Shhhh...Or Else.

The Unquiet
Author: Mikaela Everett
Publication Date: September 22nd 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books 
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

 For most of her life, Lirael has been training to kill—and replace—a duplicate version of herself on a parallel Earth. She is the perfect sleeper-soldier. But she’s beginning to suspect she is not a good person.

The two Earths are identical in almost every way. Two copies of every city, every building, even every person. But the people from the second Earth know something their duplicates do not—two versions of the same thing cannot exist. They—and their whole planet—are slowly disappearing. Lira has been trained mercilessly since childhood to learn everything she can about her duplicate, to be a ruthless sleeper-assassin who kills that other Lirael and steps seamlessly into her life.

An intricate, literary stand-alone from an astonishing new voice, The Unquiet takes us deep inside the psyche of a strong teenage heroine struggling with what she has been raised to be and who she really is. Fans of eerily futuristic and beautifully crafted stories such as Never Let Me Go, Orphan Black, and Fringe will find themselves haunted by this unsettling debut.

IS IT BAD I’M ONLY NOW NOTICING THE COTTAGE ON THE COVER? Probably. The comparison to Never Let Me Go-which I haven’t read-so guess who’s out of her depth? Yes, Me-but now I do want to read it because The Unquiet was bloody brilliant. 

 The thing is though, you have got to like what the story is underneath, and the way the story is told, and by that I mean, The Unquiet is subtle. It’s not overly dramatic, it’s not in your face gorgeous writing, and it doesn’t have badass characters you want to route for, but despite all that, I loved it. Because while it’s not overly dramatic, it’s intense and dramatic in its own way, and the subtle and strength in the writing it what makes it beautiful and melancholy.

The Unquiet also doesn’t have a lot going on, it’s not action packed, there’s hardly any action at all, in fact, plot wise, there’s not a lot going on either. When I first read the synopsis for The Unquiet, It reminded me a little of Dualed by Elsie Chapman, though I haven’t read that one, so I don’t know how true it is to it. But there’s a second earth, there’s alternates, and things used to be good between two earths, on the surface, but there’s underlying animosity, and then they cut off communication. One earth is now dying, they raise children, abuse them both physically and mentally, although the physically is mainly the children fighting against one another as training. And when they’re ready, there comes the test, and if you pass, you get to go to earth. And kill your alternate, and wait, wait, wait, as a sleeper, until the war begins. There are sparks of rebellion and revolution. The plot is slow, and most of what happens, is towards the end, but I didn’t think the plot was the goa of the story.

The Unquiet is very character driven, it delves into the psyches of what it is to be human, and what it takes to not be, and if you really can shut that off. The characters have so much growth, or should I say de-growth of what Madame and the cottages have done to them. Lirael, our MC, especially goes through the ringer, and she sees what she is and doesn’t like it, but still does it, doesn’t question, does what she’s supposed to be. A good little sleeper. Until some twists and turns happen that makes her see the truth.

The Unquiet, is slow and subtle but melancholy and beautiful at the same time, it really depends on you like the characters of not on if you’re going to like it or not because it is character driven, but it’s different, and the ending’s suited to the story.

Rating: 4/5