Book Review: The Silent History; Eli Horowitz.

I feel like dancing for joy! I'm finally through this book, hooray! It took me, in my opinion, a pretty long time to read and I can't wait to share my thoughts. No challenges for this one, just the review!

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Silent History
AUTHOR: Eli Horowitz
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: FSG Originals
PAGES: 528
GENRE: Mystery, Science Fiction, Dystopian


RATING: 3/5 Stars

Blurb:
Sometime right around now, doctors, nurses and-most of all-parents begin to notice an epidemic spreading among newborn children, children who are physically normal in every way except that they do not speak and do not respond to speech. They don't learn to read, don't learn to write. Theories abound-maybe a popular antidepressant is the cause. Maybe these children, lacking the ability to use or comprehend language, have special skills of their own.




What I Liked:

• The plot concept. When I first heard read the synopsis, I thought that it had a really original and intriguing idea behind it that I was desperate to explore. The structure itself was clever, in a way it was similar to 'The Three' by Sarah Lotz as it comprised of a series of accounts told by various people involved in the incident. I felt it did a better job, in that there was more of a plot-line to follow, I became a little more emotionally invested in the going-ons and I understood it a little better.
• Horowitz writes very well! This book definitely has a message hidden in there about what it truly is to be human. There were some lovely quotes, and the way she phrased things writing from the POV of each character really drew me into their mindset, beliefs and understanding of the Silents and their condition. Also, her objective stance that didn't label any characters as good or bad was pretty impressive, I empathized with them all in a way.

What I Disliked:

• Despite a better semblance of a plot-line, I still didn't find myself completely hooked by what was going on. It took me a long time to read this one and that's normally a sign that I became easily distracted and not completely gripped by the story. It felt like long book and certainly in the beginning I was a little frustrated by the frequent viewpoint change. The ending didn't really provide any kind of conclusion either. There was a pretty big dramatic plot twist, but it didn't really go anywhere that felt final. It just sort of finished. After a very slow build-up, I wanted more from the book's conclusion.

Overall Conclusion:

There are a lot of really great things about this read. A great plot idea, which actually did tell a story and drew me into it's world. Horowitz is very talented and I would like to read more in the future from him. I loved the message that the book had to. I wasn't so keen on the amount of time it took me to fully get into the book, or how long it took me to read. I wish as well that the ending had revealed a little more about what the fate of each character was, and had generally been a little less vague.