I should probably change that cover, huh? It's a little outdated. 

Anyway, welcome! I finished Unlocked last night (well, sorta), and this is my 10:00 am reaction to everything that happened. 

So of course: S P O I L E R S

And by sorta I mean I only read the 200 or so pages of story, Tam's registry file, everyone's middle name, looked at the art, and then I skipped the rest. So yeah. 

I gave the book to my sister, so I'm going to guess at all the sections. I'll undoubtedly forget some, but oh well. 

1. Registry files: 

Literally everything about the characters that we already knew, and that apparently Tam and Linh aren't in the nobility, which I didn't know. Oh, and everyone's middle name. Biana's is gorgeous (Biana Amberly Vacker) and so is Marella's, but I can't remember hers. Tam and Linh's middle names rhyme (Dai and Hai) because of course they do! *confetti* They're twins, silly. 

Except I'm pretty sure Quan and Mai would want to separate Tam and Linh in every way possible, which means no rhyming middle names, and oh, they rhyme with Mai, which I've been told, correct me if I'm wrong, that it's a pretty stereotypical way to name East Asian characters. So. Also we still don't know where Tam and Linh would be from, if they were in the human world, since Shannon threw in as many different characteristics in there as possible*--"They looked like k-pop idols (who can be Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, but I don't think Shannon knew that, so we'll go with Korean) or like they'd stepped straight out of an anime (Japanese)." Tam's a Vietnamese name, Linh is a Vietnamese pronunciation of a Chinese character, Quan is a Chinese surname, Mai is Japanese, but Quan and Mai can be from different places I think that's fine, as long as it's clear that Shannon intended that, which I don't think she did, and even if all their names can be Vietnamese, which I've been told recently they can, the descriptions and architecture of their house and their outfits and whatnot don't match (I can't really talk because Rae's name is hebrew and he's supposed to their world's equivalent of Chinese, so sorry about that guys, I'll figure out a way to fix it eventually)--Wow, that was a tangent. Anyway, that's all I have to say for the registry files, since I only read one. Moving on...

*Please tell me if I'm wrong about any of that stuff, I just did a quick google search

2. The Elvin World

Gotta admit, the map was really pretty. Although apparently several of the houses are just floating on tiny undiscovered islands in the ocean, but whatever. I'll let it slide. 

Gonna be honest, I read none of this section, because...info dumping no bueno kids. 

3. Quizzes and stuff

Looked through it, didn't do any of it. It had a couple recipes that looked cool though. 

4. Art

The art was cool. Linh was gorgeous like oh my god. And we finally got a Song family portrait, but it was before they were banished, which means no silver, and Tam DIDN'T HAVE HIS FREAKING BANGS so I'm forced to assume his parents made him sweep them to the side. They're really the only one I absorbed, call me obsessed but I've been dying for an updated Song picture for the longest time now. Oh Sandor and Grizel. They were there too. 

5. Novella Tiiiiime (I can't think of any other sections, but if I do, I'll add them in there)

Guys, where do I even start?

Honestly, let's go character by character. I think that's the best way to do this. 

Ight, first up: Biana. 

Love her, she's great, as always. Has a crush on Tam, which was practically confirmed by Fitz's "Or to see Tam. She has a thing for silver bangs" (or something like that idk guys cut me some slack) and Biana's super red face soooooooo, there's my Tiana win for the next year. It's been too long. 

Dex: Love him, he's adorable, also POOR REX JEEZ AND DEX HAS TO LIVE WITH KNOWING HIS BROTHER WILL BE TALENTLESS AND HE CAN'T TELL HIM OR ELSE HE'LL RUIN REX'S FIRST FEW YEARS OF INNOCENCE AND OH MY GOD THAT ACTUALLY HIT REALLY HARD DEX I'M SO SORRY

Up next, Fitz: I AM PROUD OF MY BOY. He's learning to control his anger he had to do it ALL BY HIS FREAKING SELF LET ME REPEAT NO ONE DECIDED TO HELP HIM OR GET HIM THERAPY OR ANYTHING HGCWEKJFDSKHBALFHWEK

Tam: He seems fine. I don't know what Linh meant by "he's different," because he seems perfectly normal. Still his usual Tammy self. Still love him. Seems friends with Glimmer, cuz he is. Ye.

Glimmer: Hhhhhhhhhhh I can't form an opinion on her yet. Part of me likes her, part of me doesn't, but thank god she finally smacked some sense into Sophie because god dang someone had to do it. Of course, Sophie took credit for the decision and all when it was literally Glimmer's advice to be like "hey, don't walk away from all this, do something, like seriously child come on" and then Sophie's like "jhvwrfjhvr look at me I'm so cool" but anyway

Sophie: Still mad at Oralie and is treating her like she wasn't super supportive of Sophie throughout the time she knew her, and hadn't been put into an impossible situation and tried to make the best of it, and said, and I quote: "[Sophie] was done giving sympathy to people who didn't deserve it." LIKE GIRL WHO HAVE YOU BEEN SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS WHO DIDN'T DESERVE IT??? STOP BEING SO MELODRAMATIC OMG. And this was in response to Oralie crying, and saying "We need tears, remember? I knew the best way to get them was to remind myself how much you hate me." AND HJKBERBF EWR,N REG I LITERALLY CAN'T

Keefe: Okay. I think Unlocked saved Keefe for me.

Maybe it's because we actually got his pov, or maybe it's the completely wacky stuff that's going on with him (which, credit where credit's due, his new abilities are pretty cool), but I enjoyed reading Keefe slightly more than normal. Which is to say, a little more than not at all. He's still not my favorite by any standards, but yeah. He's okay.

Aaaaaaand....yeah

Oh, I'm glad we're finally, after 8 and a half books, we're FINALLY GETTING SOMEWHERE. IT'S ABOUT TIME THIS TURNED INTO WAR, HONESTLY. And it honestly shocked me that both Keefe and Sophie outright suggested killing Gisela--not to anyone else, but in their own heads. So, that was something.

All in all, not much to say. I WILL say that there was an entire section dedicated to Sokeefe art, which was super subtle shannon, good job. But yeah, she's heading steadil in that direction now, cuz everyone keeps commenting on either Keefe's feelings for Sophie or Sophie's feelings for Keefe more than usual.

Also, still not a fan of Ro, but she was tolerable towards the end.

So yeah! Let me know your thoughts, and I hope you all have a wonderful day