Word and Breath review

Word and Breath (Wordless Chronicles #1)
Susannah Noel


Publication Date: Augustus 31, 2012
Finish Date: November 29, 2012
Format: e-book
Source: review copy  from author

From Goodreads: Riana has learned how to
stay out of trouble. She spends her days studying written texts in the
government’s Office of Readers, and she spends her nights taking care of
her sick sister. She always—always—follows the rules. Despite her low
profile, she has mysteriously become a target. Someone has kidnapped her
sister. Someone else is trying to kill her. And someone has sent a
Soul-Breather to beguile her out of her secrets.

Her help comes
from the mythic leader of an underground rebel movement. A man who used
to be her friend. A man who has silently loved her for years. He
disappeared from her life without a word, and now he expects her to
trust him again.

Then there’s the Soul-Breather, a man who can
taste her spirit with only a touch. He makes her feel things she’s never
experienced before, but she doesn’t know if the feelings are real.
Hired to deceive and betray her, he offers to help her instead.

Without
both men, she can’t rescue her sister. And she can’t discover the
world-changing knowledge—buried in her memory—that has made her a target
in the first place.

I finished word and breath
in one day, the story is fast paced and interesting. For once the main
girl is actually just a normal person, who tries to mind her own
business and doens’t try to attract attention. Until that all changes.

The
story is interesting and original. However the first few chapters feel a
bit rushed and it takes some time before the story get’s really good.
The story is written very well and I liked seeing the perspective from
more than one person, the book is written by multiple perspecitives and i
think this really adds to the story!

The characters were
likeable and mostly acted very believeable and in-character. Although
the falling in love part could’ve done a bit better, because it is
practically told they fall in love and I would’ve loved to experience
this together with the characters, which unfortunately doens’t happen.
This only concerns the beginning of the story and later on the love is
developed very well. I did like getting to know the multiple characters
and getting a good idea what their motives and values are. Also there is
a sort of love triangle, but it is worked out very believeable.

The
world building is very interesting, although it is a world in which I
wouldn’t want to live. There aren’t many people who can read and reading
isn’t encouraged. On the other hand I did like the focus this placed on
those who can read and their importance. I think it’s original to base a
dystophia world on this, but I did feel like there should’ve been more
world building. It isn’t entirely clear what happened to the world to
make it this way and the focus is only on a small portion of the world. I
had no idea what the rest of the world is like, although there where
made a few comments about this, I would’ve liked it if the world
building was more eleborate.

To conclude: an interesting an
original story. I liked the multiple perspectives and the characters.
The world building could’ve done a bit more elaborate, but I really
enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to the next book.