Looking at the dust jacket of the Unbending , the question immediately pops up in your head: will this be another vampire romance? Immediately after it, another option sprouts: a story about teenagers full of school drama. In the end, we have a bit of both here, but it is certainly not a story that can be clearly attributed to any of the options I have mentioned.
Dealer with troll blood
The main character – Sara Gray – never fully met her mother, because she disappeared from her life when the girl was a child. Unexpectedly, some time later, Gray also lost her father as a result of a mysterious murder. For ten years, the teenager has been living with a disabled writer uncle and tries to discover why such a cruel fate befell her beloved parent. Of course, apart from detective tendencies, she leads a completely normal life – she goes to school, argues with other teenagers, and also helps an extremely strong and intelligent troll to save other magical creatures. Few are aware of the existence of the magical world, so the girl tries to keep her actions secret. However, as it has been known for a long time, secrets like to be revealed …
Is it friendship? Does it really matter?
I am very positively surprised by reading Unbendablebecause it turned out to be an interesting novel for young people. We have a seventeen-year-old girl here, who tries to find the cause of her father’s murder by various steps. At the same time, there are paranormal, magical and shapeshifting beings in Sarah’s life that greatly enrich her daily existence. The story from Lynch is a bit about friendship, there is a hint of danger and sensation, and even a delicate germ of romance (the fact that the romantic theme is not dominant was the biggest surprise for me). Such a mixture means that, despite the fact that I do not belong to the target group for this book, I read it with interest and I can easily recommend the book to others. The only major drawback were the overly extensive experiences and internal monologues of Sarah, which at times significantly lengthened and slowed down the action.
A different look at known motives
I like novels to offer me something new. For this story, I really liked the idea of depicting the environment and behavior of trolls. They received a higher level of intelligence than in other books known to me, as well as a quite specific gift that everyone wants. Another interesting element was the presentation of warriors fighting vampires. On the one hand, they are the next version of Shadowhunters (from Cassandra Claire), on the other – the author interestingly devises their origin and source of strength and other skills.
Adventure, adventure, a pity every moment
Sarah, her unexpected heritage and abilities, and a crew of good and bad magical beings have given me a lot of entertainment while reading these nearly 500 pages. I would recommend this book mainly to teenagers aged 13-17 who do not look for romantic dramas in novels, but rather like adventure games.
