Silent No More

Sowing is the second SPFBO finalist book I chose to read. I’m certainly glad I did. There are many, many things to commend about this story. This is nearly a 4.5 star rating, but there were a couple things that bothered me. More on that later.

First, the characters are fantastic. Ariliah and Rabreah are unique, their sister friendship endearing in a way you don’t often see in fantasy. Both had many layers and differing motivations, and their voices were strong and easily decipherable. I could tell right away whose POV I was in even if there were no headings letting me know which was which. I loved Rabreah’s older sister protectiveness, almost to a fault. The reasons for this were clear without being overemphasized. Ariliah’s young impressionability and self consciousness made me feel like she really was the 14 years old she was supposed to be. One of my main complaints with YA fantasy is the overdone “strong independent opinionated teenager” trope. These characters had none of that. For the most part it felt like they really were their ages.

Sorek was my least favorite main character and more overdone than the other two. I didn’t hate him, exactly, but I think that was purposeful. I don’t think the author intended for us to like him, only understand him. There were elements of his character that felt forced, but there were also elements that were really well done. His dislike of what he did to Rabreah, for example, or the sturdy way in which he faced the Hulcandans and seemed to insert himself purposefully into their “good graces” so to speak. However, I feel like his sarcasm and wit were a bit overdone. And the fact that he was a good bit older than Rabreah and still flirted with her seemed like a double standard. Sure, he wasn’t marrying a child like the Hulcandans, but he was also okay with being too familiar with a woman who was barely an adult. Eh.

The prose was generally very well written. The dialogue felt stinted at times, but the descriptions were beautiful and the themes well fleshed out. One of my favorite scenes was Ariliah and Sakarah and the redemption in their relationship. The prose gave me chills.

All in all, I can see why some people had a hard time with the whole Sorek/Rabreah issue. But honestly, I think it comes from a misunderstanding of the intentions of the book itself. To me, it seemed threefold. First, you can’t read this book without realizing it’s darkness. This is DARK YA fantasy. The society is crumbled. This in no way makes what Sorek did GOOD or RIGHT, but it made what he did NECESSARY. However, I think the whole “falling for your victimizer” complaint is well founded. It’s certainly not necessary to the story, in my opinion, but it DOES highlight the fact that Rabreah is young. And honestly, victims REALLY DO often struggle with this (I work with survivors of sex trafficking. It’s a hard truth.) Second, the author highlighted Rabreah’s revulsion and attraction in helpful ways. It wasn’t exactly the same trope that is so annoying for readers nowadays. Rabreah herself feels the tension between anger and being drawn to him. That battle, to me, felt realistic in a gut wrenching type of way, and only highlighted the darkness of the society. Third, Sorek himself hated that he had to do it and said that he did it so no one else would have to. This can fall short on some readers ears, but for me, it seemed genuine. Is he a good guy? A bad guy? And for me the answer is… both.

My main issues with the book were mainly world building ones. The itzalin weren’t fully explained, nor their backstory (except in a seemingly last minute “creation of the world” type of way.) I would have much rather seen them fleshed out in the same way the Hulcandans were. The cage scene towards the end was really the only look we got of any value, and it was glossed over in a way that was a bit annoying. The other thing I would have liked to see was a bigger scope of the world itself. I’m hoping this will come out in follow up books.

All in all, the strengths of this story were very strong. Sister friendship, deep characters with many differing motivations, darkness and the effects it has on people… do well done. The flaws or weaknesses didn’t detract too much from the story. I feel that many, many readers will enjoy this, as I did.