Chime by Franny Billingsley- Review

CHIME
BY: FRANNY BILLINGSLEY
PAGES: 358 (ARC)
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 17, 2011
PUBLISHED BY: DIAL

SUMMARY (Goodreads): Before Briony’s stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family’s hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it’s become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He’s as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she’s extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn’t know.

MY REVIEW: This book was quite fascinating. When I started reading it, me and the book didn’t get along so well. It threw me off guard. But beyond the first half of the story, I was overwhelmed by the story. I rather enjoyed the final quarter of the story when the juicy romance really warms my heart and the twist begin to straighten out and pieces start coming together. So while initially fighting with the writing style, I eventually began to really fall for the story. I really found the story idea very unique and interesting, it takes place in a time where people believed to be a witch were tried, and at this current location of Swampsea, they’re tried by the gifted, Chime Child, and then publicly hung upon conviction. The people are definitely different, their of a different time and so they behave in a different manner, they talk different, while their language is very uneducated and grammatically incorrect the community and society have a strong sense of elite socialization and customs that are recognized and respected. There’s all these secrets going on in this story so its plenty mysterious, and the twist pick up throughout the story, and things begin to clear up in the end. There’s a very mesmerizing and absorbing romance building between Briony and Eldric and its just so wonderful to read about. The whole story is quite charming and extraordinary, and the ending is all kinds of exciting and full of intense suspense.

Characters: Briony was quite an unusual character. She was reasonably relatable as a character, she starts out with many regrets, and a timid and cautious girl, believing she’s a witch, that killed her step-mother, whom she absolutely adored, and mentally damaged her twin sister. She’s feisty. I like her terms and references when it comes to her thoughts and opinions and feelings on matters. Eldric a very peculiar guy and I really liked him a lot, he was very sweet, and definitely swoon-worthy that’s for sure. Eldric is a really good companion to Briony, who she tends to think about a lot and its obvious of her feelings for him, but she never seems to come realization of how much she really likes him, or doesn’t quite admit it to herself.

Writing: To be honest the writing was the biggest issue for me. In the beginning the writing bothered me terribly, and I fought and fought with it, and it was very out of the ordinary and unusual. The author was tossing old fashion, different time and era kind of words and lingo, and I kind felt like an idiot not know the meanings and author didn’t offer any explanations, so it did take me awhile to grasp and get through that, but after awhile I was able to adapt to it and I just loved the story. I definitely come to recognize the truly complex beauty and extraordinary words of the author, it was just so fascinating. I dove into the story, after the second half, things came together, all the things and event that occurred and details seem to serve a purpose and began to fall into place and make sense in the end. In conclusion I definitely think people would like this book, and I advise that when and if you read it, to just keep going if you get to feeling a little discouraged, the book and story does get better.

Note: Review based on Advance Reader Copy(ARC)

RATING: 3.5 Out of 5 Stars