I have just finished reading Silence, the third of the four
books from the Becca Fitzpatrick Hush Hush series, and I would recommend it for
all lovers of Young Adult Fantasy.
When I first came across the first book, Hush Hush, I was
instantly attracted to the premise. A girl, Nora, meets a dark handsome
stranger, Patch, in school and instantly finds herself drawn to him, though
he's a bit of an idiot. It turns out that Patch is in fact a fallen angel and
wants to kill Nora in order to become human. After trials and tribulations they
fall in love and Patch ends up saving her instead. In the second novel,
Crescendo, cracks begin to appear in Patch and Nora's relationship and, after discovering
their relationship is putting him in danger, she breaks up with him on. The
novel ends on a cliff hanger when Hank Millar, the father of Nora's bully,
corners her and Patch, after their reconciliation.
Silence focuses on Nora who turns up in a grave yard after
being held captive for months. She has no memory of this, and no memory of a
few months previous to this. Nora is unable to accept that she won't know what
happened to her and desperately tries to piece things together. Bit by bit her
memory returns and so does her love for Patch, who even when erased from her
memory, she can't seem to stay away from. Nora becomes a player in the Nephilim
and Angel battle in this novel and because of this I believe this is the best
instalment so far. In Hush Hush and Crescendo Nora is always a witness in the
battles, who never adds nothing to them, but in Silence Nora knowingly gets
herself into danger but is prepared for it and fights back. It’s so refreshing
to see a female lead, in the Young Adult genre, who doesn't just sit back and
moan about her problems, like Bella in Twilight. The plot complex and there are
several things going on at once and sometimes they overlap, this means that
it's easy to get confused but also that it's so much more exciting than Hush
Hush, which in comparison seems amateur and predictable. Silence is fast paced
throughout and I couldn't put it out; Becca Fitzpatrick is close to mastering
the skill of storytelling.
In Silence Patch is a lot gentler and likeable. Previously,
I disliked Patch as a character. He was extremely arrogant, cold and often
dismissed Nora, as though she has nothing of importance to say. I could never
understand how Nora could like him and this, I believe, is a major flaw for a
YA Fantasy. The love interest in a YA Fantasy needs to be desirable to
everyone. It's okay if there are two love interests, like Gale and Peeta in
Hunger Games or Edward and Jacob in Twilight, because if you don't like one,
you can like the other, but be warned that they both need to have an equal shot
at winning over the heroine otherwise there's no point in having both of them.
In Silence the alternative love interest is Scott. I really like Scott and think
he would be a much better boyfriend and companion to Nora than Patch, but
unfortunately Nora doesn't like Scott as much as I do. In Young Adult novels it’s
important that if there are two love interests that they are there because they
are genuinely two people that the main character cannot decide between, that
way the reader has a chance to root for someone. Why would we bother rooting
and caring about who the heroine picks if we already know who she’ll choose? I
haven't read the final instalment yet, Finale, but I think we all know Nora is
ending up with Patch; I'd bet my life on it. And that's boring. I don't want to
know who Nora will choose from the onset, I want there to be competition right
up until the end.
Becca Fitzpatrick writes the theme of memory loss and trying
to regain memory, in a fresh and interesting way. Never does the language seem
clichéd, but instead it focuses on how she’s living with the memory loss,
rather than the memory loss itself. It was extremely frustrating, but
effective, that I now knew all the information that was key to Nora making the
right decisions. This made me feel like a part of the story as I had insight
into the possible outcomes. The
excitement came from how Nora would avoid the likely outcome rather than what
the outcome would be.
Silence is exciting and adds something new to the YA Fantasy
genre. The fact that the characters aren't just good and bad, but rounded, and
we know more of what's happening than Nora, gives us as a reader more chance to
figure things out and predict what's to come, when otherwise the lack of
knowledge could have been boring. By the ending, Nora had grown from a fragile
girl to a strong minded woman, who doesn't shy away from responsibility, and
with the twist at the end of the book placing Patch and Nora on opposing sides,
I look forward to reading Finale and finding out whether Nora chooses Patch or
the survival of her race.
4/5
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