A penetrating tale of magic, faith and pride...
THE UNWILLING by KELLY BRAFFET
Series: Standalone
Publication date: February 11, 2020
Published by: Harlequin/Mira
Genre: fantasy, YA
SYNOPSIS
The Unwilling is the story of Judah, a foundling born with a special gift and raised inside Highfall castle along with Gavin, the son and heir to Lord Elban's vast empire. Judah and Gavin share an unnatural bond that is both the key to her survival... and possibly her undoing.
As Gavin is groomed for his future role, Judah comes to realize that she has no real position within the kingdom, in fact, no hope at all of ever traveling beyond its castle walls. Elban - a lord as mighty as he is cruel - has his own plans for her, for all of them. She is a mere pawn to him, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
But outside the walls, in the starving, desperate city, a magus, a healer with his own secret power unlike anything Highfall has seen in years, is newly arrived from the provinces. He, too, has plans for the empire, and at the heart of those plans lies Judah... The girl who started life with no name and no history will soon uncover more to her story than she ever imagined.
An epic tale of greed and ambition, cruelty and love, this deeply immersive novel is about bowing to traditions and burning them down.
Purchase your copy:As Gavin is groomed for his future role, Judah comes to realize that she has no real position within the kingdom, in fact, no hope at all of ever traveling beyond its castle walls. Elban - a lord as mighty as he is cruel - has his own plans for her, for all of them. She is a mere pawn to him, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
But outside the walls, in the starving, desperate city, a magus, a healer with his own secret power unlike anything Highfall has seen in years, is newly arrived from the provinces. He, too, has plans for the empire, and at the heart of those plans lies Judah... The girl who started life with no name and no history will soon uncover more to her story than she ever imagined.
An epic tale of greed and ambition, cruelty and love, this deeply immersive novel is about bowing to traditions and burning them down.
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Praise for The Unwilling:
"Kelly Braffet is extraordinary... Familiar yet entirely unique, The Unwilling is the sort of story that seeps under your skin and pulses there, intimate and vibrant and alive. Fantasy at its most sublime."--Erin Morgenstern, NYT bestselling author of The Starless Sea and The Night Circus
"A juggernaut of an epic fantasy novel with ingenious, thrilling twists and turns. Put this on the shelf beside Naomi Novik and George R. R. Martin. Kelly Braffet is a marvel and I'll read anything she writes." --Kelly Link, MacArthur Genius Recipient and author of Get in Trouble
"Kelly Braffet's The Unwilling is a viscerally powerful book. Full of complex and compelling characters, this is the story of the corruptions of power and the strength it takes to resist. This is an incredible, brilliant story." --Kat Howard, author of Roses and Rot
"Gorgeously told, The Unwilling is at once a sweeping epic and an intimate portrait of being trapped in an oppressive regime. Meet your new favorite fantasy writer." --Gwenda Bond, NYT bestselling author of Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
"Suspenseful, magical, wonderfully written, and never predictable, Braffet's first foray into speculative fiction is an essential addition to all epic-fantasy collections." –Booklist, STARRED Review
"Wow...The characters, the world, the magic and greed and politics and pain--all of it adds up to something wonderful. I love it."–Ellen Datlow, award-winning editor and anthologist
“Braffet has a real gift for dialogue, and Judah’s quick cleverness is a constant joy… Readers will fall in love with the contemplative pace, brisk dialogue and rebellious heroine of The Unwilling.” –BookPage
"Kelly Braffet is extraordinary... Familiar yet entirely unique, The Unwilling is the sort of story that seeps under your skin and pulses there, intimate and vibrant and alive. Fantasy at its most sublime."--Erin Morgenstern, NYT bestselling author of The Starless Sea and The Night Circus
"A juggernaut of an epic fantasy novel with ingenious, thrilling twists and turns. Put this on the shelf beside Naomi Novik and George R. R. Martin. Kelly Braffet is a marvel and I'll read anything she writes." --Kelly Link, MacArthur Genius Recipient and author of Get in Trouble
"Kelly Braffet's The Unwilling is a viscerally powerful book. Full of complex and compelling characters, this is the story of the corruptions of power and the strength it takes to resist. This is an incredible, brilliant story." --Kat Howard, author of Roses and Rot
"Gorgeously told, The Unwilling is at once a sweeping epic and an intimate portrait of being trapped in an oppressive regime. Meet your new favorite fantasy writer." --Gwenda Bond, NYT bestselling author of Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds
"Suspenseful, magical, wonderfully written, and never predictable, Braffet's first foray into speculative fiction is an essential addition to all epic-fantasy collections." –Booklist, STARRED Review
"Wow...The characters, the world, the magic and greed and politics and pain--all of it adds up to something wonderful. I love it."–Ellen Datlow, award-winning editor and anthologist
“Braffet has a real gift for dialogue, and Judah’s quick cleverness is a constant joy… Readers will fall in love with the contemplative pace, brisk dialogue and rebellious heroine of The Unwilling.” –BookPage
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kelly Braffet writes stories about unhappy people making bad decisions, occasionally with magic. She is the author of The Unwilling (available 2/20 from Mira Books), Save Yourself, and Last Seen Leaving; her first novel, Josie and Jack, has been made into a feature film starring Olivia DeJonge, Alex Neustaedter, and William Fitchner, and directed by Sarah Lancaster. Her writing has been published in the Fairy Tale Review, Post Road, and in several anthologies, as well as on Salon.com. She is a graduate of Columbia University and Sarah Lawrence College.
She is married to the tall and immensely talented writer Owen King. He's dreamy. For more, see www.kellybraffet.com.
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The Unwilling by Kelly BraffetMy rating: 1 of 5 stars
I need to start this review by saying if you're a reader who's sensitive about reading abuse and violence on the page, this is not the book for you. This is just about the darkest and most depressing YA fantasy I've ever read and that's saying something. There were quite a few reasons why I struggled to finish this. I kept hoping that eventually it would hook me and everything would turn around but sadly that wasn't the case.
The Unwilling was excruciatingly slow. I would read for 3 hours and only move forward 5-10%. The page count is lengthy, and every bit of it is felt. I felt as if I was dragging myself through quicksand for the majority of the book, trying to reach freedom with no lifeline to be found. Just painfully sinking...sinking...sinking. The fact that the reader is left in the dark about a lot of things doesn't help matters.
The plot centers around the Slonimi people who have carefully honed the vestiges of magic remaining after the world was "bound." Through generations, they've plotted and planned to do whatever is necessary to return the world to its rightful order. No sacrifice is too great, no life more valuable than the cause. We are vaguely told about the doing "Work" which is what they call this magic that they wield. We see glimpses of it at most, but never an explanation of what the mechanics of it are, or why it's so important until the end. Who is Mad Martin, and why did he bind the world's power? How will the chosen one restore the world? This is all left on the back burner as we watch everyone tear each other to shreds.
Nate is introduced in the prologue as a young boy in the Slonimi caravan who is taken in by Derie as a kind of apprentice. She's a nasty, abusive woman who physically abuses Nate and Charles as she trains them to be "useful" to the cause. She is the first of many to abuse, maim, play mind games, and use people as if they were chess pieces on a board rather than human beings. It was so hard to find a single redeeming quality with anyone in this story. Even the unwilling victims are hard to root for as they were forced to make vicious choices to stay one step ahead of those toying with them. For a while, I thought Nate was a decent guy, but the more the book wore on, the more he seemed to fit right in with the most deranged and immoral.
Nate finagles his way inside Highfall in order to step in the shoes of the current Magus (healer). Arkady is just as vile and corrupt as everyone else in this godforsaken place. He has an array of sins such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, abuse of power, and heartlessness towards the poor workers who support the rich. In this social system, the poor are forced to work as long as 96 hours straight with barely any food or rest. Their money goes to support rich courtiers as their family members are brutally used and murdered of on a whim without a second thought. They are less than disposable, and treated inhumanely during their sad lives.
Then we have "The Children." Gavin is the heir to Highfall. His father Elban is the depraved ruler who takes great delight in torturing those around him both mentally and physically. I think sadist is a great descriptor for him. If you were to make a list of the most horrifying ways to harm a human, he's done every single thing and then schemed to come up with more. I can't tell you how long I was impatiently waiting for someone to take this evil waste of space out of existence. But I digress. The rest of the children are Theron, Elly, and Judah. Theron is the second born son, Elly is Gavin's chosen bride, and Judah is the foundling who was raised in the palace with them all. Admittedly, these four do seem to genuinely care for one another and they do try to make the best out of the cesspool they're trying to survive in. It's hard to retain values, morals, and honesty when you're constantly abused and put in life altering situations.
Gavin and Judah have a mysterious bond that ties them physically to one another. When one is hurt, the other feels it. They also share heightened emotions and pleasure, as well as drunkenness. This bond is the only thing protecting Judah's life. At the same time, it's also used against her in many various ways over the years, and used as a tool to harm Gavin when Elban felt the need. It was all about pushing the boundary between pain and death to manipulate and control. This was the one thing about the story that I found intriguing, and quite original. I liked the way they could communicate with one another in secret by scratching on their own wrist. It was like ASL in scratches, and they could check on each other or call for help from a distance.
Overall, there were so many graphically violent scenes that it began to overrun any sense of a solid, linear plot. We're just flung from one grotesque or devastating moment to another as the characters tried to stay one step ahead of getting disfigured or killed. Someone built up to be an invincible antagonist is abruptly disposed of and another steps in. In the end, things are not left in a good place and I just can't fathom slogging through fresh hundreds of pages to see where this all resolves. I can say with certainty that this wasn't the right book for me, but hopefully others will have a much different experience than I did.
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