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Soundless

Richelle Mead (Goodreads Author)

3.36 · Rating details · 12,727 Ratings · 2,809 Reviews

In a village without sound…

For as long as Fei can remember, no one in her village has been able to hear. Rocky terrain and frequent avalanches make it impossible to leave the village, so Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries ...more

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Hardcover, 266 pages

Published November 10th 2015 by Razorbill

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YA Novels of 2015

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Jan 30, 2015 Emily May rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, arc, 2015

1 star seems so harsh, but I honestly do not have anything good to say about this book. I tried to come up with something redeeming about it, but there is nothing. Mead has always been a bit hit or miss, but Soundless is my least favourite of her books to date.

I mean, firstly, if I dressed up in traditional Chinese clothing for Halloween and started calling myself Ling, I would actually be more Chinese than this book. I cringe every time I read that promotional line: "A breathtaking new fantasy ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it it was ok

I'm heartbroken at having to give this a two, but I'm afraid there is little to redeem this book, one for which I've waited since I knew of its existence. I adore Richelle Mead, she is among my favorite authors, but I have to say that her latest two series have let me down. The two stars is because I like Richelle Mead.

1. It was boring. It lost me almost since the beginning. Pretty much nothing happens in this book. The dialogue was dull. The main character has no character, no spirit.

2. There's ...more

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Dec 20, 2015 Sasha Alsberg rated it really liked it

3.75 stars: review coming soon to my YouTube channel! I really liked Soundless and although I wish the world building could've been better, it was an enjoyable, quick read!

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Jan 09, 2016 Catriona (LittleBookOwl) rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned

This one unfortunately, whilst the concept was unique and intriguing, didn't live up to its full potential. There was practically no world building or dimension. Being 250+ pages, there was plenty of room to flesh things out and paint a more vivid picture of the story world, but for the most part it just wasn't there.
I will say that I love Richelle's writing, and her books are such a breeze to read. I just wish there had been more of the story and world to enjoy.

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Nov 29, 2015 Regan rated it liked it

Shelves: books-owned-read

3.5

Review to come soon!

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Feb 09, 2015 Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁ Rabid Reads-no-more rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Lovers of folktales

Shelves: rabid-reads-reviews, cover-whore, dragons, fantasy, favorites, i-cried, it-burns-us-precious, mythology, some-kinda-magic, best-of-the-best

B/c curiosity will one day kill me:

Okay, clearly, I loved SOUNDLESS, but ever since I finished reading it and posted a pre-preview, I've heard over and over again, "This is the first highly rated review I've seen for this book."

That wasn't surprising to me. I'm often a black sheep. Whatev. I like what I like, and I don't what I don't.

But for unfathomable reasons, I scanned a half dozen of the MEH to WTF-is-this-crap? reviews today, and now I feel the need to elaborate.

The common complaints ar ...more

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Jan 29, 2015 Wendy Darling rated it liked it

Shelves: asian, 2015-publication, november, penguin, fantasy, retellings-and-inspirations, mythic-and-fairy-tale-ish, own-dtb-tbr, dnf, read-2015

I'm setting this aside at 100 pages. It's fine, and in a different mindset and at a different, more patient point in my YA reading career I think I might've been more into this. But this story and world and characters are not nearly as interesting or complex as they should be--even with a quieter (heh) heroine and less action-oriented plot. Not only soundless, but a bit colorless and lifeless as well, to be honest.

I do appreciate when authors try new things instead of cranking out the same stori ...more

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Nov 27, 2015 Angela rated it did not like it

Shelves: 1-star-reads

Y'all this was bad... Not even going to write a full review for it because I just don't think it's worth the time and effort.

Soundless wasn't put together and was boring as hell. This book seemed like it was going to be a win with it's high talk of extreme cultural influences. We were suppose to get a high action novel that wove deaf and Asian culture together... This is not what we get with Soundless. We got a thrown together, no world building, book that seemed like it was aimlessly written ov ...more

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Apr 11, 2015 Steph Sinclair rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: No one

Shelves: penguin, young-adult, fantasy, fairy-tales, marginalized-stories, 2015-release, november, dat-cover-yo, extra-copy, print-arc

DNF.

This was equal parts boring and horrible. Mead essentially relies of the readers' knowledge and perception of Asian culture because there is absolutely no world building to be found. I was excited initially for this because it seemed like Mead was branching out. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a complete waste of time and words can not express how disappointing this was. I hate to sound harsh, but it really felt like this was written overnight aimlessly. I kept trying to power through ...more

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Jan 07, 2016 Ben Alderson rated it really liked it

I read this today... the whole thing...
What an interesting story this is. I am a fan of Richelle Mead and this novel got me really excited!
I am in LOVE with the setting and romance of this novel. It was really believable ... until the end..

Brilliant read.
I just did not much like the end

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Jan 30, 2015 Liz* Fashionably Late marked it as to-read

Shelves: can-t-wait-to-read, x-waiting-for-nov, you-re-next

COVER

RICHELE MEAD

FANTASY

CHINESE FOLKLORE

STAND ALONE

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Mar 08, 2015 Faye, la Patata rated it did not like it

Shelves: boring, boring-hero-heroine, boring-narrative, boring-romance, young-adult, fantasy, asian-fantasy, asian-hero-heroines, asian-setting

A fantasy with a Chinese-inspired setting? An isolated village high up in the mountains, full of deaf people? A heroine who regains her hearing back and aims to use it to make a difference? WOW, BADUM-TSS!

On a perfect, ideal day, this would have been an absolutely great treat. Just from these few sentences, we can already feel the diversity of the premise!

But, alas, it is not a perfect and ideal day, because this book is boring and dull as hell. But hey, there's one thing positive from this: I ...more

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Mar 04, 2015 Riley rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya-fantasy, disappointing, arc, books-for-review

Soundless is about a village on the top of a mountain where for as long as anyone can remember there has been no sound. No one can leave the mountain because the climb down is too dangerous and there is no other way out. The village must rely on a zipline that carries food up the mountain in exchange for the metals that they mine. Villagers are starting to lose their sight and food from the zipline starts to decrease. One day Fei wakes up with a strange new sensation. She can hear. It is up to h Soundless is about a village on the top of a mountain where for as long as anyone can remember there has been no sound. No one can leave the mountain because the climb down is too dangerous and there is no other way out. The village must rely on a zipline that carries food up the mountain in exchange for the metals that they mine. Villagers are starting to lose their sight and food from the zipline starts to decrease. One day Fei wakes up with a strange new sensation. She can hear. It is up to her to save her village from starvation and slipping into complete darkness.

I will start off by saying that I was EXTREMELY excited for this book. It was everything I wanted. Fantasy. Standalone. Diverse main character. Chinese influence. It sounded amazing. But I was pretty disappointed with this. The first 100 pages were brutal to get through. If I had not been planning on reviewing this I would have given up. I was bored to tears. I didn’t feel a connection to the characters and had to force myself to keep reading. Luckily around the 100 page mark things started to pick up in the story.

As for Fei as a main character. I liked her for the most part. She is very brave and willing to do whatever it takes to save her people. But for some reason I didn’t feel any connection towards her. I really didn’t care much about her at all. I felt like there was a wall up in between me and this story and I just never really connected to anything. And that was a big problem I had with this story. I just never cared about anything going on.

I also had a problem with Fei’s relationship with her sister Zhang Jing. Something about their relationship just felt off to me. Her sister is older but Fei takes responsibility for her and protects her as if she is the older of the two. Zhang Jing just acts like the younger of the two and seems immature to me at times. I guess that is just their dynamic, but it really annoyed me. It is this relationship that made it so tough for me to get through the first half of the book.

Another problem I had was when Fei first discovered she could hear. She went to read a book about hearing and sound and just from reading that one book she understood tons of vocabulary words related to sound. It just seemed too easy and quick. Sound is a concept that has been lost to her people for so long, I found it hard to believe she took to it so quickly, especially without the help of anyone else.

A lot of things about this book confused me. This book was marketed as a fantasy but it is the typical dystopian plot. Girl needs to save village from evil oppressors whilst also making cute boy fall in love with her. Nothing about it seems fantasy until the last 30 pages or so which bothered me. Also unlike the tagline says, this book is not "steeped in Chinese folklore." The only Chinese things about this book are the character names. Change those and this book could take place anywhere.

Like I said the story did pick up and I found the second half interesting enough to finish. But honestly the only thing that kept me reading this book was the fact that I needed to review it. Because nothing really stood out to me plot-wise. Nothing shocked me. Nothing made me feel anything. It just didn’t wow me in the slightest. I am very confused by it.
...more

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Sep 06, 2015 Whitney Atkinson rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2015, sent-from-pub

This book is one of the coolest I've read all year! I loved that it was based on Chinese folklore, and I especially thought that it was so cool how everyone was deaf, therefore sign language was used the entire novel. I thought this was so different than anything i've ever read, and it was written really nicely, as well. My only problem with this book is that it was just entirely too short. For a fantasy standalone, 270 pages just didn't do it justice. There wasn't enough world and character bui ...more

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Nov 06, 2015 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

4.5 stars
REALLY, Really enjoyed this book! I thought the Chinese Folklore was really interesting. Also reading about these character's senses or lack there of was super interesting. Richelle Mead is an incredible author and I'm sure it wasn't easy to write a book where none of the characters could hear and they all used sign language. She did it beautifully though!

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Aug 01, 2015 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-all, own

Well I thought the book was bloody awesome!

*****SOME SPOILERS*****

Fei and her sister Zhang Jing live on a mountaintop with many other people. Their village has been here for some time and they have no means of getting down the mountain because they can't hear. Yep, no one can hear, so if they try to go down the mountain, they will most likely be killed by falling boulders they can't hear falling.

The village gets their food sent up on a zip line from the town below. They are told the zip line c ...more

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Jan 06, 2016 Rachel Reads Ravenously rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, hardcover, mythology, young-adult, ya-fantasy, dystopia, magic

4 stars

“Look what we've done so far. We're pretty good at the impossible.”

I didn't expect to like this one. The only book I've ever read by this author was Vampire Academy, and I wasn't super impressed by that one (despite loving the movie as a guilty pleasure). So Soundless was a bit of a risk going in, but the premise is what had me intrigued.

Fei lives in a small village in China, up on the mountains where they can only be reached by zip line. Years ago an avalanche blocked all exits fro ...more

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Oct 22, 2015 Shannon (leaninglights) rated it it was ok

Okay. I didn't dislike the characters, plot or setting. What I hated was wasted potential in this story. And to comment on all the Asian culture issues: I didn't really feel like there were any because the only thing Asian about the book was the names and a few terms (so in reality, it probably shouldn't have been marketed as such b/c it didn't deliver on that front, in my opinion. Disclaiming that I am Filipina, not Chinese. I am not an expert on culture or folklore. I think the issues regardin ...more

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Mar 03, 2015 Lindsey Rey rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015, young-adult, diverse-mc

This was SUPER cheesy. At some point it turned into a reallllllllly long PSA.

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Jan 31, 2015 Irena rated it it was ok

Let's face it: we all knew this was going to be hit or miss. It turned out to be the later.

description

First good thing about this book: it is a standalone. Trust me, less then 300 pages are more then enough to spend in this dull world.

Second best thing: the writing style is amazing. Unfortunatelly, not even an amazing writing style can help the boring plot make interesting.

description

Third and final best thing: uniqueness of the story. All people in the village Fei lives in are deaf and are comunicating trough signin ...more

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Oct 15, 2016 Isa Cantos (Crónicas de una Merodeadora) rated it liked it

Richelle Mead, ¡tenías una idea buenísima y no la supiste aprovechar! ¿Por qué? ¿POR QUÉ? Vaya...

Bueno, Soundless nos cuenta la historia de una villa pequeñísima situada en lo alto de una montaña de China. Quienes viven allí están absolutamente incomunicados con el mundo exterior: los valles están bloqueados por avalanchas y los riscos son demasiado inestables como para escalarlos. Además, en la cima de esta montaña no hay tierra fértil donde cultivar, no hay árboles de donde sacar frutas y tam ...more

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Apr 18, 2016 Helen 2.0 rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, brs-done, cover-candy, romance-on-side, read-16, romantasy

The first Richelle Mead book I've both read and liked. I've read some mixed reviews on this one, but mine is definitely positive.

Soundless is set in a Han-Chinese inspired world, in a secluded village on top of a mountain. Since the world makes no pretense of actually being ancient China, but rather a close approximation, I didn't get riled up about any historical inaccuracies. Anyway, the people in the village have been deaf for several centuries, communicating only through sign language, unti The first Richelle Mead book I've both read and liked. I've read some mixed reviews on this one, but mine is definitely positive.

Soundless is set in a Han-Chinese inspired world, in a secluded village on top of a mountain. Since the world makes no pretense of actually being ancient China, but rather a close approximation, I didn't get riled up about any historical inaccuracies. Anyway, the people in the village have been deaf for several centuries, communicating only through sign language, until one day scholar-apprentice Fei spontaneously regains her hearing.
Fei's hearing was hands-down the best part of the book. Her wonder at the experience and her struggle to place and describe sounds were fascinating to follow. When asked what hearing is like, Fei can't find words for it - she says it would be like explaining color to a color-blind individual. This part of Soundless is what I thought made the book so creative and original on Richelle Mead's part.

The people in Fei's village are also slowly going blind, and starving due to decreased food coming from the valley below. Fei and her friend Wi Lei rappel down the mountain to confront the food suppliers in the valley and find help for their village. Along the journey, the message of the book is one that speaks againt corruption, greed, willful ignorance, and resistance to change.
Which brings me to the reason I knocked one star off my rating. Hopefully without spoiling anything, I will say that Soundless suddenly turns into a fantasy book in the very last chapter; the conflict is resolved by supernatural means. Since the rest of the book was so natural and human (even the mass hearing loss was explained in scientific terms), I thought that introducing fantastical elements at the end contradicted the aforementioned message of the book. It implied that humans can't fight corruption, greed, etc. without divine intervention, and turned the ending into a bit of a let down.

But overall I still enjoyed Soundless, and am glad it's a standalone because there's too much on my tbr as it is. ...more

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Mar 03, 2015 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Yosbe Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ marked it as to-read

THAT cover

description

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Dec 17, 2016 Sylwia (Wish Fulfillment) rated it did not like it

Dropping at 105 pages because it offends me with its ableism.

Why I Recommend Bumping This Down On Your TBR: She writes a deaf character special-snowflake regaining her hearing and spends a lot of the book describing how beautiful it is to hear and how magnificent sound is. That's called ableism.

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Nov 09, 2015 Luke Taylor rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, i-own-a-copy, young-adult

So what is Soundless?

A modern reinvention of an ancient Chinese fairytale? A clever display of limited sensory narrative? Maybe even a social commentary buried in a serenly-wrapped take-out container?

description

Whatever it is, I enjoyed it. My first experience with Richelle Mead, I couldn’t get past how much I liked the cover and the concept, despite the knocks I’d seen some other readers give it. But it kept staring at me in the store. I could only wonder what kind of dreamy mist and bayin-kissed tale awaited me. And so I had to buy it.
Diving into the world of Soundless with a rudimentary knowledge of ancient China (and having seen plenty of modern medeival-era Chinese movies with gratuitously gorgeous cinematography *cough*cough* Crouching Tiger *cough*cough*) I immediately felt the serene and sedate isolation of Fei’s mountain mining village. Could there have been more detail? Sure. Could the book have been longer? Absolutely. But it occured to me when Fei recieved the sense of hearing that Richelle was skillfully writing from the voice of someone who couldn’t speak. Someone who couldn’t hear. Someone with a limited sensory palette to paint the ever-waning world in which she inhabited. Someone who doesn’t even think the same way those who are reading her story think. At one point, I was hit with an overwhelming gratitude at not only my quality of life, but of my physical senses. To lose one would be a life changing experience for anyone. So, to gain one you’d been born without would be equally so, and it was a nice riff on the chosen one concept. Subtlely, Fei’s sense of description increased to heighten and stimulate a sense of excitement as the adventure picked up pace, but if ever there was a case of a (view spoiler) finale, Soundless gives it to us in spades.

All things considered, Soundless never feels intimidating or laborious as historically-flavored pieces sometimes feel they have the right to, and if you find a peaceful moment to crack it open, you may really enjoy this quiet little slice of Chinese-spiced fantasy.

Recommended for all ages.
...more

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Aug 26, 2015 Emma Giordano rated it really liked it

4.5 stars! Im surprised at how much I actually enjoyed this book with all of the negative reviews. Personally I really enjoyed it! I thought it was a quick, fun, easy read (perfect for the readathon I'm currently participating in). My biggest problem probably lies in the fact that it was originally described as a fantasy book to me and nothing even remotely fantasy occurred until the very end of the book. All and all, I really had a great time reading Soundless. Full review to come on my YouTube ...more

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Jan 29, 2015 Danielle (Love at First Page) rated it liked it

Shelves: most-anticipated-2015, bea-2015, arc, fantasy-scifi-paranormal, i-love-fairy-tales, read-in-2015, swoon, genre-young-adult, own-no-copy

As a Richelle Mead fan (especially when she’s not writing love triangles), I was really expecting more from Soundless. I’m accustomed to epic plot lines and even more epic romances from her, and this ended up feeling lazy in comparison. It’s not a bad book at all; I like that it draws from Chinese folklore and features such a diverse main cast. But it unfortunately falls short of my high expectations and fails to be something truly memorable.

I was, like everyone, really excited after first readi As a Richelle Mead fan (especially when she’s not writing love triangles), I was really expecting more from Soundless. I’m accustomed to epic plot lines and even more epic romances from her, and this ended up feeling lazy in comparison. It’s not a bad book at all; I like that it draws from Chinese folklore and features such a diverse main cast. But it unfortunately falls short of my high expectations and fails to be something truly memorable.

I was, like everyone, really excited after first reading the synopsis for Soundless. The story is set in a small mining village on top of a mountain, where food is scarce and its people are deaf. They have to rely on those who live below the mountain to supply them with food, and in return they send down metal from their mines. They can’t descend the mountain themselves due to the treacherous landscape and so can never challenge the abuse from those below. Fei, our main character, is an artist who essentially draws their version of a newspaper, recording events that happen every day through pictures. She’s worried about her sister, Zhang, who is slowly losing her eyesight, and she fears that Zhang will become one of the village’s outcasts. When their already insufficient food supply is threatened, she and her childhood crush decide to risk their lives by climbing down the mountain and confronting their abusers. It helps that, a few nights before, Fei’s hearing had miraculously been restored.

I really enjoyed the setup of the story and the various details woven in to give us that fairy-tale-like quality. I could totally see this as a Disney animation movie. There are messages of family, love, and loyalty, of finding your own voice and the strength within to do whatever it takes to protect those you care about. It’s simple and lovely in that regard, and I liked that it was both a standalone and a quick, easy read. It has more fantasy elements than you might expect, too, especially toward the end.

The reason I didn’t rate this book higher is because I had almost no emotional connection to the characters, and that’s a deal breaker to me. Sure, I rooted for them (that’s something I can’t not do), but I never became truly invested in their journey. Everything stayed at surface level for me. Fei and Li (her love interest) were one-dimensional and uninspiring. I liked them okay while reading – they’re both strong and caring in their own ways – but nothing about them sticks out in my memory. What’s even more disappointing is how tame the romance is, and this is Richelle Mead we’re talking about! Fei and Li have a history together as childhood friends and almost sweethearts, but they now occupy different classes within their village. There is really not much development of their romance, and the forbidden aspect falls flat. I was mostly annoyed that Fei hid behind her social status, and I wish Li had been more fully developed as a character.

I won’t be returning to Soundless like I do with Bloodlines, but since it’s a short read I won’t hesitate to say give it a try. It’s an engaging story, just not emotionally fulfilling like the author’s other books.

Note: I received an ARC of this book at BEA, but that did not affect my review in any way.

This review can also be found at Love at First Page. ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Carole (Carole's Random Life in Books) rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-to-read, 2015, fantasy, ya, reviewed

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.

I enjoyed this book and found it really hard to put down. I was very excited to get my hands on an early copy of the new stand alone novel by Richelle Mead. While I own quite a few of her books, I had not read any of them before reading this book. This book ended up being something quite different than I had expected but I enjoyed every page of the story it told.

Fei lives in a village high in the mountains. Everyone who lives in her village i This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life.

I enjoyed this book and found it really hard to put down. I was very excited to get my hands on an early copy of the new stand alone novel by Richelle Mead. While I own quite a few of her books, I had not read any of them before reading this book. This book ended up being something quite different than I had expected but I enjoyed every page of the story it told.

Fei lives in a village high in the mountains. Everyone who lives in her village is unable to hear. They are also unable to grow food in the village so they must rely on the zipline that sustains them through the food that is sent up. They are a mining village and the metals that they get from the mine are exchanged for the food that is keeping them alive. Unfortunately, the exchange is not at all generous and the village has a very limited supply of food. Any complaints are met with a reduction in the supplies sent. Some of the villagers are beginning to lose their sight which may put the village into further jeopardy.

Fei and Li Wei decide to do something about the situation. They will leave the village despite the risks to try to help the people from the village including Fei's sister who has begun to loose her sight. During their journey, they will learn the truth about their situation and will realize that everything that they have always believed is part of the lie that they have been living.

The characters in this book are absolutely amazing. Fei is tough and willing to stand up for what she believes is right. She isn't a fighter but she is willing to put herself in danger in order to help the people that she cares about. Li Wei made my heart melt a little bit. He is so in love with Fei and he shows that through his actions. He follows her lead and is willing to make sacrifices to help her even when he questions their ability to succeed. He proves himself to be a genuinely good man.

The story itself was terrific. The way that the layers were pulled back to tell the story bit by bit really made this a book that was hard to put down. The pacing of the story was excellent. The build up to the various discoveries was well done. I can't think of a moment during the book that I was bored. I felt like I was on the journey with Fei and Li Wei and I wanted to know what the truth was right along with them.

I had expected the book to be more firmly planted in Chinese culture. If you changed the characters' names, I feel like this book could have been set in any location. I didn't feel at all disappointed by this but it wasn't what I had expected. I did really enjoy all of the descriptions of hearing for the first time. This is such a difficult thing to put into words but I think that the author did it perfectly.

I would highly recommend this book to others. I think that this story will appeal to a wide audience. This is the first book by Richelle Mead that I have read but I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Penguin Group - Razorbill via Penguin First to Read for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Initial Thoughts
This was a very enjoyable book. I loved the original idea behind the story. ...more

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Mar 09, 2015 grace rated it it was ok

2.5 video review to come

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Jul 28, 2015 Mogsy (MMOGC) rated it liked it

Shelves: arcs-and-galleys, review-copy, fantasy, mythology, young-adult

2.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/10/25/y...

I’m glad I took a couple days to sit on my thoughts before writing this review, because not gonna lie, my initial impressions upon finishing Soundless were really negative. But now that I’ve had some time to really think about it with a clear head, I realize with a bit of grudging respect that I probably enjoyed it more than I thought. Sure, the book had its issues, but in spite of it all, it was a fun, sweet, and cute s 2.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/10/25/y...

I’m glad I took a couple days to sit on my thoughts before writing this review, because not gonna lie, my initial impressions upon finishing Soundless were really negative. But now that I’ve had some time to really think about it with a clear head, I realize with a bit of grudging respect that I probably enjoyed it more than I thought. Sure, the book had its issues, but in spite of it all, it was a fun, sweet, and cute story. Sometimes you just can’t ask for much more than that. However, it just didn’t feel like a lot of thought was put into it, which left me extremely disappointed. It was like Richelle Mead started off with this amazingly great idea, but instead of working out from that, she opted instead to fill in the gaps with predictable plot elements and other timeworn trends.

First, the obligatory rundown of the book’s story sans spoilers in order to provide a frame of reference for some of my comments below. Soundless is set in a fantasy world “steeped in Chinese folklore”, featuring the tale of a girl named Fei who lives in a village where everyone has been deaf for generations. Long ago, their community on top of a mountain was cut off by a rockslide, leaving the people no way to farm for food. Instead, they mine the precious metals in the caves, which they then use to trade for goods with another kingdom in the lowlands via a zipline.

Mining therefore is a very important job in Fei’s village. Fei herself came from a family of miners until she and her sister Zhang Jing were able to rise above their station and become artists, tasked to write and illustrate each day’s events since this is the only way everyone in this soundless village can receive news. However, recently more and more villagers have started going blind. As less people are able to mine, they are unable to trade as much for food, and the entire village faces the threat of starvation. Then something horrible happens. Zhang Jing beings to lose her sight, spurring Fei to desperately search for a solution. The answer may come in the form of Li Wei, her friend who has decided to solve the village’s problems by taking matters into his own hands.

I was only thirty pages into this book and things were already starting to feel like déjà vu. A poor dystopic community where the only industry is mining. A girl forced to take drastic measures to save her sister. A place where people are pigeonholed into one of only a handful of vocational categories. In this case, Fei’s village is divided into two classes of people: Miners and Artists. What is up with the Young Adult genre and some of their strange dichotomies? Who do people go to when they get sick in this village? What do they do when a building needs fixing? Apparently you’d be out of luck, because there are only miners and artists, and possibly a serving class, but if you’re in need of a skilled trade, sorry, no help for you.

Also, it’s an interesting world, I have to give it that. But I still have a hard time buying into some of its circumstances. Even with the risk of avalanches, desperate people are going to be desperate people whether they can hear or not; the idea of a starving population impotently staying put where they are for generations while relying on a mysterious faraway kingdom as their only means of survival is just a little too convenient for my tastes. Also, why the hell would the people whose work required the most energy be getting the least amount of sustenance, while artists get to sit around in their pavilions painting all day and yet still get to eat better than the miners? Plus, you already have eight-year-olds working in the mine. Clearly, if the situation is so dire that children have to be subjected to those conditions, then seriously, every able-bodied person should be in that mine, digging their asses off. Have some artistic talent, do you? Too bad, everyone’s starving! Nobody will be giving a crap about the quality of art in their daily news.

Another thing, just because you throw in a couple Chinese sounding names and make a few mentions of chrysanthemums does not a story “steeped in Chinese folklore” make. Though, I did like how the author included the pixiu and incorporated their myth into the plot. However, “steeped” is probably still too generous a word. In reality, the amount of Chinese folklore and culture in this is actually quite insubstantial.

To be fair, I’m not completely panning this book because I did say there were a few redeeming factors. For once, I actually enjoyed the romance. It’s super sweet, mostly because you know Fei and Li Wei are meant to be together. I’m not really into shipping and getting hung up on stuff like which girl is going to end up with which guy (mostly because this usually involves infuriating love triangles) so a simple and straightforward love story suited me just fine.

And like I said, in spite of some of the problems I mentioned above, this book was still fun to read. It’s a cute little story, relatively short since I was able to blow through it in about one evening. It’s not complicated. I like the idea of a soundless village, and the people all communicating using sign language. The author cleverly conveys what a world might be like through the eyes of character who was born without the ability to hear, surrounded by others who are the same. It’s a brilliant premise, actually. Just a shame that it’s paired with such a humdrum plot.

This is the first book I’ve read by Richelle Mead, and in retrospect I probably should have started out with one of her established series. I just couldn’t help but to be drawn to Soundless though, by that gorgeous cover and intriguing description. Regretfully, the book felt rushed and didn’t reach its potential, but it had a couple high points and at least it was a very quick read. ...more

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What are books/series' that are taking you FOREVER to finish? Or am I the only one who has this problem sometimes :(	2	8	Sep 20, 2017 03:12PM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Soundless by Richelle Mead ----> Restarting March 23rd 2017	79	118	Mar 28, 2017 03:48PM
City of Heavenly ...: Chapter 14-End	3	6	Oct 07, 2016 01:55PM
City of Heavenly ...: Chapter 1-6	3	8	Oct 07, 2016 06:17AM
Doubleinfinity Bo...: Průběžná diskuze k Soundless	10	12	Aug 28, 2016 07:51AM
Crazy for Young A...: Soundless, by Richelle Mead → Start Date: May 23, 2016	27	23	Jun 01, 2016 05:09PM

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About Richelle Mead

Richelle Mead

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Scorpio Richelle Mead is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy books for both adults and teens. Originally from Michigan, Richelle now lives in Seattle, Washington where she works on her three series full-time: Georgina Kincaid, Dark Swan, and Vampire Academy.

A life-long reader, Richelle has always loved mythology and folklore. When she can actually tear herself away f ...more

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