I think I may be a little old to truly enjoy what this novel has to offer. It is short and sweet, but it wasn't one of the best reads I have experienced.
That being said, I will be buying a copy for a younger cousin who I believe will enjoy it.

I wanted to love this one. Based on the blurb, I thought it was going to be great, and I'm sure it is, I just think I'm perhaps a little too old to truly appreciate it. Although I love YA novels, I think this was probably aimed at the younger bracket (early teens as opposed to late teens / early adult). My main gripe is that too many characters were introduced to quickly at the beginning of the novel, hence I struggled to really connect with any of them. As I said, this will be a great book for the correct audience!

Great storytelling and mirror of today's society when everyone is judged based on actions, skin color, or the way they dress.

Book Review
Title: Voiceless
Author: E. G. Wilson
Genre: YA/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Rating: ****
Review: The opening to Voiceless was pretty good we meet Adelaide Te Ngawai who is a student at Te Maru Girls’ Grammar and is helping another student Maunga runs a study session. However, when it is Addy’s turn to present Maunga stabs her with something, a drug that makes her pass out, definitely a really gripping first chapter. It turns out the shot Maunga gave Addy was a man-made disease commonly known Vox Pox where it made its victims mute but also destroyed all their creative abilities. Addy slowly adjusts to being voiceless, but it isolates her greatly and despite learning to type well she lacks creativity in her stories and therefore fails every creative assignment at school and she can’t tell anyone how she lost her voice but Maunga threatens to go after her friends if she does plus no one would believe her.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel it has been eighteen months since Addy lost her voice, when Theo informs her that the virtual pyschoidentity simulator has been created and soon becomes life changing for many people and Addy thinks about going to TheraPRG for some time but always held herself back because writing is a required part of the session. However, things change when Theo returns home one day, and he has Vox Pox too, Addy immediately prepared to go to TheraRPG and prove Maunga and everyone else wrong.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Addy Enters to virtual world looking for Maunga to get her voice back but for a while everything she encounters is designed to mess with her mind unless she comes across Seth a ghost in the system. As he is the first person she has encountered she realises she can talk her and tells Seth everything that has lead her to this point and he agrees to help her as she knows where Maunga is gone and really seems like he actually wants to help Addy. I was a bit disappointed that the virtual world doesn’t go into extreme depths about its origins or what others experience but I hope we will learn more through Seth as they head out on a quest of sorts to find the woman who stole her voice.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Addy and Seth makes their way out of the city with some help from another ghost Dave which is a lot more difficult than it seems as most of the transportation is designed for ghosts meaning pilgrims like Addy can’t use them, but they manage it through some smart intellect and quick thinking. When the final reach the area of the mountain Maunga is supposedly waiting in Addy realises that Seth has been playing her fulfilling both his promise to her and Maunga. When they finally come face to face Maunga confesses she was dating Seth’s original and after they drifted apart she met ghost Seth and they started up again. When Addy demands to know why she stole her voice she learns that Maunga was being blackmailed by the woman who created the Vox pox saying that if Maunga didn’t steal someone’s voice she would lose hers and Addy was just a convenient opportunity. Maunga also tells Addy that because she can influence the sim and her timer has gone over the regulated four hours she is the only one that can help Maunga track down the woman who has destroyed both their lives.
As we cross into the final section of the novel Maunga and Addy have to find the woman, but Seth can’t come with them. We learn they are going to see Caroline York the overseer at Breach who has a ghost of herself inside the system and it is ghost Caroline they are going to see. When they get there Caroline explains why she did everything and Addy makes a decision that is going to change her life forever but before she has to leave her brother promises that he will return her home as soon as he can.
I can’t say too much about this book without giving away a lot of the twists but I can’t wait to get into the sequel Expression as soon as I can.

Goodreads Synopsis:
Adelaide Te Ngawai was thirteen when Maunga Richards stole her voice.

Addy is plunged into silence when a high school bully inflicts her with an incurable disease that leaves her unable to speak, write, or create. Vox Pox—a man-made malady that’s been terrorizing the city for months. Resilient, Addy fights to survive. To not be silenced. But then her brother, Theo, is infected as well.

Desperate for any information that might help cure Theo, Addy follows Maunga into a newly developed virtual psychoreality simulator and discovers a conspiracy deeper than she’d ever imagined. How far will she go to save her brother?

My Review:
I received a copy of Voiceless from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Vox Pox is a kind of illness that has been released into the new world, and is ruining lives. If you get it, you not only lose your voice, but also all your creative skills. You can't speak, type, or even write. Thirteen year old Addy has just been injected with it by a bully in her class. How did she do that? Why did she do it? You find all that and way more out in this book.

It follows Addy through years of her life being voiceless and lost but slowly growing stronger. She's able to overcome it. Though it's the future and the technology is much better, Vox Pox is relatively new and there isn't a way to cure it. Often people commit suicide after they get it because it's just so hard not being able to communicate with the world around you. Luckily, Addy's brother has a way with tech, and can pretty much build whatever he needs. He works on helping her transition into her new life without a voice. On top of that, a new kind of immersive virtual reality therapy has become available on the market that might be able to help her. Will she have the courage to speak out about what has been done to her, even though she has no voice? Does it go deeper than that? This book is exciting and completely unique to anything I've read lately. It stands out and really sucks you into the story. I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this and found that the characters really developed throughout the story. I definitely want to check out the next book in the duology, especially after that ending! Definitely check out this book for yourself.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.ca/Voiceless-Duolo...

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
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Despite its charms -- and they are considerable -- this YA sf novel falls short of its promise. In a colorful, near-future New Zealand, sure to appeal to American audiences, a plague called "Vox Pox" robs its victims not only of their ability to speak but of their creativity, their ability to communicate meaningfully. In the case of our heroine, a budding writer, this means she can barely type out a few words now and again. Her despair and gradual adjustment are touchingly depicted, one of the book's strong points. Also intriguing is the mystery behind her discovery that the Vox Pox is being deliberately spread through injection, not natural infection. A new virtual reality technology offers the promise of improvement if not cure, and she jumps on the chance to regain her voice. All of this excited my curiosity and held my attention in the first part of the book.

Here, alas, the story breaks down. The Mean Girl who infected our heroine is there, in the VR world, and demands her help but never gives an explanation of what is going on, not in the timely manner one might expect given their previous fraught history. It turns out that the scientist who created the VR also created the Vox Pox, but her motivations for such a horrendous thing remain murky. Nobody questions irrational behavior or insists upon an accounting. The result is one character after another moving like puppets through artificial pseudo-confrontations for the sake of the plot. The emotional complexity and sensitivity of the heroine's affliction are washed away in senseless interactions, long stretches of boring narrative travel, and an unsatisfying ending.

Interesting novel about identity and she reminded me a bit of Katniss.

Addy is 13 when Maunga steals her voice, her creativity, her ability to express herself- to communicate. It was a man made disease called Vox Pox Maunga selfishly used on Addy in a study class. Maunga was a bully but something like this, Addy couldn't comprehend the cruelty of it. There was no cure.

Addy fights and struggles for the next three years with the reality of her new life. She was in the most extreme sense of the word- invisible. Vox Pox became an obsession along with getting back at Maunga.

Addy spent all her money on a new VR therapy that had the possibility to cure all kinds of things called TheraRPG. Once she gets there everything isn't quite what it seems.

The book was amazing! I didn't want to put it down and can't wait to read the second one! I kept thinking of Inception in parts of the book more visually than anything else.

Book given for a fair and honest review by NetGalley & publisher.

When Addy was 13 Maunga Richards stole her voice. Living with Vox Pox, Addy must relearn to write and live with her brothers invention for her to communicate. But when Theo is infected as well, Addy goes to confront Maunga to try and get Theo's voice back. But when in a virtual psychoreality simulator she learns about a conspiracy bigger than her and Maunga. 

Enjoyed the world building both inside and outside the simulator. The lack of physics within the simulator really helped to make it seem strange and eerie at times. The advanced technology in New Zealand was really interesting to read about. It being based in New Zealand also made it a bit more unique as it felt slightly like it would lead to a dystopian future but it wasn't based in America.  

Addy was an interesting main character. Obviously she was shocked and scared when she first gets Vox Pox, but she perseveres throughout. She learns to type and communicate, and live her life the best she could. Her main issue was her brother losing his creativity along with his voice. This was the catalyst to her trying to confront Maunga and go to the simulator. I enjoyed the differing relationships between Addy and Theo, Addy and Maunga and also Addy and Seth. Plus they evolved throughout the book.

I enjoyed Vox Pox as this man made illness. I also enjoyed the psychoreality simulator. But I didn't fully understand the link between the two? Yes the woman was in the simulator with them, but I didn't understand why Addy paid so much money to go into it. The plotline could have progressed without the simulator, unless I'm missing a link between the illness and simulator? 

Overall I enjoyed Voiceless although I felt the ending lacked closure but didn't give enough hints for the second book. I have no idea what Expression is going to be about but I am excited to read on with Addy's story. I received Voiceless* by E.G. Wilson as an e-book from the publisher via Netgalley. This is an unbiased and honest review.

I made the mistake of checking reviews on Goodreads when I received a copy of this novel, because I stumbled onto a not so great one and got a little bit worried that I would not enjoy the book. The premise had gripped me when I had read the synopsis, but the review spoke of a slow moving plot and a less than engaging voice.

None of which I found while I was reading.

The story starts with a bang, and when you have an opening line like “Adelaide Te Ngawai was thirteen when Maunga Richards stole her voice…”, you know you’re in for quite the ride. The premise promised - a person stealing voices - was well-crafted, the mystery surrounding the reasons evident throughout the novel, with hints of answers in the pages if you were looking. The fact that the loss of the voice was not the only thing these victims were going through raised the stakes.

Adelaide losing her creativity with her voice struck such a strong chord with me. The fact that she was able to pull herself together, push forward and on, was a feat I admire. I would not be able to survive losing my ability to craft stories, my ability to create, I am quite sure of that.

Her determination to save her brother from the Vox Pox was an admirable situation, and she was a very realistic character. Even if the world was a distant sci-fi inspired future, the characters were very grounded and realistic, and their relationships were multi-faceted.

I am a sucker for quests and journeys in stories, so perhaps that is why I loved this one as much as I did. The virtual reality journey Adelaide goes through was very well-written. It was confusing at times, but as Adelaide was as confused as I was, it enhanced the atmosphere for me.

The resolution of the novel left me wanting more, and I am quite bummed that as far as I can find, there is no information out on book two.

I loved the fact that the story was set in New Zealand. I lived in Auckland for three years, and I could hear the accents and the slight bit of Maori I recognised gave me a thrill.

One thing that did bug me was the description of Maunga being “more Maori” than most, and her being the supposed villain for most of the novel. It rubbed me the wrong way that the character that seemed to be the most of colour (this phrasing seems off, I know, but I cannot think of a better way to phrase it) was the bad guy. Of course, by the end of the novel, I know this is not true, and she becomes an ally, but it did irk me in the beginning.

Voiceless was an original, unique idea that has a potential to be incredible. I loved the story line but felt the flow could've been better to follow. I found myself confused rather often by terms that weren't explained or feeling like there was a lack of explanation/description for some parts of the story. I struggled to get into it and ended up binging the last half to just get it done.

Overall, great debut novel! I'm interested to read book 2 to know what happens to the characters.

Let me tell you this book is 90% useless descriptions of useless things such as ''she went into the water and then she had sand between her toes'' and ''she cleaned her feet with the hoodie of her brother, but before that made an apologetic face because she would do that with his hoodie.... ', or a detailed tutorial on how to remove blood from various textile such as socks, skirt and boots! AMAZING thanks for that info it was very useful now I can clean blood strains should I ever need to. Never ending walking into the TheraRPG simulator or whatever where NOTHINGNESS is the main thing that HAPPENS

The only interesting part was from page 1 to page 35 where something actually happened. Addy loses her voice and her creativity because she got Vox Pox that is infecting people at random and there is no cure for it. And a girl from her school Maunga has injected her this kind of virus. But then Addy's brother gets Pox too and Addy now is seeking answerers and cure to help her brother. Ok hooked? Yesss because I was the premise sounded so cool and great and epic that I was like pleasee let me read this book I would totally love it, but ohh boyyyy I cannot even explain you the immense pain it has caused me. I was praying for it to finish and end everything.

Everything started of good we had the 13 year old Addy with her voice stolen and how she is coping with that, ok but where was the depression part? Where was the struggling part to adapt? Where was the consequences part of this so traumatizing event in the life of a 13 year old girl? Do I have missing pages in my copy??

Because this is the only explanation I could think of...

Please, like please making extensive descriptions is ok, great I got to see more of the world or of the scene, but having an entire book filled with never ending descriptions about everything NO THANKS , just don't nope. NO. It is boring, it has nothing to do with the plot and it is annoying like seriously annoying.

This book could have been great, but this was not the case sorry to those who liked it, but to me it was a torture. I was sooo close to DNF it, but I decided to finish it because I like to challenge myself and this was the only reason why I finished reading it.

The only positive thing about this book is that it is set in New Zealand and it is always nice to see books based on different cultures especially on those you do not see often in books so this is a big plus.

I did not like it all, never been so disappointed in a book. I gave it 1 star but this does not imply that you will not like the book, in fact it might be exactly your book and you would end up loving it!

Voiceless is a debut novel written by E.G. Wilson. This book had an interesting premise but I felt that it fell short of my expectations.

Voiceless takes place in a futuristic New Zealand. It is interesting that the characters are of the Maori tribe—a culture that I know little about. There’s quite a bit of slang used in this book and I’m unsure if it is cultural or fictional. The author isn’t to fault for my ignorance; but it did hamper my ability to appreciate the story.

Additionally, character development fell flat. The opportunity to build a beautiful relationship between siblings was squandered. The reader is expected to accept a strong bond between Addy and Theo. Yet, there are only a couple of instances in which the two interact in any profound way.

This story has promise and I am curious where the series will lead. My only hope is to have less repetition and onomatopoeia in the next installment. Unfortunately, these are prevalent in the Young Adult genre and I won’t hold out much hope.
I have to thank my friend for introducing me to the word “onomatopoeia” as it is a word I was previously not familiar with. I suppose after my continued ranting, she felt the need to educate me. There’s no need for it in a YA book. Young Adults are not in preschool and should not need to be told the sound that a door makes upon closing.

Boom! Bang! Crash! When a word is formed from the sound that an associated thing makes, call it an example of onomatopoeia.
vocabulary.com

The book starts when Addy is only 13 years old, and then jumps some three years into the future, into the time when Addy had already gotten used to living with Vox Pox, a mysterious, human-made sickness that has infected over 500 people already. But when Addy's brother Theo also falls victim to the sickness, he serves as a catalyst for Addy's attempt to find the cure.

There are several aspects which made this book stand out from your usual YA fantasy/sci-fi adventure. I really liked that Addy's motivation was her brother (even though we don't see them interacting as much as I'd have liked), and this is an instance in which she reminded me of Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games.

Another really interesting point was actually the whole setting, i.e. New Zealand. I don't think I've ever read a book set there, so this was a refreshing change, and also somewhat of a culture shock, mostly in terms of, er, terminology (e.g. the usage of 'Kaiako' instead of 'Teacher'). This Maori element really added to the story, and it's a reason why I wish that not so much of the story had been set in the virtual reality. The whole virtual/alternate experience had me dozing off a couple of times, but it still had a couple of surprising plot twists.

Finally, I appreciate that there is no love interest in this novel, nor is there a prospect of one appearing in the second and final book, from what I can tell; Adelaide will probably have her hands full with getting herself out of a pickle. I also hope that Theo's character will get a more prominent role in the sequel.

The message of story is really important. I think the struggles Adelaide and other voiceless people go through can also be applied to the ones who aren't literally mute. But the voices of many groups of people are still (intentionally or not) overheard, even in this so-called modern society.

I'd recommend this book to younger YA readers, and maybe even middle-grade, though it might be a bit too demanding of that audience.

I loved this! I definitely will read the second book. I really enjoyed the Kiwi setting too, and also how it's ever so slightly futuristic without being all WHOA DYSTOPIA! I mean with the holo technology they use this could just be NZ in 2030 or something not crazy far off.

I was hugely enamoured with the first half of the book - Addy being infected with and coming to terms with Vox Pox. However I did think her experience in the sim began to drag on a little bit... it was still very interesting but some parts felt way long, like in the house, all description yet precious little action.

Not my type of book, I tried to start it but just couldn't get into anything about this book!

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
E. G. Wilson is a new-to-me author. I'd highly recommend to fans of virtual-reality/gaming/MMORPGs & Dystopian fiction.

At 13, a budding writer, Addie is injected by her bully/older classmate with a virus that silences its victim. Unable to write or speak, Addie loses all of her creativity.

Years later, a virtual reality program is announced, one Addie is desperate to use.

With 500+ silenced victims, Addie uses the program to have a voice and call out the young woman who silenced her.

Voiceless uses a vast virtual reality world, AI, and ghosts imprinted into the program to create a vivid and intriguing story.

All genders, young and young at heart, will enjoy the game-play-esque writing style, mixed with the sense of powerlessness, selflessness, loss, and empowerment, as Addie and her unlikely ally try to stop the one silencing people.

There is an underlying romance thread, but it doesn't involve our narrator.

Thoroughly intrigued, I can't wait to get my hands on the next installment.

Young Adult age-range: 12+

I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley

The plot is alright, light, fast, but I didn't like the MC, as there was something that made me not connect with her. Also, the enemies to friends thing was not very credible and only served to make the characters less human.

I loved the concept but something was missing, so regretfully I have to give 3 stars to this one.

The setting is one that makes this book stand out in spades. The premise of it was pretty good as well. The issues came with words that I didn't understand the meaning to and which the book gave no explanation for. As for the story itself which became flat very shortly into the book. The virtual reality setting was very interesting and I really did like the characters. I wish the characters would have had been better fleshed out and that their choices had better motivation that what we got. For me this was a solid three star book but could easily be a 5 if a few things were fixed. I am not sure if I will check out the next book or not since I am pretty much on the fence for this one. I do hope that the author gets some feedback and gets thing moving forward faster than it was in this one.