A review by emleemay
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

5.0

“There is no hell, John Temsland. Each man, when he dies, sees the landscape of his own soul.”

This book kind of stomped all over my heart. Not because of the love story, which I don't consider a spoiler because anyone with a brain will see it coming from the beginning (Or the cover. Or the description.). But because of the beautiful, magical simplicity of the writing and the world and the characters. I love stories like this, that capture the timeless magic of fairy tales and make you feel like you're reading a story that is centuries old even when it clearly isn't.

The story is about a young woman called Keturah who loses her way in the woods. After days of wandering around and growing weaker and weaker, Lord Death eventually arrives for her. Keturah distracts Lord Death by telling him a love story, however, she cleverly withholds the ending and promises only to tell it to him if he allows her another day to live. One more condition is that, if she can find her true love in that time, he must let her live a full life. And so begins Keturah's mission to find her true love and postpone her date with death. Like all good fantasy, this mission introduces the reader to kings, magic spells, plagues and prophecies. I was mesmerised.

The writing has a beautiful tone to it that is hard to explain with a few simple quotes from the book. It's haunting, a little melancholy even, but this mood suits the setting and nature of the story perfectly. I think I need to be careful with my promises of kings and magic because this is not a wild and crazy tale filled with fast-paced action, it's a relatively quiet novel. But, that being said, it still managed to drag me in instantly and not let go. I think the subtlety of this story actually speaks volumes and carries the emotions better than any fast-paced action could.

An absolutely beautiful novel that was better than I'd ever anticipated. There is something about this last haunting piece of truth that gives me goosebumps:

“You, my lord, are the ending of all true stories.”

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