Tracy Hickman

Laura Hickman

Unhonored is the second book in the intriguing gothic novel in the Nightbirds series from the partnerships of New York Times best selling author Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman. This gothic fantasy series begins with Unwept. Ellis Harkington is trapped in limbo between life and death, struggling to escape the domination of an evil force masquerading as her friend, Merrick. Only Ellis has ever escaped him, and now that she has discovered the truth, he wants to make sure she can never escape again. Merrick's dark power has turned the seaside town of Gamin, Maine, into a place of nightmares. The town is transformed into a decaying succession of infinite rooms, bottomless stairwells, and boundless corridors filled with never-ending masquerades, balls, and banquets. Each pageant is about the life Ellis lived before her return—each revelation more terrifying than the last. Ellis is desperate to find her missing cousin and leave, but there is no exit from the House of Dreams except, perhaps, through a séance to contact the living.

Book Two of The Nightbirds

Unhonored

Colleen

2 Stars

Unhonored was an impulse grab from the new release shelf at the library. I did not look that closely, but a glance at the description intrigued me. I probably should have looked a little closer though, because there were a couple of things that I overlooked. 

The first thing was that I thought the title said Dishonored not Unhonored. I mean, unhonored is technically a word, but it is an awkward one. It also did not seem to tie to the story in any way. The only reason for the title appeared to be that the first book started with an Un- word.

Which brings me to the second point, that this was a sequel. The cover description did not mention anything about being a sequel (which is a huge pet peeve of mine). The first book has terrible ratings and did not sound like it was necessary to read before reading the sequel, so I decided to continue with Unhonored anyway.

I also did not realize that this was coauthored. That was my fault for not looking closer. But coauthored books tend to lack cohesion, and Unhonored was not an exception.

The premise of the story is that the main character, Ellis, is caught in some sort of purgatory limbo which has been masterminded by Merrick into the form of a nightmarish house from which no one can escape. It reminded me a lot of Labyrinth . (So much so that I kept picturing Merrick as David Bowie particularly during the masquerade scene.) I like the premise of the story and some of the ideas, but overall the story felt sloppy and incomplete. I was just plunked into the story with no idea what was going on. I could not tell what lack of information was from not reading the first book and what was from slapdash writing. The main character has almost no memories at the beginning of the book, so she was just as clueless as the reader. So Ellis and I wandered around Nightmare House with no idea what the hell was happening.

The world came with strict rules which were constantly referenced but never explained. Over and over the characters repeated some variation of this line of dialogue: "You have to know the rules before you can win the game." But I had no idea what the hell the rules were. It does not explain anything until over half way through the book and even then it was not a satisfactory explanation. The story kept adding new elements and characters with no explanation. There were things that I think were supposed to be twists but felt more like sloppy changing of the rules probably due to the authors not having a clear enough handle on their own world building. It was bad enough when the main character was as clueless as me, but later in the book Ellis had an epiphany, got her memories back, and suddenly knew exactly what was going on and what to do. Does she share any of that with the audience? NO. I was still standing in the dark, awkwardly clearing my throat and shuffling my feet waiting for someone to change the damn lightbulb. 

It really felt like the dialogue was constantly rubbing it in my face that I didn't know the rules. It kept coyly referring to things usually trying to turn them into proper nouns such as the Game, the Day, the Book. The most unfortunate was that they referred to their in between world as The Tween which made me roll my eyes every single time I read it. Seriously, The TWEEN?? It made me picture being stuck in a room with a bunch of preteen girls obnoxiously giggling and using awful phrases like "Totes for realz." Which sounds hellish for sure but not exactly scary. The world was already falling flat on the scary front, and then they had to snort with derision by calling it THE TWEEN. So terrible. 

The whole story felt rushed and a little hollow. At one point Ellis says that the House they are stuck in is like a dollhouse, and I find that to be an apt parallel to the story itself. At first glance, it looks good. But the closer you look, the more you see that it lacks depth and richness of detail. It is a hollow false front rather than an immersive world. And keeping with that theme, Ellis seemed more like a marionette. She had no character development, most of her actions were driven by other characters, and she seemed as hollow and disingenuous as her world. 

too chaotic - don't know the characters
If the main character was underdeveloped, then the rest of the characters barely went beyond cardboard cutouts. In trying to sustain suspense about characters' true motives, the other characters were prevented from revealing anything that might have clarified anything about who they really were. Between the sloppy world building, the massive plot holed, and the lack of character development, the whole story was chaotic. Characters conveniently disappear and reappear (both literally and figuratively) in order to suit the authors' whims with no explanation or reason. I certainly would never have guessed the these authors have multiple publications under their belt or (according to the cover) are best selling authors. 

To top it all off, the story ends with a messy cliff hanger to set up for the next book. I won't bother reading the next book. This one was a major disappointment. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 1 Star
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Originality: 2 Stars

Unhonored Book Two of The Nightbirds

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