It's Not You, It's Me (3)

"It's not you, it's me. I just want to be friends."  I'm sure some of us have heard those dreaded words uttered before and the same saying can be applied to books.  Some books just don't work for me, whereas other readers may have really enjoyed them.  This new feature will be showcasing books that I never finished or reviewed.

Silence by Michelle Sagara West

Goodreads says, "Ever since her boyfriend Nathan had died in a tragic accident, Emma had been coming to the graveyard at night.  During the day she went through the motions at her prep school, in class, with her friends, but that’s all it was.  For Emma, life had stopped with Nathan’s death.  But tonight was different.  Tonight Emma and her dog were not alone in the cemetery.  There were two others there—Eric, who had just started at her school, and an ancient woman who looked as though she were made of rags.  And when they saw Emma there, the old woman reached out to her with a grip as chilling as death…. Emma was not quite like others teenagers. It was true that other girls had experienced grief.  Other girls had also lost their fathers, or had their boyfriends die in a senseless accident. But though she hadn’t known it till that night in the graveyard, unlike those other girls, she could see, touch, and speak with the dead.  In fact, Emma could draw upon the essence of the dead to work magic.  That was what Necromancers did. But Emma had no desire to be a Necromancer. She just wanted to help the ghosts who walked the streets of Toronto, unable to escape from the land of the living.  And that was just as well, because had she chosen the path of the Necromancer, Eric would have had to kill her."

My Thoughts:

I really wanted to like Silence as I received it for review, but I couldn't finish it.  Obviously, I had a few issues. 

First, the disjointed writing style was tough.  For me, it was choppy and I found myself often distracted.  

Another factor: it lacked that special something and lately since I'm a new mom, if a book doesn't hold my attention in the first 50 pages, then it's not happening.

Lastly, I needed more background and an explanation of Emma's powers. I felt a bit confused by the whole thing.  

There's no doubt the premise of Silence is fantastic and very original. From the parts I did read, they were haunting and extremely atmospheric.  I wanted to like it, but ultimately, I felt indifferent.  I'll be putting Silence in my classroom library though; I'm sure it will find a happy reader!

If you have read Silence, let me know what you think!