sequel to THE SOUND OF DIAMONDS, which I
reviewed last week. As I mentioned before, Rea was kind enough to give
me e-ARCs of both these books, for which I am extremely grateful. Thank you,
Rachelle! So let’s talk about this one.
The
Romance. I know that I don’t tend to be much of
a romance person (since I’m Vulcan and all), but you’d be surprised by what I
might actually enjoy when it comes to love stories. Without giving too much
away (hopefully), I will say that the romance in THE SOUND OF SILVER was more
satisfying to me than it was in its predecessor. This might result from the
heightened tension between the two lovebirds, but it might also come from the
impossible odds stacked against them and the difficult decisions they must
make. I like that Rea involves risk in the equation, rather than just emotion.
Love
Triangle? Okay, there isn’t really a love
triangle in here. Or is there? I won’t say too much, but I will say that I love
what Rea does with this trope, and I love the way it propels the story along while
also providing a bit of a break from the romance between Gwyn and Dirk. (Because,
while romance is all well and good, breathers are nice as well.)
Jealousy
and Anger. Oh yeah, I’m a fan of the darker
emotions (in books though—just to clarify—not so much in real life). Some of
the characters in Rea’s cast aren’t huge supporters of Gwyn and Dirk and their
decisions. I feel that this adds more depth and honesty, since love is never a
bed of roses and life often comes with an angry bee still stuck in its
honeycomb (yeah, I should probably stop talking). Anyway, when it comes to
fiction, I like my sweet with a little sour, and THE SOUND OF SILVER offers a
more balanced mixture than THE SOUND OF DIAMONDS.
Other
Tidbits. Again we have the entertaining (and,
in this case, suspenseful) issues that accompany some of Gwyn and Dirk’s poor
communication. Also, as with the previous installment, the plot picks up the
pace around the middle, ensuring that readers will want to pay more attention
as they near the end. Rea does do a bit more with Ian and Cade, as well as
Margried and Sister Agnes, which I appreciated. I’m always a big fan of getting
to know the secondary characters, sometimes even more than the main ones (I’m
weird like that), so I was hoping this would be the case.
Repeated
Information. As with before, the story does seem to
contain more repeated information than is necessary. I’m a little lazy when it
comes to Kindle, and I appreciate being reminded of some tidbits from time to
time so I don’t have to flip back and check for myself (#somuchwork). But I also
have a decent memory for bookish details, which means the author usually only
has to tell me something once. After that, I’d rather move on to newer and more
interesting stuff.
The
People. As for our main characters, I share
the same feelings about them now as I did in my review of THE SOUND OF
DIAMONDS. Again, I liked seeing them struggle with their beliefs—how to live
them, how to reconcile them with other stuff, etc… On a deeper level, I love
that a good half of the cast has to struggle with maintaining/surrendering some
of the happy feelings from the previous book in order to face reality head on.
Rose-tinted glasses are lovely and all, but life isn’t all bubble gum and
bottomless coffee cups.
Anders.
This guy is great. I think I can really sympathize with his weaknesses and his
shortcomings. Yet he might also be the most complex and hard-to-understand guy
in the book, because his actions tend toward unpredictability (for reasons I
can’t give without spoiling it for you). All in all, I lived for the chapters
featuring Anders Revelin.
The
Ending. I like cliffhangers. I love
cliffhangers. So I was really excited to find that Rea is comfortable with
leaving her characters in a lurch for a few months until the final book comes
out. (On the other hand, though, I have a bit of a Steadfast Love series
hangover, since I got to gobble up the first two books without needing to pause
for air. And now I’m stuck waiting for THE SOUND OF EMERALDS. Boo. *pouts*)
In my review of THE SOUND OF DIAMONDS,
I neglected to mention that, while I have an advanced reading copy, the actual
book itself was released a while ago and is available to the general public.
THE SOUND OF SILVER, however, will not hit the shelves until October 15th
(at which point, I suggest you buy it).
All in all, while romance isn’t
generally my cup of coffee (see what I did there?), I did still enjoy these two
books in my own way, and I don’t regret the time I spent in Rea’s story world. Like
I said before, if you are a fan of romance, especially Christian inspirational
romance, I think this would probably be right up your ally. And I’m going out
on a limb here, because I’m not Rachelle so I can’t know for sure, but I do
think that if you’ve read these books and enjoyed them, she would love it if
you let her know.
Glad you enjoyed the romance more than in book 1. And that's great that you liked the cliffhanger ending.
ReplyDeleteMe too, and yeah, I'm a big fan of cliffhangers. Thanks for commenting! :)
DeleteIt seemed like you enjoyed this one more than 'The Sound of Diamonds', so I might just go pick up this series! When does the third installment come out?
ReplyDeleteYou should totally pick up the series. :) Rachelle answered your question below, but I'll give the date here just in case you don't read all the comments. The Sound of Emeralds comes out February 15, 2016.
DeleteSounds pretty interesting!
ReplyDeleteI love getting to know side characters too! And I quite consistently end up liking them better than the mains. So you're not alone in being weird, lol.
Alexa
thessalexa.blogspot.com
verbositybookreviews.wordpress.com
It is. And yeah, side characters are always the highlight for me. I'm glad I'm not the only one who tends to prefer them.
DeleteLove this review. Thank you, Adele! :)
ReplyDeleteElisheva, the third book comes out the day after Valentine's Day, February 15! :)
Thank you, and you're welcome! :)
DeleteI'm looking forward to The Sound of Emeralds. :)
I do like it when authors do something different with the love triangle trope. A lot of people just present it to you as a black and white skeleton of a love triangle. They didn't spruce it up or anything. I think that's why most people don't like the love triangle. But when the author tweaks it and makes it their own, I love that.
ReplyDeleteI know this is only mildly related, but you have me think love triangles now. I went to a writers conference recently. There were two YA authors both who have love triangles in their books. They said you hear a lot of complaining about love triangles, but people still read them and love the books with love triangles, so the love triangle does work. You just have to do it right. One of them also made an argument that I never thought of before. They said one of the reason why love triangles are suitable to YA is because often times teens are still uncertain about love. They aren't sure what kind of person they want to be with. They see various options, but who is the best person for them? I never thought of it that way before, but it does make some sense for a character who is new to love. . .
Okay, so that had nothing to do with anything!
The characters in this book sound very interesting! Anders sounds fascinating too. I love complicated characters.
By the way, I tagged you for the #WritersLife tag.
http://ashleyg-inserttitlehere.blogspot.com/2015/10/writerslife-tag-scary-inner-workings-of.html
That is such a good point, and when I look at it that way, I'm much more willing to accept love triangles as a general concept (although I would still really rather them be done well, and I like it when they don't overshadow the point). Thanks so much for sharing that!
DeleteI love Anders. And complicated characters. And coffee (that was random).
Thanks for tagging me! :)