mdanielmcdowell's review
5.0
This book is a wonderful mixture of character study and adventure tale, with an inventive desert setting, an older female main character, and a supporting cast that includes an amputee and a shapeshifter full of seeeeecrets.
While the setting and key story details of this are very different, I found the character relationships between Jun and her friends reminded me a lot of Sophie from the book version of Howl’s Moving Castle—if Sophie were actually an older woman with a lot of life experience under her belt!
Aurel, well, he has big Howl Pendragon energy in some places—an inscrutable, beautiful, magical man with something overpowering at his core. I love them both!
My secret favorite, though, is Casey, who rounds out the main cast and earns my entire heart. I really love stories that prominently include characters with disabilities; Casey is an amputee who never lets it keep him out of the action for too long, and I felt like his depiction was really heartfelt and honest.
The core of the story engine is a quest plot nestled into a tale of a broken prophecy, with some delightful twists on the usual tropes in this type of storytelling, so I am loath to accidentally reveal too much here.
This short novel makes really good use of brisk descriptions and deft character work; it’s one of those books that had me a little weepy at the end, and I felt like it really earned it. It’s a story about breaking old patterns and finding new ones, and the love really shines through.
While the setting and key story details of this are very different, I found the character relationships between Jun and her friends reminded me a lot of Sophie from the book version of Howl’s Moving Castle—if Sophie were actually an older woman with a lot of life experience under her belt!
Aurel, well, he has big Howl Pendragon energy in some places—an inscrutable, beautiful, magical man with something overpowering at his core. I love them both!
My secret favorite, though, is Casey, who rounds out the main cast and earns my entire heart. I really love stories that prominently include characters with disabilities; Casey is an amputee who never lets it keep him out of the action for too long, and I felt like his depiction was really heartfelt and honest.
The core of the story engine is a quest plot nestled into a tale of a broken prophecy, with some delightful twists on the usual tropes in this type of storytelling, so I am loath to accidentally reveal too much here.
This short novel makes really good use of brisk descriptions and deft character work; it’s one of those books that had me a little weepy at the end, and I felt like it really earned it. It’s a story about breaking old patterns and finding new ones, and the love really shines through.
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