I
have mixed feelings about this novel. There were some aspects I liked
but others I found disappointing.
The
novel opens with Nymia on the slave market. When her cloak is pulled
off and the crowd sees her silver hair, they know what kind of
dangerous being she is. But she is purchased by Adora, a mysterious
woman who dresses oddly yet is very wealthy and has great political
influence. Rather than being relegated to the horror of female
slavery yet again, Nymia is to be trained to use her special
abilities to fight for the kingdom.
I
liked the idea of characters with special abilities. Our heroine can
control the weather, that is, bring on a storm or have someone struck
with lightning. There is another character who has the ability to
manipulate the earth and create large chasms. Another has been given
a wall of protection while yet another can control another person's
thoughts.
I
like the idea of a war as the island kingdom of Faelen is being
attacked. There are good guys and bad guys and sometimes they seem to
morph from one to the other. Like Nymia, I wanted to believe and
trust certain characters yet doubted everyone from time to time. The
betrayal of characters was so frequent I often had trouble keeping
straight who was on whose side.
The
war is somewhat twofold. One aspect of it is for Nymia's soul. Will
she ever be healed of the pain and horror of what she did as a child?
Will she be transformed into a killing machine? The other aspect is
the larger war for the survival of Faelen. It is a war against
invading evil, although Faelen is not without evil itself. Will evil
have the last word and destroy who they are? The latter war reaches
its peek with a really great battle scene near the end.
Creating
a fantasy world is a difficult task. There is the creation of both
the characters and the world they inhabit. Essential to the task is
good description. That is one area I felt was inadequate in this
book. I had a difficult time “picturing” the landscape, the
buildings, the animals. At one point a bolcrane appears. It is
slime-covered and black, we read. It is bigger than a horse and has a
crocodilian mouth with fangs and jaws that could wrap around a torso.
It has a leathery, bloated form with poisoned quills. But what we do
not know is something as simple as how many legs it has, the color of
its eyes, or if it even has eyes. As I tried to picture the beast, I
found myself lacking so much detail I could not do it. A paragraph of
chilling description would have greatly enhanced the emotional punch of the
scene.
I
found the same inhibiting lack of description time after time. When we read of the air ships, there is
description about their shape and attachments, but never an
indication of color, not even of the “pale balloon” above each
one or the dragon painted on the side.
There
are some concepts in the novel that would make for interesting
discussion. At one point Nymia says, “How can you say it's not a
person's fault when he harms others, whether intentionally or not,
but then say its honorable when he chooses to help?” (271) Is a
person born to do a life task, good or evil? What about being held
responsible for such tasks? Nymia has an aversion to killing people
and animals, even the enemy, even when she knows that enemy is out to
destroy her. That would be a topic for discussion too. Another
important issue in the book is Nymia and her feelings of
self-loathing, fear, and self-harm. One of the questions in the
Reading Group Guide gives a resource for young people struggling with
those same feelings.
I
would not recommend this book for young teens. There is a somewhat
sexual overtone that runs through several of Nymia's experiences that
would only be suitable for older teens.
There
is a twist at the very end that leaves us hanging. I do hope the next
in the trilogy will help me better visualize the people, places, and
things.
I'm
taking part in a Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour of
this book. You can read the reviews of others by following the links below.
Mary
Weber lives in California with her husband and their children. You
can find out more about her at http://www.maryweber.com/
or follow her on Facebook. (Author photo courtesy of Sarah Kathleen
Photography.)
Thomas
Nelson, 341 pages. You can buy the book here.
I
received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in
conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour.
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