I heard some very positive reviews about this novel, and was actually pretty eager to read it. The premise sounded promising, and I was intrigued by the promise of a fantasy tale infused with Chinese folklore and a riveting adventure in the mythical world of Beiguo. In addition, I have never read a book where there is no dialouge, only a form of sign language. But my expectations fell away quickly, and this was an overall disappointment. The characters were bland and trope-like; the plot, while somewhat intriguing, simply fell flat; and the writing style was absolutely bland and full of cliches. This wasn't totally horrible, but it was incredibly drab! "Soundless" had an interesting concept but just didn't deliever.

(Note: The rest of my review contains SPOILERS about the events of this book, including the ending!)

Like I said, the plot sounded interesting, but I was never once surprised by the path of events which occurred. It felt like Mead had taken a recipe for a YA "adventure" novel and just wrote names and small ideas into that recipe. From Fei and Li Wei's decision to trek down the mountain, to the conspiracy of the "line keeper" actually being the greedy ruler, and to the inevitable beginning the return of sound to the villagers, it was all so predictable. The only part which took me even a little by surprise was the sudden (and very easy) appearance of the pixiu.

But even while startling, the leadup to the pixiu returning to the village was just poorly done. The creatures had been briefly mentioned a couple times earlier, but no hints were given to the reader that the pixiu played any real significance. I think if Mead had done some better foreshadowing, then the ending would have made more sense. It was cheesy and just a very easy way to wrap things up nicely- the villagers were safe, the soldiers were destroyed, and Fei's sudden hearing was explained. It was all tied up quickly and lazily with a nice tidy "happily ever after" bow.

There were also some minor inconsistencies with the signing. At the beginning, it was made fairly clear that the people were communicating via a form of sign language. The bits of dialouge were followed up by "Fei signed" instead of "Fei said", and when a character spoke, it was clear that the speaker's hands needed to be visible for everyone to understand
But then this switched, and "signed" became "said", even though everyone was still using their hands to speak.
I also have a problem with the fact that deafness was treated as a horrible disease, and the "chosen one" (Fei) had to be a girl who could hear. And then at the end, after the pixiu returned, people began to slowly have their hearing restored through the magic means of bonding with a pixiu. I think this took a lot away from the idea of having deaf characters- the deaf characters are largely presented as flawed people. It was disappointing to see the novel take this stance.

Lastly, the ONLY characters who were even remotely interesting were the bodygaurd at the inn and his daughter who helped Fei and Li Wei. It's pretty sad when the best characters are minor ones who are only there for less than four chapters. Fei and Li Wei had nothing special or likeable about them- they were cookie cutter, cliche, YA characters with no distinct voice.

I've never read a book by Richelle Mead before, and I'm not ruling her novels out completely, but I was really unimpressed with "Soundless". ( )

Such a great and fast pace standalone! such a cool world. Love it! ( )

Such a great and fast pace standalone! such a cool world. Love it! ( )

More of a 3.5. I'll have to think about why this book didn't quite hit me the way I thought it would, though I think some of it stems from the fact it felt like Mead was writing the first book in a series, but I think this is a stand alone. ( )

I loved it. It was very different, but also very intriguing. ( )