Unforgotten (Unremembered #2)

Unforgotten by Jessica Brody
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, I'm glad we got that whole amnesia thing out of the way.

This second book in the Unremembered series starts off with a bang. We're in 1609 with Sera accused as a witch and being burned at the stake - and this after some disturbing dreams. The dreams thread through the book and become the basic line to follow in terms of the plot. This is nice because while they are at first undecipherable, they're a hint. And when they unfold into scenes that actually happen, the device works beautifully.

Sera is a much different main character in this story. She is no longer desperately trying to find out who she is; her identity was established in the first book. Now we have a focus on her relationship with Zen. That said, this installment really does center in on Sera. When Zen gets sick she goes in search of a cure, leading her to the next really interesting character, Kaelen.

I found Kaelen to be at first mysterious. He was like some kind of hit man sent to retrieve Sera. As things went along, however, he got more and more entertaining and flat out funny. The contrast between he and Sera and her observations of him were highly entertaining. That said, I thought that Kaelen gave Sera way too much leeway for a guy "programmed" to bring her back home. He seemed like a cross between a child and an assassin. It made for some interesting action.

Cody was the real surprise here. His basic personality hasn't changed at all but he's now a grownup. And like in the first book, he is highly likable. The whole geeky/smart thing really works for his character. And the bad guys are still the bad guys. Things are ambiguous enough to keep us interested; there's a lot of "why" to their villainry.

The plot does slow down in spots. There are scenes with Cody and his family when Sera is supposed to be diligently searching for answers under a time limit. These were filled with mindless sorts of activities; why is she having dinner and playing video games when Zen' condition is so desperate? While the whole Cody's family thing was necessary on some level, it did seem a bit of a plot device. The action near the end is great, especially since more secrets are revealed and terrible choices have to be made.

On audio the book is narrated by Julia Whelan. She's very good, although I don't care for her lower, "man's" voice. She does distinguish the male voices exceptionally well, though. I ended up speeding the audio to twice the normal speed and surprisingly it worked! Whelan's speaking voice was fast, but that lent itself to the characters and story extremely well, especially when Sera is being sarcastic.

Overall this second book narrowly avoided middle-book-syndrome. There is enough going on to draw us in, but there were elements that seemed to be just filler. This didn't overwhelm the story, though, making this a very enjoyable read. It works because it turns the focus of the story a different direction in terms of finding the answers to Sera. Brody has another winner here and the story holds the promise for a great ending.

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