In the terrorised Kingdom of Alban, fifteen-year-old Neryn has experienced more than her share of heart-break. Destitute and alone, she has nowhere left to turn. Even if she had money to spend, the people of Alban live in too much fear to welcome a stranger. With the dreaded Enforcers out for the Cull, burning villages and searching for the canny, Neryn must head for the one place left where she may find refuge.
Shadowfell is a place spoken of only in whispers. It harbours the last of the people who may stand against the ruthless king, but the journey will be a long and perilous one. With winter approaching, Neryn may have to risk relying on the Good Folk for help, but to do so may mean death for them both.
Shadowfell is different to many of the YA fantasy books that are currently popular. Although it is for a younger audience, it follows more of an epic fantasy storyline. Immediately the stakes are much higher than they are in most urban fantasy novels. Neryn is fighting for her entire world, for the fate of two very different species and to find and keep her own courage. It is a huge undertaking, and even with the help she gets along the way the burden seems too heavy for the shoulders of a fifteen-year-old. It’s hard to pick a favourite element in this beautifully crafted novel. Plot, setting, atmosphere and characters all work in harmony to bring the first book in the Shadowfell series together.
The world created in Shadowfell is a place of darkness. Nowhere is safe; and neighbour will turn on neighbour with the slightest provocation, so great is the fear installed by the ruthless King Keldec. Within the gloomy atmosphere of the novel, however, are surprisingly bright rays of hope. Neryn is one of them. At the outset of the novel she is poor, dirty and tired in both body and soul. In the first few pages, I wasn’t sure that I could handle being in her head-space for an entire novel. She was not unsympathetic, but she was pitiful. Very quickly, however, circumstances change. To my absolute delight, Neryn changes with them. Her hope rekindles, lighting a flame that shines through the darkest shadows Alban has to offer.
Characters, too, provide some of the light that is desperately needed in Shadowfell. Family is something that Marillier never fails to write with wonderful and sometimes devastating honesty. They are ties that bind, even from beyond the grave. Neryn’s courageous brother, broken father and half-forgotten mother all serve to anchor her to morality; but it is her wise, fearless grandmother who moulds her into the strong, steadfast person she becomes. Though I loved Neryn’s grandmother, the Good Folk stole the show away right from under her. They are lovely. Not all of them are gentle, but when any one of them is on page they bring a vibrancy with them that makes their scenes sparkle.
Flint is the other character that moves the story forward. His reserve combined with moments of uncertainty make him difficult not to like. Something is lacking in the scenes between him and Neryn, however. The atmosphere of fear that clouds the entire novel permeates into Flint and Neryn’s relationship and, unfortunately, Flint never manages to sparkle in the way that the Good Folk do. I have high hopes that in the next book the cool front he puts up will begin to thaw.
In an interview Juliet Marillier gave she said that the key to writing well was to find a way to fuse what the public wanted to read with she wanted to write; I have no idea if she achieved the latter but she definitely reached her goal with the former. Shadowfell reminded me of a more mature version of Rowan of Rin. I would also recommend it to anyone who has read and loved Isobelle Carmody. All that is left now is to wait for book two.
Marianne here: I launched Juliet’s book at Supanova in Perth – in the wrestling ring. That was fun! Other than finding it a beautifully written and crafted novel, I was particularly sucked in to the delicate love story unfolding between Flint and Neryn. It was handled with great reverence and respect. A welcome change from much of the shallow romance that abounds in fiction.
Shadowfell – Juliet Marillier
Pan Macmillan Australia (July 3, 2012)
ISBN: 9781742611341
Juliet Marillier’s novels combine historical fiction, folkloric fantasy, romance and family drama. The strong elements of history and folklore in her work reflect her lifelong interest in both fields. However, her stories focus strongly on human relationships and the personal journeys of the characters. Juliet is a member of the druid order OBOD (The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids) and her spiritual values are often reflected in her storytelling – the human characters’ relationship with the natural world plays a significant part.
As well as her books for adult readers, Juliet has written three novels for young adults and has contributed short fiction to several anthologies. She is a regular contributor to genre writing blog Writer Unboxed, where she posts on the first Thursday of the month.
1. Shadowfell, the first book of your new trilogy, has just been released and is already getting great reviews. Congratulations. You’ve described it as a ‘dark, gritty story’. Can you tell us about the central character, Neryn?
Neryn is fifteen when the story begins. She’s alone and destitute, living rough in the forested hills of Alban (think a magical version of ancient Scotland) and running from the king’s Enforcers. And she’s hiding a perilous secret; she has the ability to see and hear the Good Folk, the fey inhabitants of Alban, but any interaction with uncanny people is forbidden by the king’s harsh laws. We meet Neryn at her weakest; she has lost her entire family and has nowhere to turn. Or so it seems, until she remembers the name Shadowfell – a mysterious place where there may just possibly be people prepared to band together and fight for freedom.
Neryn has some strengths she hardly knows about, but as the story progresses she learns how important they could be. Along the way she’s both helped and hindered by the Good Folk and by a mysterious stranger, Flint, who may be friend or enemy. The hardest thing for Neryn, who has grown up in a place where everyone lives in fear, is learning how to trust.
2. Folklore, fairy tales, and mythology influence your writing. Can you tell us some of your favourites and why you love them so much?
Traditional stories have so much to teach us – back in the days of storytelling around the fire, they were used to help people make sense of their world and live their lives well, so they deal with all the major life challenges, from falling in love to getting in trouble of various kinds, learning who you can trust, dealing with monsters, either the ogre/dragon/ troll kind or the kind we meet these days. How to cope with being the youngest sibling; how to break free of people who want to control your life. Everything. And they’re still just as relevant, even though we live in a high-tech, fast-moving world, because the qualities they deal with – love, courage, faith, loyalty, friendship, patience – are still things we need to learn.
I have lots of favourites. What they have in common is a strong female character in the centre, someone who makes her own choices and fights her own battles. In The Six Swans, which I used as the basis of my first novel, Daughter of the Forest, the central character wins her brothers back their human form by knitting shirts from a prickly plant and remaining silent under terrible duress. I love Beauty and the Beast, even though in the old versions Beauty is a character at the mercy of other people’s poor decisions. But I do like a great love story, and this is one of the most romantic.
In my take on the story, a novel called Heart’s Blood, I gave the Beauty character far more freedom of choice and as a result she is both more and less heroic – she makes a heap of mistakes and in her way is as flawed as the Beast character. That’s a great thing about traditional stories: they are always being reworked, changing and evolving. Other favourites: Vasilissa the Wise, which has an almost all-female cast including the wonderful witch Baba Yaga; East of the Sun and West of the Moon, in which the heroine undertakes a gruelling quest to get her man back.
3. Juliet, you’ve written several books since your first work, Daughter of the Forest, in 1999. How have you changed and evolved, as an author,
and has your writing practice changed significantly.
Daughter of the Forest was written as personal therapy as much as anything – I only decided to submit it for publication when it was all finished. These days I write full time and make a living at it, and there are always deadlines to meet. I’ve worked pretty hard on developing my writer’s craft over the fourteen books I’ve written since then, and I’m far more conscious of what I’m doing technically these days. So it does annoy me a bit when some readers tell me that first book was my best!
The influence of traditional stories is certainly present in every one of my books, though only three of my novels are actually based on fairy tales. My writing style owes something to oral storytelling, as well as to my background in music – I’m very aware of rhythm, balance and flow, and how things sound when read aloud. Characters – their development and interaction – are more important to me both as a reader and as a writer than elements such as world-building and magic. Anything I write is going to be built around the emotional journey of the main character(s). In more recent times my stories have become a bit darker; that may relate to my serious illness in 2009, or it may be more a reflection of my changing reading tastes!
Writing practice – that is relatively unchanged. I’ve always been a control freak, so I fit in a lot of work, always meet my deadlines and do similar hours every day, even though I work from home and am my own boss. Though probably one of my dogs is the real boss. I have four of them, all rescues, and my working day is structured around their schedule which includes a lot of walks. Dogs are good for a writer – they make sure you rest your eyes and take exercise instead of sitting at the keyboard all day.
4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?
It’s usually the character I am currently focussed on in my writing. So right now it’s a character named Tali, who shares the lead role in Raven Flight, the sequel to Shadowfell. I thought I’d never write a warrior woman character, because there have been a lot of them in fantasy recently. Think Buffy and Xena first, followed by a long line of ballsy female protagonists in fantasy novels.
Writers were reacting to the cliché passive princess or wicked witch/stepmother characters of earlier fantasies. I love powerful female characters, but I’ve never thought they need to perform traditionally male roles in order to be strong individuals, so many of my women are both feminine and strong. But this story required a female fighter. Tali is one of the rebels at Shadowfell. She’s the master-at-arms who trains everyone in combat skills, and is a character with great outward strength and some secrets that emerge as the story develops. One of my favourite characters ever, and a fine example of burning bright with selfless courage, not to speak of an enviable level of physical fitness! And she has cool tatts.
Some weeks ago, I was wondering when had been the last time a book had made me cry. George Orwell’s 1984 (no secret it’s my favorite book—I even have two tattoos to prove it!) made me cry. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban made me cry. Same for To Kill A Mockingbird.
And then, there was Bitterblue.
I loved Graceling. I didn’t care much for Fire, but it was a nice book. I absolutely loved, loved, Bitterblue and I didn’t want it to end. And, when it did, I felt so overwhelmed with emotion, so touched by the subjects Kristin Cashore had visited in her third novel (and identifying with some of them) that I couldn’t stop the awfully embarrassing tears from prickling my eyes.
But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
If you’ve read the previous two books, you remember Bitterblue. She was a small, ten-year-old girl then, running from her tyrannical father Leck. Eight years afterwards, the third installment of The Seven Kingdoms starts and she’s grown into a smart, curious queen. Feeling out of the loop when it comes to her royal business, she escapes into the city at night and stumbles upon a story house. There she hears various stories—some about her horrible father—and meets Teddy, a printer, and Saf, a graceling who doesn’t know what his power is.
Balancing her covert identity and her knowledge about politics, Bitterblue soon discovers that her advisors had been lying to her. Among other things, she thinks almost everyone is literate in her city, when in fact it’s the complete opposite. I don’t want to get much into details as I don’t want to spoil the amazing intricacies of the plot, but I’ll tell you this: it’s not just about Bitterblue’s escapades at night and behind everything lie tons of horrible secrets Bitterblue wants to unravel… and they’re worth every page you read.
In Bitterblue, everything is connected. Old characters return in an amazing fashion (particularly Fire). Characters you might overlook become important when you least expect them and character who’s endeared themselves to you in the beginning, might not to matter much later on. But, like the title says, the novel is about Bitterblue and, while you might think it’s not enough… it is. Bitterblue is an amazing, strong character and by the end of the book I wanted to know more about her. The romance in the book suffers from it, but the resolution is so bittersweet, and so true to the characters that my heart ached in response.
And then, the end. Everything culminates at the end of the novel and that’s where I lost it and cried like a baby. There’s closure to almost every aspect—and I say almost because I hope Kristin Cashore writes more about Bitterblue and resolves certain relationships. It’s not that they ended badly or anything, it’s just… it was so good, so beautiful, that I wanted more.
The writing is, as Kristin Cashore’s writing has been in the first two novels, flawless. Her handle on vocabulary is stellar and she evokes imagery without even trying. But what sets this novel apart from the other two is the complexity of the plot. Bitterblue’s machinations are so beautifully intricate, sometimes wonderfully perverse that I had trouble stopping myself from reading more so I could go to bed.
I could go on and on about how much I loved this book. I really could. But I’m afraid I’d just spoil you, so I’ll just shut up and tell you to read it. Bitterblue is a wonderful, complex, riveting read and the emotion I felt at the end is the proof of it. Please, please read it and give Kristin Cashore the recognition she deserves.
Hardcover: 576 pages
Publisher: Gollancz; Hardback edition (1 May 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0575097175
ISBN-13: 978-0575097179
For those of you who enjoyed the first book in The Sky Chasers series, Glow, the second book will be on the shelves near you soon.
**If you haven’t read Glow, there may be spoilers so I suggest grabbing the book before reading on.**
I jumped at the chance to review Spark and was over the moon to receive the book in the mail. It felt like forever since I’d read Glow but surprisingly the characters were still fresh in my mind and I was back into the rhythm within a few pages.
Here is part of the goodreads.com blurb
Waverly and Kieran are finally reunited on the Empyrean. Kieran has led the boys safely up to this point, and now that the girls are back, their mission seems slightly less impossible: to chase down the New Horizon, and save their parents from the enemy ship. But nothing is truly as it seems…Kieran’s leadership methods have raised Seth’s hackles— and Waverly’s suspicions. Is this really her fiancé? The handsome, loving boy she was torn from just a short time before? More and more, she finds her thoughts aligned with Seth’s. But if Seth is Kieran’s Enemy No. 1, what does that make her?
If Glow can be compared to Lord of the Flies; Spark has every right to be compared to the 1981 Todd Strasser novel, The Wave.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely is the concept we explore through these well-developed characters and heart-wrenching plot lines.
Seth is portrayed as an evil maniac for some of the first book and yet I found myself really being able to sympathize with his plight right until the last page this time.
Amy Kathleen Ryan takes us places where we are looking at our own morals and asking what we would do if placed in a similar situation. To be honest, some parts made me a little uncomfortable on an ethical level, because I couldn’t see myself dealing with situations better than her characters did. The action scenes are fast paced, and unexpected heroism is the call of the day.
I read Spark cover-to-cover in 3 days, though without life getting in the way it would have easily been back on the shelf in 24 hours. Where the third book will lead us I have no idea, but I am on the edge of my seat and you’ll find out why once you own a copy of Spark.
http://www.amykathleenryan.com/spark.php
http://amykathleenryan.blogspot.com.au/
Hardcover, 309 pages
Expected publication: July 17th 2012 by St. Martin’s Griffin ISBN 9780312621 (ISBN13: 0978031262135)
