Unraveller

De: Frances Hardinge

Narrado por: Eleanor Bennett

A dark YA fantasy about learning to use your power and finding peace, from award-winning author Frances Hardinge

In a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.

Kellen does not fully understand his talent, but helps those transformed maliciously—including Nettle. Recovered from entrapment in bird form, she is now his constant companion and closest ally.

But Kellen has also been cursed, and unless he and Nettle can remove his curse, Kellen is in danger of unravelling everything—and everyone—around him …

©2022 Frances Hardinge, first published by Macmillan Children’s Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers International Limited in the UK. Published in 2022 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, New York. All rights reserved. (P)2022 by Macmillan Publishers International, Ltd.

another thrilling and beautiful book

I don't know anything about Frances Hardinge's life and what might have helped her develop wisdom beyond her years and beyond what many people ever develop in their lifetimes,; or whether she was simply born with a soul overflowing with wisdom which eventually poured onto the pages of her books. all of her books Center on themes of friendship, loyalty, forgiveness, redemption. Unraveler is especially focused on forgiveness and the importance of self honesty and being thoughtful in one's actions to avoid harming others. along the way is, as always with Frances a crackling good story that never browbeats the reader with those themes, but, rather, weaves them into the story through wonderful, complex, down to earth character development. she is a master at describing the inner emotions and thoughts of her characters. Her imaginative descriptions, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant and beautiful, are present in this book as they are in every single other thing she's written. one interesting storytelling method she uses here is to weave in a good many other stories within the larger novel. each of those stories serves a purpose and there is a reason she is telling individual stories of what might be considered tertiary characters instead of just giving a quick character description. "People's stories" are at the heart of her themes of forgiveness and redemption in this novel. I can't recommend it highly enough. there are very few authors who never disappoint and who never do just good work, and who always stellar work and Frances Hardinge is one of them.

well written, fresh story

great writing, flow, and story ideas (not recycled like so many out now). good audio as well. easy to fall into.

Second thoughts

When I compare a book or author to Terry Pratchett I don’t do so lightly. And when I say that this book reminded me of him it’s not because of humor; this book is lyrical and fantastical, but more often tragic than comedic.

Pratchett used the medium of fantasy to put a mirror to the world, especially to human nature, and that’s something I felt was done very well in this novel. It starts out being a story about magic and terrible curses and the unwavering friendship between a boy and a girl. As the story goes on it integrates threads of how people respond to and perpetuate trauma, and the importance of what Pratchett called second (and often third) thoughts: watching and evaluating your own motivations and biases to avoid falling prey to manipulation or herd mentality.

I believe this is marketed as a children’s or young adult novel, and I can see how that can be true; the main characters are teenagers, and though they love each other it’s never expressed in a romantic way. It’s so platonic it could be likened to a sort of sibling love. It’s up to the reader to decide if there’s anything more to the fierce devotion they have for one another.

That said, some of the curses are as horrible as they are creative, and the concept of people hating someone so much that they would revel in inflicting daily torment on them may be upsetting to sensitive young readers. That’s not to say that kids shouldn’t be introduced to painful or upsetting topics, especially in a way that softens the sharp edges and provides philosophical guidance. I think when a young reader is ready for Tiffany Aching they are probably ready for this book, too.

it's an ok fantasy book

It was just ok for me. The world building was pretty good, the characters weren't developed. The narrator was pretty good, in fact, I'd say that was the best part. Honestly, I'm not going to listen again. It was ok to listen to once, the ending made it seem like there will be more books set in this world but I'm not interested.

Another Great Book from Frances Hardinge

No one writes books quite like Frances Hardinge. I can't imagine where she gets her ideas, her beautiful language, or her complex and nuanced characters but I'm very glad that she can imagine all that, book after book.