ARC Review: “The Unwilling” by Kelly Braffet

“The Unwilling” by Kelly Braffet

Publishing Date: February 11, 2020

Genre: Fantasy, Fiction, YA

Page Length: 400 pages (electronic review edition)

Synopsis:

A penetrating tale of magic, faith and pride…

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. (description from Goodreads)

Review:

The story of The Unwilling follows a girl named Judah, who is different from everyone else. She has fiery red hair and a uncanny ability to bring bad luck; as told by the superstitious people around. Judah feels horribly alone she is shunned by most that surround her and she only has her step siblings to rely on. She has some special power that has yet to be defined, but when she meets a mysterious healer (Nate) who convinces her she has more power over others than she thinks, she realizes things may change.

As the story progresses, Judah starts to learn more about her mysterious past and a new world opens. She learns she has more power over others and starts to understand why some fear her. There is a constant power struggle within and outside of the castle walls and it’s unclear who will be the victor. The working class are fed up with the royals and move in the story feels like one giant chess game. Every character is a pawn and their actions have a domino effect.

While the plot is interesting, it’s so slow moving that sometimes I would lose interest in the story. I felt that the book is entirely too long and that many parts could have been cut down. The prologue which is mean to set up the story was a bit unclear until the latter part of the novel and was confusing. I did appreciate all of the details included in the story, but some aspects seem bit tedious. A glossary would also be helpful for all of the terms/characters mentioned.

I found some of the things to be included in this book to be extremely unsettling and I think it should be marketed as an adult novel more so than YA. There are many trigger warnings for this book (rape, abuse, violence, abortion, death, and more). I didn’t enjoy this novel at all and I found the inconsistent pacing and the tendency to drag made me loss interest in many points of the story. I wouldn’t recommend this novel.

Final Verdict: