In the ninth chapter of Untold, Holly and Ash both reach out to others for help, but get drastically different results. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Untold.
Chapter Nine: Waiting to Answer
Oh my god, this book. Let’s split this up by character:
Holly
Oh yes, more Holly! Except everything is still sad. Holly is unable to find an escape, and the more she tries to get out of this nightmare, the harder it is for her. It’s not lost on me that this follows the reveal that people cannot call out of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Here, Holly is emotionally trapped within a world where she can’t value herself and where she can’t make sense of things. She knows that she doesn’t belong in the Aurimere House. It’s a constant reminder of how her past haunts her in this town. And it doesn’t help that she isn’t even a sorcerer herself. I thought that Lillian’s attitude toward Holly was a parallel to how Holly’s own mother treated her. Again, Holly can’t escape this at all.
So she turns to Angela, but even in a friend, Holly finds difficulty in getting away from her own confusion and strangeness. In one moment, she’s thankful for Angela’s interest in her as a friend, especially since no one else is giving her that sort of attention. But then, she can’t get past her own issues with Angela’s sexuality. Admittedly, I don’t have much sympathy for Holly in this specific instance because… well, by default, I’m going to support Angela. Holly might be uncomfortable with Angela, but Holly has never had to live with being gay. A momentary sensation of discomfort is nothing when compared to what Angela has probably gone through.
Still, everything else that’s going on in Holly’s life is just overwhelming. I think that’s a good word to describe this. So many things are all happening at the same time, and Holly struggles to deal with them all at once. How is she going to “lose some part of herself,” though? What does that mean???
Ash
I seriously didn’t expect that I’d develop so many feelings for Ash Lynburn, but oh well! Here they are! Sarah Rees Brennan gives us a lot of insight into what Ash’s life has been like, but here, Jared’s brief return to Aurimere House gives us a possible future, too. This is the first time that it feels like Ash and Jared are actually on the same page, you know? Jared didn’t have to say what he did to Ash, but in a strange way, it’s like Jared is trying to help Ash. Ash is shocked that Jared is able to figure out that he was trying to be good for his father, but when you think about it, it’s not a stretch that Jared was able to put this together. He could probably tell what Ash felt during the events in chapter two, you know?
So we find out that Jared has no interesting in being the heir of Aurimere House, though I’m still worried that ultimately, Lillian won’t hand it over to Ash. She can’t stand Ash at all, so how is he going to overcome this? The only possible solution I can see is hinted at in chapter nine. If Jared and Ash link themselves together, they’ll have an advantage. I admit that I had assumed that Jared would only pursue the Crying Pools’ power for Kami, but this is VERY INTRIGUING. To me, it’s the first step in Ash and Jared trusting one another. Really trusting one another! Because this sort of connection involves a whole lot of that, and it would be foolish for them to join with one another without developing trust between the two of them.
I don’t feel like I have enough information to guess why Jared asked about the love spell, though. Like… is it for Kami? That doesn’t make any sense. She already cares about him, so… why? That’s not something he “can’t have,” so I don’t get it. Which just means that Brennan is saving it to destroy me later. GREAT. I can already recognize the things that are going to ruin me, and I can’t do anything about them. DAMN IT.
Please note that the original text and the video contains the word “crazy.”
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