Hidden Among Us by Katy Moran

About the book

Hidden Among Us is the first book in a series by Katy Moran. It was published by Walker Books on 7^th March and the book is 304 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review.

Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads.com)

When Lissy meets a mysterious and strangely beautiful boy on her way to Hopesay Edge, she is deeply unsettled by their encounter.

She discovers that they boy, Larkspur, is a member of the Hidden, an ancient group of elven people, whose secrets lie buried at Hopesay Reach. Before long, Lissy and her brother Rafe find themselves caught by a powerful magic and fighting to escape a bargain that can never be broken.

What I thought

I’ve been on a massive contemporary kick recently so anything else has taken a backseat. I think I may have overdone the contemporary a little bit though and felt like reading something different. Hidden Among Us immediately stood out to me on my shelf.

Hidden Among Us is told through narratives from multiple characters. Instead of using the usual two characters, this book is different. The beginning of the book begins with Rafe, a young boy finding that his sister has gone missing. The opening of this book was very strong and immediately piqued my interest. I felt the mystery and excitement and I wanted to know where Lissy (the sister) had gone, considering she was only a baby at the time.

Also narrating is Miriam, the mother, Lissy and Joe, Miriam’s boyfriend’s son. There is a lot going on in this book from all angles which is why this style of narration works so well. The family has a past which is best explained through Miriam while Rafe, Joe and Lissy are really the characters who have the most going on. All of these characters are extremely important so the separated chapters are a good way to get to know each of them on their own. I’m not sure if I had a favourite out of the whole bunch though as they mostly all had really good things going for them.

The Hidden are a mysterious race and the information surrounding them is let out in small amounts but quite quickly at the same time. Different chapters reveal things about who they are now, what they want and why they do certain things while others reveal things about their past. I really enjoyed learning about the Hidden, especially once we got a glimpse into their own world. However, one of them, Larkspur is at the center of the story and I wanted to know him better. While he is sort of the instigator of everything going on, I didn’t really get to find out much about him – not as much as I wanted to anyway.

I wasn’t expecting for this book to be anywhere near as exciting as it was. I think I was expecting more backstory for some reason. In a book about wonderfully beautiful and chillingly strange elven people, I wasn’t quite expecting to read about car chases and breaking in to people’s houses. However, I loved that there was so much in this book that was unexpected. There were surprises the whole way through and so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. The latter half of the book brings in some ideas which should be explored further in the next book in the series and things which better explain Lissy and the Hidden.

Overall, Hidden Among Us was a great book full of folklore, excitement and a hell of a lot of mystery.