The book “Hush” by Dylan Farrow is about a girl named Shae, who is 17 years old. She lives in a small village named Aster in the magical land named "Montane." Shae only lives with her mom and herds her sheep after her father dies of a heart attack and her brother,Kieran, dies at the age of thirteen due to a mysterious disease called the “Blot” or “Indigo Death." In the book, it is believed that this disease stems from the purple ink used in writing. This is why, among other things, ink and many other things are contraband by a group of magical figures known as the High House. The High House almost rules all of Montane, and the members of this group are known as Bards. These Bards possess magical powers that are called "Tellings''; these tellings are basically where the Bards can speak things into existence. An example of this power is when the Bards cause a brief rain in the city of Aster after the people offer and beg for them to end their famine and drought. These Bards are very feared and ruthless, as they kill and punish many people for saying certain things or owning contraband. Our main character Shae has two main friends at the beginning of the story. The names of her friends are Fiona and Mads; Fiona is Shae’s best friend, and Mads is a love interest of Shae. The reason Shae has limited friends is due to a lot of people staying away from her and her mom due to them being scared that she still carries the mysterious disease that killed her brother, this Blot was viewed as somewhat of a plague. All is well until one day after spending a night stargazing and being romantic with Mads, after Mads leaves Shae is left alone until she hears a noise coming from her house. She sprints back to her house to find her mother dead on the ground with a fancy dagger in her chest. After lots of screaming and sadness and a heated exchange with the leader of the city, Shae has a new housing arrangement with her best friend Fiona in her family's shop. She had many conspiracies and was very delusional about her mother's death. The city's commander, constable Dunne, had changed his opinion on Shae’s mother’s death very fast, from thinking bandits killed her to then being very firm on the idea that a landslide killed her. Shae was very sure her mother was stabbed and couldn’t believe that there was evidence of a landslide at her house, and she felt as if the setting of her mom’s death had changed. Shae was very mad and managed to lose both of her friends in a short while by first rejecting Mads’ marriage proposal and then getting into a heated argument with Fiona and being kicked out of her house. With nowhere to go, Shae heads to High House, thinking she could get answers about her mom’s death. After sneaking onto a horse carriage filled with bard offerings, she sneaks her way to the High House, but gets caught. She gets scheduled to be executed, and when the execution is happening, she performs a telling and turns the ax into a ribbon. The leader of the High House, Lord Cathal, is very interested in Shae’s power and sets her up with a trainer to perfect her powers. After Cathal finds out about how her teacher is using magic to make Shae perform poorly, she is transferred to a new trainer, and Shae is tasked with finding a magic book with all the information about the world on it that, if given to the wrong hands, could cause havoc. Soon after she gets her new trainer, a building with all the servants of High House collapses, and Shae thinks it’s her fault. She runs away and faints due to the cold of the mountains. She goes insane and is transferred to the sanatorium, where she soon gets cured and dispatched. After a while, she gets her energy back and tries to confess her love to her new trainer, who then feels uncomfortable and makes Shae end up with her old trainer. After a while, Shae tries to find the magical book and succeeds, but when she goes into the room with the book that was heavily protected by magic, she finds only pages ripped out of the book. Soon after her discovery, Cathal and his forces find her and seize her. Though Cathal was a mentor to her, she was merely a pawn and was being used for the book. Cathal believed she was lying, that the book was gone, and put her in jail. Coincidentally, Mads, who had gotten over his rejection, was also in jail because he failed as a spy for the High House. While she was in jail, her previous, mean trainer, Kennan, informed her of lots of new information. She said the reason she was doing Tellings to make Shae fail was because she knew Cathal was using her and she didn’t want her to be a pawn like how Cathal used her. She also said that she helped kill Shae’s mother due to her being a rogue Bard, but Kennan said she didn’t have the guts to do it, and another Bard killed her mother. Soon after this exchange to apologize, Kennan helps Mads and Shae escape and meet back up with Fiona. Soon after, the three escape and never return to High House or Aster.
This book was a very fun read and at first when reading, I did not expect so many plot twists and new elements. There were many events in this book that were all very action packed and fun to read. I was almost glued to this book. I read 150 pages in an hour and a half over the weekend just out of pure dedication. The major plot endings and beginnings at the end of the book made it an exciting read and it just made me keep on reading to see what happens. To wrap it up, my reaction to this book was very good and this was unlike many other books I have read. I really loved this book for how unique the writing style was and how many plot elements and examples of great word selection were included in this small 360 page book.
This was overall a really good read and a great book. Even though I did like the different plots and word selection, the many different things going on at once could confuse you if you don’t truly try to read the book and immerse yourself into the world of the book. I tried to view myself as the main character and that really helped me grasp plots and recurring themes in this great book. Another bad part about this book is how due to the plentiful plots and characters, some plots and characters. Some parts of the book remain unanswered and other parts of the book seem kind of out of place and just really shouldn’t be there because they complicate things. Many stale characters and unnecessary plots make it kind of frustrating for the reader. Other than those two knocks however, I really do recommend this book to anyone who wants to read it. It is written really well and I love the stories and how many different things are going on. The characters are beautifully written and it is obvious the author really tried to make this book as great as possible.
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