I’ve been a fan of Theodora Goss’ writing ever since I picked up her gorgeous collection In the Forest of Forgetting. The author showed that she’s also really good at novels (which reminds me, I have to read the sequels to The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter!), and then she came back again with a mix of short fiction and poetry which promptly won her a Mythopoeic Award.
SNOW WHITE LEARNS WITCHCRAFT by Theodora Goss
Published: Mythic Delirium Books, 2019 ebook: 276 pages Short fiction collection My rating: 7.5/10
Opening line:One day she looked into her mother’s mirror, The face looing back was unavoidably old, with wrinkles around the eyes and mouth.
A young woman hunts for her wayward shadow at the school where she first learned magic—while another faces a test she never studied for as ice envelopes the world. The tasks assigned a bookish boy lead him to fateful encounters with lizards, owls, trolls and a feisty, sarcastic cat. A bear wedding is cause for celebration, the spinning wheel and the tower in the briar hedge get to tell their own stories, and a kitchenmaid finds out that a lost princess is more than she seems. The sea witch reveals what she hoped to gain when she took the mermaid’s voice. A wiser Snow White sets out to craft herself a new tale.
In these eight stories and twenty-three poems, World Fantasy Award winner Theodora Goss retells and recasts fairy tales by Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Oscar Wilde. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes hilarious, always lyrical, the works gathered in Snow White Learns Witchcraft re-center and empower the women at the heart of these timeless narratives.
As someone who doesn’t easily like poetry, not even from my most favorite of authors, I will be focusing much more on the prose stories found in this collection. But I do want to say that most poems aren’t the rhyming type anyway and can be read like very, very short stories. For that reason, I quite enjoyed many of them, even though they are usually over too quickly for me to have any deep feelings about them. But the stories… The stories, I tell you!
Goss tackles many of the most well-known fairy tales such as Snow White, the Little Mermaid, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and the Snow Queen. But she also picks up some lesser known ones, like Frau Holle (known as Mother Holle in English, I think) or The White Cat. So whether you’re a veteran of fairy tales and retellings or coming to this pretty new, there will be elements you recognize and there will be things that are few and fresh to you. In those cases where very well-known tales are respun, we usually get an interesting shift in perspective. And by “interesting”, I mean something more than just the villain’s POV – although there is that, too.
So what makes Goss’s way of twisting and retelling fairy tales any different or better than the myriad other versions out there? It’s a question of taste, certainly, but I loved how I thought I mostly knew where the story was going twist-wise and then things happened a little differently, after all. It’s not like the tales are filled with shocking twists or surprise moments, not at all. It’s just that the little tweaks work really well and it is precisely their subtlety that makes them shine.
I also liked how migration is a quiet thread that runs through the collection and it makes sense given the author’s Hungarian roots. Some stories focus more on giving an actual immigrant’s perspective, others just mention it briefly, yet others don’t touch on the topic at all. But it was nice reading about Baba Yaga as well as Snow White’s evil stepmother (who’s not really evil and doesn’t care that much about beauty in the first place). It’s also quite wonderful how the female characters in this collection manage to be feminist without having to make any overly grand gestures. Sometimes it’s as simple as not being hateful to another woman, sometimes it’s realizing that letting your beauty be judged by men and yourself be put into competition with people who should be your allies (read: other women) is stupid and you’re just not going to play along! (After having just read Iron Widow which showed the complete opposite, this was a refreshing and delightful contrast for me.)
This book was also one of those rare occasions when I get to read a fairy tale that is completely new to me. “Blanchefleur” is a retelling of “The White Cat”, a fairy tale I had heard of but never actually read myself. So it was extra nice to discover, recognizing all the usual fairy tale trappings (rule of three, penniless boy rising up to great heights, etc.) but in a new and interesting way. I also love how, in fairy tales, we don’t question when cats speak to us or do the laundry. And suddenly just aren’t cats at all, but human-looking women.
This collection isn’t one that makes a big bang. Its strength is in its simplicity, its subtle twists, its loving care for the characters that we otherwise know to be rather shallow and one-dimensional. Goss stayed true to herself and still manages to create atmosphere using very few words, but she has also grown so much! Her stories read like fairy tales that have grown up a bit, fairy tales that know what they are and that are questioning themselves and their purpose. And that, without epic battles or shocking twists, makes for a delightful reading experience.
This started out so well but it never found out what it wanted to be. A paperthin plot, really lazy and illogical worldbuilding, and repetitive writing made this more and more unbearable the longer I read. It’s a shame because the characters had real potential. I have no idea why this would need a sequel but whenever that comes out, I will pass. It’s not a hate-pass, just a I-so-don’t-care-what-happens-pass.
A RIVER ENCHATNED by Rebecca Ross
Published by: Harper Voyager, 2022 Hardback: 480 pages Series: Elements of Cadence #1 My rating: 4.5/10
Opening line:It is safest to cross the ocean at night, when the moon and stars shone on the water.
Jack Tamerlaine hasn’t stepped foot on Cadence in ten long years, content to study music at the mainland university. But when young girls start disappearing from the isle, Jack is summoned home to help find them. Enchantments run deep on Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind, plaid shawls can be as strong as armor, and the smallest cut of a knife can instill fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that rule the isle by fire, water, earth, and wind find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home. Adaira, heiress of the east and Jack’s childhood enemy, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, and she hopes Jack can draw them forth by song, enticing them to return the missing girls.
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.
With unforgettable characters, a fast-paced plot, and compelling world building, A River Enchanted is a stirring story of duty, love, and the power of true partnership, and marks Rebecca Ross’s brilliant entry on the adult fantasy stage.
Aaaaaah, the missed potential here really hurts! I’ll try and sum things up with a brief overview and then go into each individual aspect that could have been great but totally missed the mark. Otherwise, this review will just end up as a jumble of complaints.
This is the story of an island where magical spirits roam – the Folk of the Air, Earth, Wind, and Fire – where people have magical gifts, and where a feud between clans has been going on for centuries. The West belongs to the Breccans who tend to raid the East because they’re the Bad Guys (TM). The East is for the Tamerlaines, who just defend their border and keep their people safe. So far, so unoriginal.
Jack Tamerlaine has spent the last ten years on the mainland at university, learning music and becoming a teacher himself. He returns to the island of Cadence because his clan leader has asked him in a rather convincing letter. But Jack really doesn’t want to stay, he has a life on the mainland that he is desperate to get back to. However, when he arrives, it turns out he is quite welcome. Everyone is glad to see him, even his childhood nemesis Adaira who is the Tamerlaine heiress, one day to become laird. When Jack finds out that more than Breccan raids are troubling the East, he agrees to stay for a little while and help solve the problem of the young girls that are going missing…
The plot:
Oh boy, there is so little of it and it is all so predictable that I don’t quite know how to talk about it without spoiling. I mean, the book kind of spoils itself. Adaira is the one who called Jack to the island for the sole reason that she needs a bard – meaning Jack and his harp – because the former bard (Adaira’s mother) has died years ago. She needs a bard because only a bard can call the spirits forth and Adaira really needs to talk to them. So… that’s what they do. Jack composes a piece of music, not described any further, to call forth the spirits of the Water, the Earth, and the Wind, and Adaira proceeds to question them about their missing lasses. They end up telling them the truth and that’s that. It’s like the most boring police procedural ever! Alongside this, of course, there’s supposed to be some kind of romance between Jack and Adaira but I honestly can’t say that we get any yearning or slow burn or anything. They are just two regular boring people who talk to each other normally – no subtext, no shyness, pretty much no emotions at all – and then at the end we’re expected to believe they are in love somehow. But that feeds into the character aspect and I first want to talk about the most glaring problem I had with this book.
The world building:
What is even the point here? So the fairies, or spirits, or Folk, or whatever are real on the island of Cadence. They want to be played music at regular intervals (like equinoxes or something, I honestly don’t remember) and you can call them and talk to them like regular people. Otherwise they don’t do much, they just exist invisibly in the background. Far more interesting is the fact that people on Cadence are apparently born with magical gifts. But these make no sense whatsoever and are really, really not thought through. Some are more understandable and useful than others, like Sidra’s gift for creating healing tonics and knowing which herbs to grow for what purpose. But Jack’s mother Mirin, for example, has the gift of weaving magical plaids. Except nobody ever explains what those magical plaids do. Do they grant the wearer extra protection? Make them invisible? Keep them warm even when it’s freezing outside? This point is just glanced over. People are handed a plaid with Mirin’s magic woven into it and they all look reverent and thankful but I have no idea what the point of these plaids even is… Then there’s Torin, the head of the guard, whose convenient gift is sensing when Breccans cross the clan line. Like he has some sort of spidey sense when a bad guy comes across the border and he even knows how many of them there are. Granted, that is super useful when you’re guarding the place but also what?! Oh, I almost forgot, Sidra can also see and talk to to ghosts. This only happens twice in the book, is never mentioned again, and none of the implications of this gift are ever explored. Like what the hell? That could be its own novel right there!
I don’t think any other gifts are mentioned in any detail and if I’m really honest, what little story this book tells would have worked fine without that magic. Seriously, none of it was necessary. Instead of asking the fairies what they knew, Adaira could have just talked to humans. The special gifts of the Tamerlaines didn’t have any impact on the plot, or indeed the characters. Sure, they get exhausted and suffer pain when using their gifts too much, but there are no real consequences for anyone using theirs in this book. So why even make this a fantasy novel when the fantasy parts are so haphazardly thrown in there, with no care or love for detail?
The characters:
Now finally I can say something nice. Not about the two protagonists, mind you, but about the side characters who totally stole the show and were the reason I finished this book at all. Let me get the bad parts out of the way first and then I can gush about Sidra and Torin.
So Jack and Adaira are both lifeless husks whose actions and words constantly contradict themselves and who seem to have no personality at all. Jack first pretends to want to get back to the mainland ASAP but then he has no problem staying and giving up his old life because he didn’t like it anyway. What? That’s not what you’ve been saying for the entire first third of the book! The relationship between the two also made no sense. It is implied that they have this great history, that when they were children a lot happened, but it turns out to be just a couple of silly pranks and that’s it. Seriously, there was not a lot of history to unpack there and what little there is (one prank involving thistles) is told in the most unemotional way ever. I did not care about them, I did not care whether they got together, and apparently, neither did they. The whole undying love part comes out of nowhere, is not believable, and I couldn’t have cared less about them. BUT. What this book does have is great side characters with depth and moral dilemmas and a history that weighs on them. Torin and Sidra, for example, have been married for a while (although the book is unclear as to how long. At first it appears that it’s been forever, then suddenly it is mentioned that it’s a fairly new relationship. Bad writing, is all I can say to that.). They are raising Torin’s daughter Maisie from his first marriage – the wife died, we can’t have complicated things like divorce in fantasy books after all – and they have a pretty lovely life together. It’s badly told but it becomes clear that Sidra has doubts about whether Torin is with her because he loves her or simply because he needed help with his daughter. Watching how these two, both filled with doubt and fear, open up to each other and find out whether it’s love that keeps them together or necessity, that was truly beautiful! Especially because we get to read both their perspectives. I also quite liked Jack’s mother Mirin as a character and Jack’s surprise little sister Frae even though Mirin’s reasons for keeping quiet about some things are less than logical. But at least they had personality.
The writing and internal logic:
I swear if I had to read “old menace” one more time, this would have ended as a DNF. This book suffers from several writing issues, first and foremost a lack of foreshadowing that makes everything feel like it comes out of left field and contradicts what we’ve been told before.
From the very start we know Jack is returning to his home island after ten years on the mainland. So far so okay. But nowhere does it say that Jack was in any way ostracized from his clan. That only comes out later, mentioned somewhere as if it were nothing. It turns out his father is some unknown man (his mother simply won’t admit who it is but if you’re older than five you can pretty much guess this oh so surprising plot twist), and thus Jack somehow doesn’t belong anywhere? That is not consistent with what we are shown because he is received with open arms from literally everyone and nobody does or says anthing to make him feel like he’s not a real Tamerlaine. Quite the opposite, in fact.
But it’s not just aspects of Jack’s life. All the characters and plot points get at least one moment where I wondered if I had missed a chapter somewhere that hinted at a certain tradition or a rule about the magic system or something. I hadn’t. This book just doesn’t have any foreshadowing. But it has bad world building to make up for that. Whenever the author thought of something, she put it in the book, not bothering to go back and make it believable or check whether it fit in with what she had already told us. This gets so very frustrating because you also never know what the rules are. If some great obstacle comes up, it might just turn out there’s an easy solution that the characters pretend to have known all along but that has never occurred to the reader because it was never even in the realm of possibilities. It’s like if you read a contemporary novel and suddenly someone whips out a wand and heals a broken bone, pretending that this is normal and you shouldn’t be surprised. This is just how the world works, don’t ya know?
The writing itself, on a sentence level, is a little better but also far from good. The constant ridiculous way Adaira calls Jack “her old menace” (again, as if they shared some deep bond when they really haven’t seen each other in ten years and then just pranked each other as 10-year-olds a couple of times) is neither funny nor poignant. It’s just annoying. And most of the dialogue, although not particularly bad as such, was just so… mundane. Dialogue in books and movies isn’t the same as in real life. It just sounds wrong. So reading about two people planning to meet each other tomorrow at this and this time by that rock or whatever, is just plain boring. Do I really want the businesslike transaction of setting a time for a meeting spelled out for me? Not in a fantasy novel, I don’t. This is one of my smaller gripes but it may explain better why this plot-less book is almost 500 pages long. “Have you set the table, honey” “Not yet, I’ll go do that right away, Mom” – that kind of transaction is partly to blame.
Lastly, there were a few scenes that I think were supposed to be suspenseful. Whenever Jack played for the Folk so Adaira could ask them questions, there were brief moments of… okay, fine, I’ll call it danger. But these were described in such a way that I was never in any doubt how things would end. Like not only would everyone survive, but there wouldn’t even be a scratch on them. The same goes for those Breccan raids that everyone is so afraid of. Unfortunately (you know how I mean it) we never get to see such a raid or the effects they have, so there was never an atmosphere of danger. In fact, the whole feud, the power of the spirits, anything that could make Cadence interesting, is only things we are told. And then we are shown the complete opposite. A super lovely island, people who care about and respect each other, living in peace, everyone is safe and even when bad stuff happens, it’s only super brief and when it’s over, nobody is hurt.
Overall impressions:
It will come as no surprise that I didn’t particularly like this book. Then again, it also wasn’t terrible. Except for the world building, none of its flaws were bad enough for me to truly hate this book. I was simply in a constant state of being underwhelmed and surprised by the random things that popped up and were supposed to have always been there. The ending has one tiny plot twist in store that could actually have made things interesting but, just like any scene involving “danger”, it was over before it began and left no emotional impact whatsoever. By the life of me, I cannot imagine what would warrant a sequel. Rebecca Ross had nothing to say in this book so what could she possibly have to add in a second one? Oh well, if you want to find out, you’ll have to look elsewhere. I will definitely skip it.
MY RATING: 4.5/10 – Bad to meh
P.S.: It just came to me that even the opening line is an example of the bad world building. “It is safest to cross the ocean at night, when the moon and stars shone on the water.” Nowhere is that ever explained! It just sounds cool but there’s not a single bit of information or world building that would support such a statement.
I was very much looking forward to reading a book set in a library with a dangerous old grimoure and two teenagers who accidentally summon a demon and then have to fight its dark forces. Dark Academia, creepy tomes, and maybe a dash of romance is exactly what I was in the mood for. Sadly, I only got a nice romance with a paperthin SFF plot, a slumpy middle, and sloppy ending.
THE DEVIL MAKES THREE by Tori Bovalino
Published: Page Street Kids, 2021 Hardback: 389 pages Standalone My rating: 5.5/10
Opening line: Tess Matheson was one of the few people on campus who didn’t think that the Jessop English Library was haunted.
Tess Matheson only wants three things: time to practice her cello, for her sister to be happy, and for everyone else to leave her alone.
Instead, Tess finds herself working all summer at her boarding school library, shelving books and dealing with the intolerable patrons. The worst of them is Eliot Birch: snide, privileged, and constantly requesting forbidden grimoires. After a bargain with Eliot leads to the discovery of an ancient book in the library’s grimoire collection, the pair accidentally unleash a book-bound demon.
The demon will stop at nothing to stay free, manipulating ink to threaten those Tess loves and dismantling Eliot’s strange magic. Tess is plagued by terrible dreams of the devil and haunting memories of a boy who wears Eliot’s face. All she knows is to stay free, the demon needs her… and he’ll have her, dead or alive.
The Devil Makes Three is told through dual first-person POVs which lends itself particularly well to a romance. Tess Matheson works at Jessop Library under the strict eyes of her great-aunt Mathilde. The reason she works there in addition to her waiting job at Emilio’s is that Falk is a super expensive school and Tess’ parents are on the edge of poverty. But it’s all worth it for Tess because this way, she can help her sister get a great education. Never mind that Tess gets too little sleep and way too little time for practicing her beloved cello.
Eliot is the principal’s son and as such may be seen as just another privileged rich boy. But he has his own secrets and problems. First of all, he’s a witch! Secondly, he really doesn’t get along with his dad, he’s shy and bookish, and he’d much rather stay with his sick mom in the English countryside. Oh yeah, he has a British accent but that was clearly just a fancy on the author’s part because while he may say “crisps” instead of “chips”, she forgot to make him call “gas” petrol and “soda” fizzy drink. That literally took me 30 seconds to Google so if you want your character to be British, do better! Throwing in a “bloody hell” once does not convince.
But Eliot’s fake-Britishness aside, both him and Tess are pretty interesting characters with very complicated families. The part I enjoyed best about this whole book was finding out how their problematic situations came to be. Eliot’s mother is very ill and his close relationship to her is tangible on every page. It also explains his desire for forbidden grimoires and books on the occult – he’d do anything to save her! Tess had a world of different problems. First of all, there’s her family’s finencial situation and how that came to be. I enjoyed learning more about that and how Tess is handling things, even though it’s really painful. Tess’s passion is the cello and if she wants her sister to have a good life, the cello will have to take second place. So although Tess isn’t the most well-developed character, her actions show that she is willing to sacrifice her life’s dream for her sister and that makes it easy to like her.
The protagonists’ “meet cute” is based on a misunderstanding which is gladly resolved pretty quickly. But then each of them is determined to misunderstand the other one as often as possible in order to artificially create tension. I found that technique super weak, especially because there wasn’t even any great banter between them. They’re clearly attracted to each other but each of them sticks to certain ideas about the other and thus decides a romance is impossible. It’s pretty dumb but again, the author got over that bit and eventually managed to make these two bond somewhat more organically over the course of this novel. After all, they soon have a common enemy to fight.
Which leads me to the rather weaksauce fantasy/horror plot. It starts out okay, I guess. They find a very hidden very old book, Tess reads a couple of lines from it, things go weird. Random books start bleeding ink, both Tess and Eliot are having hallucinations, and Tess has a visitor in her dreams who promises to make all her deepest desires come true if only she gives in. Of course, instead of talking to each other, the two protagonists individually pretend everything is fine because reasons I guess. And then a whole chunk of the book just goes on repeating like that. The demon/devil that they summoned does the same trick over and over again, has a whole bunch of threats but sticks to the same mild scare tactics. If you want a properly scary book, this isn’t it. There was exactly one scene that I found truly unsettling, the rest felt more like cheesy teen horror movie material.
The last third of the book finally picks up some speed again, although I can’t say it did well. The solution to the kids’ demon problem is extremely unoriginal and the last-minute “twist” Bovalino threw in there was super obvious from very early on. I mean, there are about nine named characters in this entire book so if a point gets mentioned over and over again with one character coming up every time, it’s not hard to suspect they are more than they seem… I was also kind of shocked with what callousness some character deaths were handled. It’s incredible that one character’s demise is taken with almost just a shrug, then another with a couple of sad lines, and that’s it. I mean, Tess does some truly terrible stuff in this story but she seems to get over everything like a breeze. The only things that rile her are when her sister is in danger of when Eliot’s life is on the line – the boy she’s known for a few weeks is more important to her than the great-aunt who saved her and her sister’s education and also happens to be family!
Generally, the further along I read, the more I felt a disconnect between the events that took place and the characters’ actions and feelings. I believe the author mostly wanted to write a romance between a bookish guy with a British accent and an emotionally hardened girl who’s good at music, and the whole demon thing was just an afterthought. You know, because you need a conflict or whatever. Because if you take out the family backstories and the relationships between Tess/Eliot and their parents, that’s the focus of the entire book. Them endlessly thinking of each other and repeating cheesy lines in their heads. Eliot gets super protective of Tess (come on, think of something new to express love) and Tess dreams of kissing him but pretends not to like him because that’s what she saw in the movies, I suppose. And in the matter of a few chapters, they’d gladly die for each other. It’s rife with clichés and the only saving grace is that the few tender moments between them, where they truly opened up and were just people who liked each other, were well written.
The reason I didn’t hate this book despite all its flaws is that the non-fantastic parts, the parts about Tess’s family, her music, her sister, and generally her everyday mundane life, were really gripping. There were many interesting relationships there, big conflicts between her and her father especially, that I would have gladly read more about. And the same goes for Eliot. His fraught relationship to his father and his father’s girlfriend on the one hand was intriguing, but the deep bond he shares with his mother was a whole different level. And then he’s also magic! The book feeds us tidbits about the characters’ past as it goes along and I enjoyed those much more than anything to do with this boring-ass devil whose actions make no sense anyway. Seriously, he has a certain ability but he waits months to use it the first time… There is no world-building here, not much thought has been put into either Eliot’s magic or the grimoire, because those things just do whatever is convenient to the plot. Never mind if it’s internally consistent. This was never meant to be a fantasy or a horror novel. It’s also not Dark Academia, because having one character work at the library isn’t enough. There’s no particular love for academical pursuits, thre’s no scholarly atmosphere, the plot could have been set anywhere, the book could have been found in someone’s attic, and everything would have worked just the same.
So no, this was not a good SFF book. This wasn’t even an okay SFF book. But it could have been a great contemporary novel about two teenagers who feel lost, finding strength in each other and learning how to deal with their problems. I don’t think I’d pick up another Bovalino book with superantural elements, but I would definitely try a non-SFF novel of hers.
Traveling the world and seeing new places is great, but if you can’t do that, for whatever reason (money is usually a big one, although we’re also still in a pandemic and traveling isn’t most people’s top priority right now), there are always books. In recent years, the fantasy genre has branched out more and more, and is giving us stories inspired by places other than Medieval Europe and cultures other than white Eurocentric or North American ones. Here are some of my favorite authors and books that let you travel around the world. With magic!
Fantasy From Around the World
For this post, I’ve chosen not only books that I really enjoyed and would recommend, but also ones where the setting and sense of place is more than just window dressing. There are many, many books that are “set in XYZ” where “XYZ” turns out to be just a name that has no bearing on the characters or plot. These are books that have a proper sense of place and culture. I found all of them to be great reads that transported me far away from home.
East Asia
If you still haven’t read Fonda Lee‘s mindblowingly good Jade City and its equally fantastic sequel Jade War, then you are in for a treat. The third and final book in the Greenbone Saga is coming out later this year, so you won’t even have to wait that long. It’s about the Kaul family, one of the two ruling mafia-like families on the island of Kekon. They use magical jade to enhance their abilities. These books are all about ancient feuds, secret betrayals, political alliances, and cool martial art battles. But it’s told through the eyes of the younger Kaul generation who are brilliant characters in their own right and will steal your heart in no time. It’s like the Godfather with magic!
Russia
Our next stop will lead us to alternate Russia where The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden takes place. These books tell the story of Vasilisa Petrovna, Vasya for short, who can see the spirits that protect her village. It’s the little house ghosts that people leave some food out on the window sills for and the creatures of the forest that talk to Vasya. When a young and charismatic priest comes to live in the village and plans to convert everyone to Christianity, two belief systems clash. And Vasya is right in the middle of a battle between old gods and new ones. This is such an atmospheric trilogy that has a little bit of everything. It starts out set mostly in Vasya’s home town but in the second book, she visits Moscow and other places in Russia – both real and magical. There’s a beautiful romance, court intrigue, female empowerment, and this brilliant atmosphere that makes you believe there really could still be a little magic left in the world.
Nigeria
Look, I could throw all of Nnedi Okorafor‘s books at you and I really want to, but that seems unwise and also a bit impolite, so I’ll just go with one of her YA books which is set in Nigeria. If you like super immersive fantasy worlds that exist alongside our mundane human world, then Akata WitchandAkata Warriorare an excellent choice. Sunny Nwazue is Nigerian by birth, has lived in the US and has now returned to Nigeria. She is also albino and feels like she never really fits in. That is, until she finds out she is also a Leopard Person – someone with a magical gift – and will be learning how to use these new powers alongside a group of great friends. Oh and there’s also a dangerous serial killer on the loose, a book of lessons that seems to mock its reader, teen drama, and lots of original, cool, fun magic to discover. I adore these books and I cannot wait for the third part to come out. Also, if you’re into audiobooks, I highly recommend going that route. The narration is stunning!
South Africa
All the way down in South Africa, we find the setting for Lauren Beukes’ fantastic novel Zoo City where people who have committed a terrible crime are marked by an animal companion. It may sound cool to have you rvery own pet companion but you can’t be separated from it without feeling pain and seeing it shows everyone else that you have done something terrible… Set in Johannesburg, Zoo City tells the story of Zinzi December, who has a sloth and is also very good at finding things. This book has so much to discover. Zinzi takes a job to find the missing half of a famous pop duo, has to try and pay her drug debts by participating in 419 scams, and also lets us see what life is like for an “animalled” person in this alternate South Africa.
Mexico
Don’t let the words “horror novel” scare you off. Even if you’re not a great reader of horror (neither am I), this could still be for you. In Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno Garcia sends her plucky socialite heroine off to the creepy mansion where her cousin lives with her new husband and his family. As soon as she arrives, she knows something isn’t right and she is determined to figure it out. Things get creepy fast and it’s delightful to follow Noemí through the crumbling old house, looking for clues, unsure whether she can trust anyone but herself. This book is so damn immersive and readable that you can eat it up in one sitting. At the end, things do get a bit gross and there’s some body horror there. But for the most part, the creep factor relies on humans acting weird, things not making sense, and the casual everyday racism of the family’s patriarch. For another trip through Mexico that reads much more like YA (although apparently, it is supposed to be adult fantasy), go for the fairy tale like cute road trip novel Gods of Jade and Shadow. There’s lots of mythology and a lovely coming-of-age tale here. I still feel it reads super young, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a fun book.
Brazil
Ah, finally another chance to recommend one of my all time favorite underdog books. This novel should be getting so much love but it seems to have gone under the radar. So let me tell you why The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson is so brilliant and you should all be picking it up. It’s set in a futuristic Brazil in the city of Palmares Tres where every few years a Summer King is chosen who then gets to select the future Queen. And then he’s killed. Don’t question it, just read the book. Young June Costa is a graffiti artist and she’s also quite taken with the newest Summer Prince, Enki. But there’s much more to this book than a teen romance. First of all, most characters seem to be bisexual in this book and there’s very little teen drama. Instead, there is political unrest, the clash of old and young generations, new technology versus traditional methods, and it’s also about the importantce of art. I adored this book for its great atmosphere, its amazing world building, and its characters.
There are many, many more fantasy books set in all sorts of different places around the world but these are some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy traveling via book as much as I do and these recommedantions offer new and interesting places to visit. I can’t wait to go and see what everyone else is recommending for this seventh day of Wyrd and Wonder. 🙂
I’ve been tagged by Lisa from Way too Fantasy – thank you so much for thinking of me! 🙂
The end of the year is the perfect time for tags, if you ask me, so I’ll do my very best to answer Lisa’s questions.
Rules:
Thank the blogger who nominated you
Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you
Nominate 11 bloggers
Ask your nominees 11 questions
Notify your 11 nominees
Lisa’s questions:
What is the last book you read that annoyed you and why?
Oh, that one’s easy. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue because that book promised me so many things and then delivered none of them. I found it predictable, it didn’t establish its settings or time periods, the characters were flat, and it was just a totally forgettable read.
The most annoying part is how much I wanted to love this book. My review is coming on Monday, so you can read my rant in its entirety then.
What is your favorite non-book related hobby?
That’s a hard one. I discovered bouldering a few years ago through my boyfriend and it’s a really fun sport. It’s like solving riddles while exercising your body and the thrill I get whenever I manage to climb a route that is difficult for me is so great!
I also like to draw (although I haven’t in a long time), and play video games. I suck at first person ones, but I’m really good at jump and run games and ones involving riddles. I have a thing for riddles and puzzles, apparently.
Something about yourself that people may be surprised to learn?
Hm… I’m really not that interesting. 🙂
The only thing I can think of is that my first language is actually German. People may not know this because I blog only in English. I’ve always loved languages and I’m glad I have books and blogging to keep my brain using English so I don’t forget everything I’ve learned. It happens, people. My French and Spanish are proof of that. I used to speak French so well but once you stop using it or hearing/reading that language, eventually all that vocab just goes away.
How do you pick your next read?
It varies. When there’s a readathon I’m participating in, the prompts dictate my reads for that month/week. When Hugo voting season is upon us, I read as many finalists as I can (the order is decided by my mood). The rest of the year, I vaguely follow my goals – reading diverse books and authors, continuing ongoing series, keeping up with new publications, reading a few award winners, etc.
Sometimes, I make my boyfriend draw a book from my TBR bag. It’s filled with little papers with the books I’ve been putting off too long. But when he picks something I’m not in the mood for, I make him pick again, so I guess I’m cheating a little.
If you had to move to another country, where would you choose to live?
That’s a super hard question! I love France (I’ve lived there for half a year and I still miss all the amazing wines and cheeses) but when I consider everything – politics, jobs, socio-economic issues, etc. – I’d much rather live in Scandinavia. Sweden has always intrigued me, although I’ve never been there. Then again, I hate the cold, so that’s a no no.
I’m honestly quite happy here in Vienna, Austria. Sure, my country has problems like any other but there’s a reason my city has been voted the one with the highest quality of living for many years in a row.
What is your first favorite book that you were maybe a bit obsessed with?
There really was something before Harry Potter and it was by a German fantasy writer duo named Wolfang and Heike Hohlbein. I got the book Katzenwinter (“Cats’ Winter”) for my 11th birthday and I must have read it four times in a row, I was so obsessed. There were ten cats in that book, I knew all their names by heart, and would tell them to anyone who was interested (which was nobody – thanks for listening anyway, grandma!).
This is also the book that got me into the fantasy genre. I’m pretty sure I would find many, many things wrong with this book and the others by Hohlbein but for 11-year-old me, it was a revelation!
Have you ever joined in a fandom? If so which one?
How do you officially join a fandom? I consider myself part of many fandoms because… well, I’m a fan. But I haven’t posted any fanart or fanfiction publicly. I’m way too shy for that. Blogging is about as outspoken as I get on the internet and sometimes, especially when I have a negative review about a well-beloved book, that still takes me some courage.
I’ve recently discovered that I love Laini Taylor, Holly Black, and Leigh Bardugo. They have pretty big fandoms with lots of great art and I love to discover it!
Besides blogging, what is another way you participate as part of a book community?
I’m on Goodreads, mostly to track my reading, but I do occasionally post in the group forums there. I follow many people on twitter who write about books and publishing, and I sometimes post my current reads to Instagram. But honestly, I’m not too into social media. The internet is eating up enough of my time as it is.
I also listen to SFF podcasts: The Sword & Laser, SFF Yeah, The Fantasy Inn, The Writer and the Critic, The Coode Street Podcast.
What is your least favorite part of blogging?
Writing negative reviews. It can be cathartic of course, but I’d always rather love a book than hate it. It’s especially bad when I dislike a book that everyone else seems to love.
When I do hate a book, I stand by that opinion and I try to explain why I hated it. But I can’t say I enjoy saying bad things about books. Even if I think the author did a shitty job, they still put a lot of work and effort into it and that deserves respect at least.
I discovered the Nevermoor books through Booktube and I am so grateful that I have this fun, quirky Middle Grade series in my life. While I don’t think comparisons to that most famous of teen wizards are quite fitting, these are books that you can just fall into. They are feelgood books that I highly recommend, especially for people who aren’t as lucky during these trying times as I am and need something to lift their spirits. Warning: Big SPOILER for the first book below!
WUNDERSMITH: THE CALLING OF MORRIGAN CROW by Jessica Townsend
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2018 eBook: 545 pages Series: Nevermoor #2 My rating: 7/10
Opening line: Morrigan Crow leapt from the Brolly Rail, teeth chattering, hands frozen around the end of her oilskin umbrella.
Wunder is gathering in Nevermoor …
Morrigan Crow may have defeated her deadly curse, passed the dangerous trials and joined the mystical Wundrous Society, but her journey into Nevermoor and all its secrets has only just begun. And she is fast learning that not all magic is used for good.
Morrigan Crow has been invited to join the prestigious Wundrous Society, a place that promised her friendship, protection and belonging for life. She’s hoping for an education full of wunder, imagination and discovery – but all the Society want to teach her is how evil Wundersmiths are. And someone is blackmailing Morrigan’s unit, turning her last few loyal friends against her. Has Morrigan escaped from being the cursed child of Wintersea only to become the most hated figure in Nevermoor?
Worst of all, people have started to go missing. The fantastical city of Nevermoor, once a place of magic and safety, is now riddled with fear and suspicion…
Morrigan Crow is back and this time, we get to follow her to magic school! It’s a trope many readers love, me among them, so I was looking forward to this book a lot. Turns out, things don’t go exactly according to Morrigan’s (or my) plans but that just makes the story more exciting.
Morrigan is now a member of the Wundrous Society and, together with the rest of her unit, she will learn to use her Knack for the benefit of Nevermoor. Or so she hopes. Things start going downhill when her Knack is revealed to her unit and their mentors – people who have sworn an oath to each other, to keep each other safe, to be a found family, to always look out for each other. But Morrigan being a Wundersmith complicates matters and makes her very much an outsider in the group that was supposed to be her home.
Add to that the fact that, unlike the others in her unit, she only gets to go to one class, dealing with the history of Wundersmiths. While her best friend Hawthorne gets to ride dragons, learn their language, and acquire all sorts of useful skills, Morrigan reads endless passages about the terrible deeds of all the Wundersmiths that came before her. Oh yes, and lets not forget that people are mysteriously disappearing all over Nevermoor and nobody seems to have any idea what’s happening…
The magic school trope usually works really well for me and Jessica Townsend did not disappoint when it comes to originality. All the little rules and quirks of Morrigan’s new life made me smile and appreciate this magical world all the more. Whether it’s the small W appearing on Morrigan’s index finger, the door that leads to her unit’s very own Wunderground station, or the school Mistresses, there is something fun and quirky to discover on every page.
But at the heart of this story is Morrigan’s relationship to the people around her. Jupiter is super busy and rarely has time for her, Hawthorne sticks to her no matter what, but the rest of the unit are not big Morrigan fans. When a blackmail letter arrives at their station, forcing one of Morrigan’s friends to do something terrible in order to keep her secret (about being a Wundersmith), this doesn’t exactly help her grow closer with her unit.
In this second instalment, you’ll meet all your favorite (and not so favorite) characters from the first book as well as some new ones. Morrigan’s classmates may not like her very much, but I liked them a lot as a reader. There are also tons of new things about the city of Nevermoor that were so much fun to read. Tricksy Lanes were probably my favorites, but Morrigan’s Knack slowly coming to life also kept things interesting. And learning about old Wundersmiths – while super boring for Morrigan – helped flesh out the world building and give us more background on why Wundersmiths are so feared. Not to forget the subplot about people going missing. That was my least favorite aspect of this book and although things come together at the end, I didn’t feel like this thread was needed for the larger story. Then again, I have no idea what Jessica Townsend plans for the next book so I might be completely wrong here.
Morrigan spirals lower and lower during this book and ends up feeling almost as lonely as she did before she ever came to Nevermoor. But this being a Middle Grade novel, albeit a darker one than the first volumen, you can rest assured that things will turn out mostly alright by the end. You can also expect some twists and turns along the way, as well as the trademark heartwarming love between Morrigan and Jupiter (and all her friends). I loved this book. It’s a fun adventure story but it has so much heart that it makes you all warm and fuzzy inside. The third – and final, at least for now – book will come out later this year and I’ll be very surprised if I don’t pounce on it the moment it is out.
Hello, everyone! I hope you are all safe and healthy! I just wanted to post a short update on how the Coronavirus is affecting me and this blog. The short answer is: a little.
My boyfriend and I have been working from home for the past week and will continue to do so for the next three weeks. We are allowed to go outside for three reasons:
urgent shopping (food, hygiene products, etc.)
trips to the pharmacy
helping others who can’t or shouldn’t go outside
Going for walks or a run is still allowed, as long as you keep at least one meter distance between you and other people, so I don’t really feel all that constricted in my daily life. Sure, it’s strange to work from home because I’m used to a huge office where I can just get up and talk to people. But honestly, I have it pretty easy. I’m lucky enough to have my own terrace, so I don’t even have to leave my apartment to get a bit of fresh air or enjoy the sun. And the neighbour’s cat comes to visit every once in a while which always makes me happy.
I’m putting all the extra time I have to (hopefully) good use. I’m reading a lot, I hope to publish reviews more frequently during the next weeks, and I’m trying to stay as close to normal as possible. I think the restrictions our government put on the population are smart and helpful and I hope that humanity sticks together so we can get through this with the least amount of damage possible.
I have seen so much solidarity in the last few weeks – people offering to go shopping for elderly neighbours, people applauding every evening for those working in hospitals and supermarkets, people sharing creative ways to keep yourself and your children happy while stuck at home – and I’ve also seen total ignorance. People still partying, walking around in groups of 20 or more, ignoring the rules set in place to protect those who most need protecting… but overall, I think most people understand the responsibility each and every one of us carries and are trying to do their best. Thank you, fellow humans!
That’s all the news I have. I just didn’t want to keep posting like nothing is happening in the world, thus this little update. I hope, my dear readers, that all of you are doing well! And in case you are quarantined or self-isolating at home, I will try and do my little part in keeping you entertained with book reviews and reading challenges and readathon TBRs. Stay healthy, stay safe, help others, and we’ll get through this together!
November is here and the three magic schools competing in the Triwizard Tournament Readathon have found out which dragon they will face in the first task. I am a Beauxbatons student for this readathon (the school is determined by your birthday) and I cannot wait to join my school mates. We can face this challenge and win the Triwizard Cup!
I’ve already posted a very loose TBR, simply because I needed to have a book ready for any given prompt. I know I spend way too much time going through my unread books, looking for just the right one for the readathon – and that time could be much better spent, you know, actually reading. But now that the dragons have been announced, I have finalised the two books I am going to tackle during the first task.
The Dragon
Beauxbatons have to sneak past the Hungarian Horntail to get the golden egg which will lead us to our second task. The reading prompt for this task is to read a book with lots of action.
I believe I have just the thing for that. Jade War by Fonda Lee is not only the sequel to one of my favorite books from 2018 but – if it’s anything like the first book – will have plenty of action. In this series, gifted and trained people can use jade as a sort of magical enhancer for their abilities. So imagine martial arts but with magic. I cannot wait to see what’s in store for all these characters I’ve come to love.
The Method
There are four methods one can use to finish the first task and get that golden egg from the dragon. I have picked out a method and book already, but as I might change my mind, I’ll leave all the methods and reading prompts listed here.
Conjunctivitis Curse: Temporarily blind your dragon by reading a book with eyes on the cover. Bewitched Sleep: Send your dragon to sleep by reading a whole book in bed. Speed: Race past your dragon to retrieve the egg by reading a graphic novel. Distraction: Distract your dragon by transfiguring a rock into an animal, read a book with an animal on the cover.
I am going to use Distraction on that dragon by reading Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher which has an adorable armadillo on the cover. If I finish that book fast enough, I may throw in another book for extra points. I don’t even know if you can earn extra points in this task, but more books read during a readathon is always a good thing, right? Depending on how the week of the first task goes, I have a comic book and another short book lined up that I could read in bed.
The first readathon task begins on November 11th, so until then, I’ll do my very best to finish my current reads (and not start any new ones!) in order to be ready for the Triwizard Tournament Readathon. I cannot wait to see what all the others are reading and I already love seeing people’s excitement over on Twitter. The bookish community on the internet is the best! 🙂
Since I’ve had so much fun and success with my last Harry Potter themed readathon, I thought I’d jump straight into another one. TheTriwizard Tournament Readathon is hosted by Chapter Charms and is split into three week-long challenges. If you want to join, there’s still time to put your name in the Goblet of Fire.
The school you represent depends on your birth month. As I was born in January, I am proud to represent BEAUXBATONS! I also just came back from a week in Paris which makes this magical school an even better fit.
As in any proper Triwizard Tournament, there are three challenges to face, each with its own reading tasks to complete.
TASK ONE – DRAGONS
Monday 11th November – Sunday 17th November 2019
On Halloween, each school will learn which dragon we have to battle. Depending on which one we get, these are the prompts our books have to fulfill. We have to read one book that fulfills the prompt for our dragon and one book that represents a method of our choosing. So two books to complete this task.
Chinese Fireball: These dragons are rare for their ability to tolerate their own kind, read a book with a good community spirit. Common Welsh Green: It is thought a Welsh Green may have started the Great Fire of London, read a historical book. Hungarian Horntail: Horntails are some of the most dangerous dragons, read a book with a lot of action. Swedish Short-Snout: These dragons are sought after to use their skin to make shields and gloves, re-read a favourite that makes you feel protected.
I don’t really know what is meant by “good community spirit” of a book, but I’m interpreting it as a book that has some buzz surrounding it or that many people talk about. I hope that’s correct, because in that case I’ll read House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig against the Chinese Fireball. To defeat the Welsh Green, I could read the fittingly green book Brightfall, a Robin Hood retelling by Jaime Lee Moyer. Should the Hungarian Horntail come my way, I may just pick up Jade War by Fonda Lee. I loved the first book and it had plenty of action. If I can get it, I’d love to defeat the Swedish Short-Snout with Little Witches by Leigh Dragoon, a Little Women retelling in graphic novel format.
All of us magic students have several tricks up our sleeve and can choose one of these methods to defeat the dragon in our first task:
Conjunctivitis Curse: Temporarily blind your dragon by reading a book with eyes on the cover. Bewitched Sleep: Send your dragon to sleep by reading a whole book in bed. Speed: Race past your dragon to retrieve the egg by reading a graphic novel. Distraction: Distract your dragon by transfiguring a rock into an animal, read a book with an animal on the cover.
I have no idea which book to pick for the Conjunctivitis Curse, so I probably won’t use that one. If I want to go for the Bewitched Sleep I’ll read Desdemona and the Deep – it’s a short book by one of my favorite authors so I can definitely read this in bed in one or two nights. Speed may also come in handy, but my newest graphic novel La quête de l’oiseau du temps (The Quest for the Time Bird) is 225 pages long and in French, which takes me way longer to read than English or German. We’ll see. There is still Distraction, which I’d accomplish with Minor Mage by another of my favorite authors. The armadillo on the cover is so cute, it would distract any dragon, right?
SECOND TASK – THE LAKE
Monday 25th November – Sunday 1st December 2019
Just like Harry, Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric, we have to rescue someone who has been stolen from us and is trapped in the Black Lake. We will find out who that is after we completed the first challenge. For bonus points, we can first rescue our loved one and then go back and rescue the others.
Significant Other: Read a book with a romance. Sibling: Read a book about siblings. Friend: Read a book about friendship.
I’m prepared for all three prompts. The Queen of Nothing should be out by then and I hope it continues the strange and enticing romance from the first two books. Blanca &Roja is about two sisters in a fairy tale, and A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World will definitely contain a friendship between the boy and his dog. This was a hard task to find books for because I don’t know ahead of time which stories will actually be about friendship but I hope I’m safe with this choice.
Again, we can choose the method we use for breathing underwater: Gillyweed: Gillyweed will allow you to breathe and move underwater, read a book with water on the cover. Bubble-Head Charm: This charm gives you a continuous supply of oxygen, read a book set in space where this charm could also be useful. Transfiguration: Partially transfigure yourself into a sea creature by reading a book about a sea creature.
I’ll pick my method as the mood strikes, but I got Gillyweed covered with The Future is Blue (water all over the cover), I am practising my Bubble-Head Charm and may read Brightly Burning (Jane Eyre in Space), and I’ve got my Transfiguration spells prepared with The Seafarer’s Kiss (mermaids are sea creatures).
TASK THREE – THE MAZE
Monday 9th December – Sunday 15th December 2019
In the maze, we have to complete at least one of the tasks, but can try and complete as many of them as we like.
Blast-Ended Skrewt: This is a hybrid creature, read a book outside your comfort zone. Boggart: Read a book that contains something you fear. Acromantula: You may need help to defeat this creature, read a book recommended by a friend. Sphinx: Solve its riddle by reading a book about or with a puzzle. Golden Mist: The mist turns everything upside down, read a book with something upside down on the cover.
To defeat the Blast-Ended Skrewt, I could go with A Local Habitation – I don’t normally read Urban Fantasy, but this series might work for me. Book one was pretty good but the entire subgenre is still out of my comfort zone. My boggart could easily turn into the dystopian society of The Handmaid’s Tale – it absolutely scares me and The Testaments is the brand-new sequel to that amazing novel. I am also terrfied of spiders but the Acromantula should be vanquished with Gideon the Ninth, a book everyone has been recommending. All of Brandon Sanderson’s books contain puzzles, riddles, and mind-blowing plot twists, so I’m confident Starsight will defeat the Sphinx. The last one was the hardest to find, but Thorn with its upside down heart on the cover could get me through the Golden Mist. I doubt I’ll even get that far – I only have one week to read these books, after all.
Once we’ve made it through the maze and made sure the Triwizard Cup is not a Portkey, we simply have to read a book that involves travel of any kind to complete the Triwizard Tournament. Here are my choices for that – I will pick whichever book appeals to me the most when the time has come. I picked three time travel novels, and one that features a voyage on a ship.
Annalee Newitz – The Future of Another Time Line
Kate Atkinson – Life After Life
Diana Gabaldon – Voyager
Anna Bright – The Beholder
That’s a lot of books! Thankfully, I don’t have to read them all within three weeks. I love that this readathon is split into three separate weeks, so it’s not one stressful month of reading tons of books but one challenge week followed by a few “normal” ones. And I like that it’s three magic schools competing against each other, rather than the Hogwarts Houses. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m definitely excited!
It’s easy to get swept up in the newest releases, the hyped-about fantasy debuts, the books nominated for awards – and it happens to me all the time. Last year, I made an effort to not forget about older books, to always read one newer and one older book at the same time, to catch up on classics, to read the books that inspired the books we’re currently hyping. I found some amazing books because of this and I will definitely try to read more older books in 2019 as well. Because, for one, it led me to The Forgotten Beasts of Eld.
THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD by Patricia A. McKillip
Published by: Gollancz, 1974 Paperback: 208 pages Standalone My rating: 8,5/10
First sentence: The wizard Heald coupled with a poor woman once, in the king’s city of Mondor, and she bore a son with one green eye and one black eye.
Sybel, the beautiful great-granddaughter of the wizard Heald, has grown up on Eld Mountain with only the fantastic beasts summoned there by wizardry as companions. She cares nothing for humans until, when she is 16, a baby is brought for her to raise, a baby who awakens emotions that she has never known before. But the baby is Tamlorn, the only son of King Drede, and, inevitably, Sybel becomes entangled in the human world of love, war and revenge – and only her beasts can save her from the ultimate destruction…
Sybel lives isolated on her mountain, surrounded only be her beloved animals – creatures of myth, collected by her father and grandfather, and now the only friends she has or wants. Until one day, a baby is dropped at her doorstep, and in taking that child in, Sybel discovers her all-too-human emotions because she grows to love the child. This is how this fairy tale of a book begins and while the languages continues to be lyrical, rife with symbolism, and simply beautiful to read, the plot goes into more familiar fantasy territory soon.
Tamlorn, Sybel’s adopted son, is not just any child. Away from Sybel’s mountain, two nations are at war. One led by an insecure king, the other by a group of nobles trying to rise up against him. Tamlorn is the king’s son and as such an important piece in their game of power. Although Sybel wants nothing to do with humans and their war, Tamlorn naturally longs to find out more about himself and where he came from. They are both dragged into a war they know nothing of and will each play their part, whether they want to or not.
I came to this book knowing nothing beyond the barest premise – a sorceress living with some magical beasts on a mountain – and I think that has made the reading experience even better. McKillip immediately draws you into her world with her poetic language. It’s never too flowery or cheesy, but it hits just the right note of lyrical. Another amazing part of this book is its main character: Sybel, so aloof, so distant, yet so very human at her core, without even realising it herself. Throughout this tale, she learns who she really is and who she wants to be and that alone would have been interesting enough to fill a novel, even without the war and love story and mythical beasts.
But, oh, the beasts. While at first, they don’t seem to have too much personality (dragon wants to hoard gold, gets really cranky when not enough gold is there), each of them seems to become more distinct during the story. They are not just mythical creatures with magic powers, they are living, breathing beings with a mind of their own, with a moral compass, with feelings – some of them fond feelings toward Sybel. In the beginning, the eponymous forgotten beasts may only appear like window dressing, like a way for Sybel to demonstrate her power, but they are actually vital to the plot!
The Fogotten Beasts of Eld is also a love story, although a very different one than I’m used to from current fantasy books, especially YA. Coren is wonderfully open about his feelings for Sybel and there are no unnecessary obstructions created by misunderstandings or love triangles. Sure, there is a war going on, and Sybel, Tamlorn, as well as her beasts could turn the tide of events, and the fact that Sybel wants to stay out of it all does cause difficulties between her and Coren. But the love story itself, their feelings for each other, are never in question.
I can’t say any more about the plot without giving too much away, but let me say that the best parts (plot-wise) of the novel I haven’t even hinted at. This is a quiet sort of book that is much more concernced with the matters inside its characters than with epic battle scenes. But the questions of morality, of using ones power – whether for good or bad (and who’s good and who’s bad anyway?) remain. This is as much a tale about family – found rather than born into – as it is about kings and warriors. It’s an emotional journey through a magical world and I loved every beautifully told page of it.
WUNDERSMITH: THE CALLING OF MORRIGAN CROW
THE FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD
SFF Book Reviews 