Early Review – Where Silence Gathers (Some Quiet Place, Book 2) by Kelsey Sutton (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 360 pages
Publisher: Flux
Release Date: July 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0738739472
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Where Silence Gathers series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the second book in the Some Quiet Place series. It deals with a completely different main character/story then the first book did and pretty much stands alone. I enjoyed it, although not quite as much as the first book in the series.

The first book in this series dealt with a girl who couldn’t feel emotion and was constantly followed around by Fear. In this book a different teen, Alexandra, is consumed by the need for Revenge against the man who killed her family and was just released from prison. Throughout the book Alexandra is pulled between the two characters Revenge and Forgiveness. She is also struggling to unravel the truth about her family’s death and the mystery that surrounded that night. There are secrets in her family she didn’t know about.

As with the first book the most creative (and unbelievable) aspect of the story is the idea that emotions/concepts/choices live on a different plane of existence and only certain special people can see them. So just like the heroine of the first book, Alexandra can see Guilt, Fear, Joy, Revenge, Forgiveness, etc as actually people who stand next to the humans who have these emotions.

If you can get past the unbelievable concept of emotions running around as people and being able to be everywhere at once, it’s a pretty cool idea. Alexandra also spends a lot of time talking to the Emotions/Choices and I thought it was a bit unrealistic that no one ever stops her and asks who she is talking to, because no one else can see these people but her. This problem is mentioned once or twice but wasn’t really dealt with well.

There was a heavier paranormal element to this book than in the previous one. Alexandra is trying to figure out the “why” of how she sees these emotions and this ties into her family’s death.

There is also a lot of discussion about grief over the death loved ones and about how to forgive those who caused that grief. As might be expected revenge vs forgiveness is a huge element in the story.

Alexandra is not the most likable character, she hates with a vengeance and is mean to the people around her (although Guilt visits her regularly). She is however a fairly realistic character. I enjoyed watching her struggle to make the right choices and fight through her emotional turmoil.

I also enjoyed that this whole theory of an alternate plane where emotions/concepts/choices exist as people was explored a lot more in this book. We actually get an explanation for why people like Alexandra can see into this alternate reality.

Overall this was an engaging and fast-paced read that I enjoyed. I love the concept of another plane where emotions exist as people, I also loved that we got more explanation around all of that. It was engaging to watch Alexandra struggle to choose between Forgiveness and Revenge and watch her unravel the mystery of her past. Recommended to those who are interested in a different type of paranormal young adult read.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Series Reading Challenge
– Ebook Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge