A review by xeyra
Among Others by Jo Walton
4.0
This was a rather beautiful coming of age book about finding your place in the world, family, love and friendship, and, well, books! Which is why it was such a great read for me. It's rather enchanting in both its setting and the magical nature of it, but also a thoroughly enjoyable for a reader because of the many book references.
It's also a bit of a strange novel that seems to take place in completely different universes: the one where Mor sees fairies and does magic and has just lost her sister and her mom is an evil witch trying to get to her, and the mundane reality of her boarding school with all its 'normalness' and the SFF book reading and book club and libraries and just reading what was the popular or new fiction of the late 70s. And though I enjoyed it a lot, the different tonal shifts could get a little jarring.
You do wonder by the end, though, if Mor's fairies and magic and everything was actually real or not. The abrupt way things ended can be read as a rejection of the fantastic represented by the fairies and her sister for new found greater maturity, which would actually make it better than if it was taken at face value.
The issue with the novel was that many of the mysteries are never really addressed, which makes you think if Mor is a terribly unreliable narrator that is just trying to hide behind magic to give meaning to the real tragedy of losing her twin sister. Then there's the fact that she assumes her sister's name but this is never really addressed; it's just something she drops twice in the narrative without any other mention of why.
One thing I did come out of this novel feeling inspired to was to add a bunch of novels to my wishlist. So beware, reader!
It's also a bit of a strange novel that seems to take place in completely different universes: the one where Mor sees fairies and does magic and has just lost her sister and her mom is an evil witch trying to get to her, and the mundane reality of her boarding school with all its 'normalness' and the SFF book reading and book club and libraries and just reading what was the popular or new fiction of the late 70s. And though I enjoyed it a lot, the different tonal shifts could get a little jarring.
You do wonder by the end, though, if Mor's fairies and magic and everything was actually real or not. The abrupt way things ended can be read as a rejection of the fantastic represented by the fairies and her sister for new found greater maturity, which would actually make it better than if it was taken at face value.
The issue with the novel was that many of the mysteries are never really addressed, which makes you think if Mor is a terribly unreliable narrator that is just trying to hide behind magic to give meaning to the real tragedy of losing her twin sister. Then there's the fact that she assumes her sister's name but this is never really addressed; it's just something she drops twice in the narrative without any other mention of why.
One thing I did come out of this novel feeling inspired to was to add a bunch of novels to my wishlist. So beware, reader!