The Unwilling

Written by Kelly Braffet

Narrated by Tia Rider

"Fantasy at its most sublime!"--Erin Morgenstern, New York Times bestselling author of THE NIGHT CIRCUS

"Suspenseful, magical, wonderfully written… An essential addition to all epic-fantasy collections." —Booklist, STARRED  review

A penetrating tale of magic, faith and pride…

Judah is an orphaned girl with a secret gift, born at the gates of Highfall castle. Raised alongside Gavin, heir to Lord Elban's empire, the two share an extrasensory bond—one that is key to Judah's survival and her possible undoing.

Elban—as mighty as he is cruel—plans to use Judah as a pawn to amass greater control. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

But beyond the castle walls, a magus, a healer with his own powerful force, has arrived from the provinces. He, too, has designs on the realm, and at the heart of his plans lies Judah… The girl who started life with no name and no history will soon discover her own strength. Intriguingly, she does not have to be given power: she can just take it.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Audio
• Release date: Feb 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781488208058

Kelly Braffet

Kelly Braffet is the author of the novels Save Yourself, Josie and Jack and Last Seen Leaving. Her writing has been published in the New York Times and Vulture.com, as well as The Fairy Tale Review, Post Road, and several anthologies. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University and currently lives in upstate New York.

Reviews for The Unwilling

[Daniel Blair · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely intriguing. I’m finding it difficult to put my thoughts into words. Some may call the pace a bit slow and the story uneventful, or too depressing and obscene, but it all builds this absolute desperate world and even more desperate people. Definitely felt heavy and the ending definitely showed there is light after all.

Absolutely loved this read.

[Maria Silveria Grassi · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was an angst fest. Like, there was NO amiable, even kind or light moment in the whole book. All suffering and depression, and suicidal thoughts. The amount of gratuitous violence and lack of consequence or payback was appalling. And BORING AF! The only characters worth knowing about are just plot devices used to inflict pain, suffering, fear and desperation to other characters. There is no clear plot, and most of what could be interesting lore is lost under pages and pages of beatings, cuttings, bruising, bleeding, etc.; with no real need or higher purpose to the story.

Also, it is soooooo long. And the few twists there are, come so anticlimactically that they just pass the reader by. Their only impact on the plot is to generate new opportunities to more torture, pain and suffering. MY GOD!

I am not gonna continue with the series (I would have dnf it had i known it was not a stand alone). So, save yourself 15 painful depressing hours, as I promise you: there is no payoff after you are through other than frustration and huge dissapointment.

[Kevin Wilcox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not one of my favorite books. It was slow and depressing.

[Marcus Odd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful characters and world setting :) I really needed and enjoyed this story!