What is the Hush? Reader Rant edition

 I received a copy of Hush by Dylan Farrow from NetGalley (it was in the read now section) in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, what is the Hush? It had so much potential at the beginning with the embroidery bringing the images to life which was cool (and here I thought my sister was wrong about this book being awful, but it turns out she was not exaggerating about any of the things in the book).

For those who do not want to read the rant that is about to ensue. This book is given 2.5 stars and that is me being very generous.

Warning a rant is about to begin and there will be spoilers so please read at your own risk:

I will try to keep the stupidity to a minimum but there was a lot of it after her mother died and Shea made it to High House, so I will put it in a list.

1. Shea somehow thinks going into a little place where a man is asleep and potential "wolves" are outside is a good idea without even checking if it was wolves which led to an innocent person dying because she was too much of an idiot. Does she care that that man dies? No, it is only for the brief moment that his throat is slit that she even cares. He could have been safe if she had used her head, but no, Shea is known for being impulsive and not thinking before she does anything. (Sounds annoying right? Well, wait because the author is going to use this characteristic for every little thing that Shea does like it excuses her for being an moron).
2. Shea never questions why Cathal would be so quick to go from wanting her executed to "oh hey, you have the Telling you are a bard" (okay, so she is special from the normal folk now. This should be fine, right? We will get more into this and the Tellings later). Like an idiot she trusts him completely for no reason whatsoever like any sane person would be a little weary of the man who wanted to kill them, but not Shea. Oh no, she is all "oh he believes me and will help avenge my mother's death this totally makes him trustworthy never mind the fact that so many people told me not to trust him".
3. Shea thinks embroidering a pair of gloves will make Keenan her trainer become friends with her and then is upset that she didn't like the gloves and threw them over the cliff. Like you met this person for less than a day Shea what were you expecting that she will grow all warm and fuzzy over gloves because you notice she was wearing a pair yesterday? You have no clue what the rules are in High House and you might have added insult to injury (we will never know because the author never really delves into this except to have Shea complain for over three pages about the gloves and how Keenan must hate her). Here when I read about her embroidering the gloves I thought oh she is doing a Telling because she always does a Telling when she embroiders and will show it to Keenan, but nope we got that drama instead.
4. Ravod touches Shea and she is magically in love with him and is so disappointed that he is being smart and practical by telling her he cannot share her feelings because you two barely know each other Shea. Take a reality check a person does not have to live you just because you love them after seeing them and deciding they are handsome. Yup, another female to fall in love with a man solely for his looks, but he is so much more (this is the treat for when this rant is over. We need to end this review on a somewhat positive note because this book got my goat and if any of you are still reading this deserve to have something happy to look forward to).
5. Shea becomes the Chosen One and is the only one who can find The Book of Days which the First Rider wrote or something. Honestly, Shea complained way too much for me to get a firm grasp on the world building which was interesting I loved the myths and how the world was created, but Shea had to ruin everything. As soon as Shea becomes the Chosen One it is like her only emotions she is allowed to have is to sigh, gasp, groan, become angry over stupid things or anger in general, and whine about. Every. Little. Thing. It got to the point I was ready to throw this book into a fire or my Dad's trimmer when he was trimming the lawn so I would not have to listen to Shea anymore. (It has also gotten to the point that this rant needed to be a thing so I am so sorry you poor people reading this thinking you were going to enjoy anything about this review. It made me so angry that I need to get all of this off my chest before I do destroy the book instead of getting rid of it like a civilized human being).
6. Shea is one of the worst friends in the history of friends. She only thinks of her friends when she needs to be grounded or on her first day she thinks of her best friend Fiona or the first time Ravod touches her. She rarely thinks about Mads who she rejected his proposal to marry him and then feels guilty that she didn't think about him. Like I don't know if Mads is supposed to be a love interest or what his role is in the book exactly except as one more thing for Shea to complain about. If you do read the book be prepared for there to be a lot of complaining on Shea's part on everything from they didn't do this to why did they do the thing I just complained they didn't do. (If it helps consider this reader rant as a warm up for what you will get throughout the entire novel. This book is actually the first time where I started out wanting to give it five stars to it losing half a star after each idiotic thing that made the book lose its potential. So, yes the 2.5 star rating is being very generous.)
7. The Tellings could have been something cool except it ended up becoming a cop out for everything. Shea sees this it must be a Telling. Oh, I need to go through this just use a Telling. How convenient that you can tell things to disappear or unlock or do anything you want really with absolutely no consequences or anyone being any the wiser because it will return back to its normal state. Shea never really had to work for anything when you have Tellings conveniently at your fingertips and lips. I ended up being so annoyed with the Tellings because it stopped becoming a cool part of the world and more like a tool for the author to use to get herself out of any holes or sticky situations.
8. The Blot. I think the only reason I kept reading was because I wanted to know how the heck ink could make people sick. Yeah that sounds cool, right? Like it could have so much potential and make the book be amazing? Yup, besides Shea being freaked out by ink not much is done to bring death by ink into the world. Oh, and her brother died by it somehow. Apparently, the Blot or Indigo Death comes to a person when they speak a forbidden word or have any contraband like ink, paper, anything to do with writing, or Gondal this magical place that is green and safe and full of life. Sounds cool, right? Well, lo and behold by the end of the book it is not a mystical thing, but a real place and now they must find it (I won't say who the they are in case someone is still planning on reading this book or what condition they are in or how they are going to find Gondal. I am not that cruel of a person *crosses fingers*).
9. Shea thinks everyone should love her because she is now a Bard even though Ravod told her not to expect kindness or friendship from anyone. Honestly, Ravod is a dream for putting up with Shea.
10. Shea thinks that she caused a landslide which took out the civilians tower because she had a dream and there was a landslide in it. Therefore, she must have been responsible. I won't tell you what she does because the whole thing is stupid and pointless and I have no clue what it served except for the author to play on the personality trait of impulsive. (Let's call it that.)

I won't go into any more because it keeps getting worse and I don't want to completely spoil it for those that still want to read it. And if you read this entire thing you are a champ and deserve that know one positive thing about this book.

Are you ready?

Ravod. That's it that is the one positive thing about this book, which is the only character that made me want to keep reading this nightmare of a book that made me feel happy at the beginning and then left me so mad the poor book is lucky that it is in one piece. (I say book because my sister had an extra copy and gave it to me so that I wouldn't have to read it on my Kindle).

Ravod saves the book in more ways than one. He is the only reasonable character that has his head on straight and the only one I could feel anything for. The more I learned about Ravod the more I felt for him and wanted to give him hug. He deserved so much more than what he got.

2.5 stars. The extra half star is only because of Ravod.