Name: Unwritten
ISBN: 9781631631788

Tara Gilboy

In this fantasy middle-grade novel, twelve-year-old storybook character Gracie Freeman lives in the real world but longs to discover what happened in the story she came from. When she finally gets her chance, the truth isn't what she was expecting.

Unwritten

Allie Herrington

Reader: This is a truly delightful middle grade fantasy novel. Enjoyable from start to finish, with just enough left hanging two make you want to revisit this world. 

Librarian: I'm always looking for good fantasy books for my middle grade kids, and this definitely fits the bill. II know my kids will delight in Gracie's world and the way she struggles with whether or not she's only a character forced to take a certain path.

Ingrid 

** An ARC is generously provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review **

The premise of this book is one of the most interesting premises I have ever read about. The story is about twelve-year-old Gracie Freeman, who is living a normal life, except for the fact that she is actually a character from a story, an unpublished fairy tale she’s never read. When she was a baby, her parents learned that she was supposed to die in the story, and with the help of a magic book, took her out of the story, and into the outside world, where she could be safe. But everything changes when Grace decides to go against her mothers warnings, and go to talk to the author of her story. 

The characters in this story were so well written and complex. Grace is 12 years old and she acts likes it, which means that sometimes she does stupid things, but she learns from it. I also really enjoyed Walters character. He's a friend of Grace and he's really into science. I thought the author did a great job of discussing in the scientific aspect of characters coming to life. 

Going into the story, I was afraid that the plot would be very predictable and I was pleasantly surprised. I did not see the plot twist coming. The writing style really suited the story, I felt like I was there going on the adventure with the characters. 

If you are a lover of middle grade I highly recommend you pick this up when it comes out on the 16th of October, 2018.

Story Eater

“What if every story ever written is a world in another dimension waiting for us to find it?”


Unwritten is a fantastical embedded narrative reminiscent of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart  trilogy (though not as long) and The Hazel Wood  by Melissa Albert (but without the mature content). 

Younger readers who have not been exposed to embedded narratives from YA or adult authors may enjoy this story about a young girl who finds out she was created by a human for a story and a certain narrative purpose. Unsatisfied with her story, Gracie sets out to make things go her way in her life, and she decides that she controls who she is and how she acts in her life.

For middle grade readers who may find the intricacies of such winding plots too much for them to follow, Unwritten serves a purpose for a younger middle-grade or older elementary audience who don’t quite possess the attention span (or reading comprehension) yet for more complicated stories. Additionally, since this genre is large- and expanding-many books are being added to the genre that give such readers a gradual introduction into more the complicated plot structures of embedded narratives.

Jessica Nottingham

This book has a really sweet premise and, truth be told, I'm a sucker for all things fairy tales. Gracie is a girl out of place. Her whole life has already been written out in an unpublished story that she's never seen and, seeing as how she is as inquisitive as they come, her only goal is to find out what it says. I loved this premise and, for the most part, I felt like the book stuck true to that idea. It just took a little while to really get going.

On the list of things I loved, is the whole theme throughout this story about finding your true self, regardless of what others want for you. It's a beautiful idea to introduce to young readers. Gracie's whole life has been mapped out, but now she has a chance to be whatever she wants. The question plaguing her becomes which version would be her true self. Watching her war with herself, and grow to understand what was most important in her life, made me smile. It's lovely to see an MG character really dive deep into who they are. I can't say that this whole book had as much depth as Gracie's personal growth, but at the end of the day that was my favorite part anyway.

What made this a bit of a rough read for me was simply what I said above, that it lacks some depth. While Gracie's story is very sweet, and definitely original, it's in such a hurry to get to the climax that it skims over a lot of what I would have loved as a young reader. When I read a book in this age group, I always try to read it from both my current perspective, and from when I was a young reader. This book was a good read, but it didn't quite hit that memorable mark.

Unwritten

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