The Unseen

The Reel of Rhysia, Book 1

By: Lilla Glass

Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Elwyn is remarkably unremarkable, and she prefers it that way. Perhaps it is a talent owed to the training of the notorious syndicate that reared her, or it may be a gift from her invisible friend—a clever and capricious creature who, unlike most invisible friends, has only grown more real with time. Either way, Elwyn's unremarkability is about to fail her.

Upon absconding to the tiny town of Amblewick in search of a quiet, uneventful life, she catches the attention of two feuding tricksters, each in the market for the perfect pawn. Through either fate or magical machinations, she soon finds herself in the company of a cutthroat assassin, a wayward prince, and a little girl with a chilling secret.

Despite their differences, this ragtag group of ruffians just might manage to save multiple worlds...provided they don't kill each other first.

©2023 Lilla Glass (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

Unique high fantasy story!

Elwyn is a thief who is remarkably unremarkable. If you blink you'll forget what she looks like. I think this is the coolest concept for a character. Elwyn's unremarkablilty makes her an excellent thief, but it also makes for a lonely life. Together with her friend Luatha, a pixie-like creature they call "piskies", Elwyn is trying to survive and build a life after escaping a dark organization of thieves called the Grayscale that recruits many of their members as children. Elwyn takes a job working at a tavern, and I mean takes. The tavern owner never hired her, she just started working (and stealing coins), and repeatedly made the tavern owner feel guilty about "forgetting" that he hired her until he accepted her presence.

Lydia is a nine year old girl and daughter of a prominent family. Her family has started calling her "monster" due to her sickly appearance. Lydia is not an ordinary girl, and she became my favorite character in the second half of the book when all of the characters finally came together to save her. Lydia's backstory is very dark!

Brannon is a grayscale assassin who has been tasked with finding Elwyn after she escaped. He, like Elwyn, was a lost child recruited by the grayscale.

Aedyn is a spoiled fae prince who is looking for adventure. At first I thought he was kind of goofy but by the end he really grew on me.

The book opens swapping between these character's POV as we learn about their lives, skills, and personalities. When they find themselves all together they begin to form this found family bond, which is one of my favorite story themes. We start to see Brannon think about something else besides a mission, and Aedyn turns out to be a lot deeper than he lets on, Elwyn starts to allow herself to really be seen for the first time, and sweet Lydia starts to feel accepted and cared for.

I loved the fae magic and dark themes of this story, I enjoyed seeing the character development and how the group changed each other. I lost track of how many times I thought something along the lines of "Well that was a cool idea". This story is very unique and I recommend it if you are a fan of high fantasy stories.

Really brings the book to life!

I read the book and really enjoyed it, so I thought I would listen to the audiobook as well...to see if I pronounced names correctly. But the reader did such an amazing job, I felt like I could envision every little detail!