Personal Rating: 3.5 Stars Goodreads rating at time of review: 4.71 Stars Content Rating: PG-13 (violence, romance, death) Trigger warnings: Death of parents, murder, sick baby (who is healed) In the woods where human lands meet fae, an ancient king born before the history of men finds a dying baby. Iohmar will take in the child and care for him until a suitable home in the human realm is found. But best laid plans often go awry in the lands of Látwill, where winds carry fae across the star-strewn sky, the woods ensnare the weak-minded with their sinister song, and even Iohmar, King Beneath the Earth, is susceptible to the will of the immortal mountains. Magic long tethered to Iohmar’s soul will crumble. Unknown shadows and monsters of mirrored glass will encroach upon the borders of their land. And memories thousands of years lost will unravel as Iohmar struggles not only to properly rule his fair folk, but protect the fragile human son he never should have saved in the first place. (goodreads.com) As usual, we must start with a round of applause for the gorgeous cover art. And before you finish your ooohs and aaaahs about that jacket, allow me to show you a picture of what the hardcover version looks like under the jacket: Stunning, right? I believe the author designed the artwork herself! And, to sell you further on the beauty of this book, let me tell you that it also features: a map, chapter heading illustrations, and a table of contents (wooo table of contents!).
I heard about this book from the author on TikTok. Her username is @emilymccosh if you want to check her out! The concept of an ancient fae king finding and adopting a human baby sounded so wonderful and adorable to me that I had to buy it as soon as it was released. Of course, as is the case with all books I’m excited for, it was released in November, which is the one month out of the year when I try not to read any books because I’m doing NaNoWriMo. So then I waited all the way until the start of this month to begin reading. Right off the bat, I’m going to tell you that this book was not exactly what I was expecting, which is always a bit disappointing, but if I had gone into it knowing what it was actually going to be like then I still would have enjoyed it. See, I was expecting it to be more of a cozy, sort of slice-of-life-y father/son bonding book about the trials of raising a baby. However, this book is actually an intricate, lyrical, description of nature and love and magic. So, if you are looking for a cutesy, raising a baby story, this is not what you are looking for. But if you are looking to be swept away in magical descriptions with unique fae creatures and cradled in flowery language, then this is exactly what you need. This story is very much a fairy tale in its telling; it gave off similar vibes as the writings of the Brothers Grimm, but with more attachment to the characters and less bloody violence. As far as the characters go, I really liked the main character, Iohmar, and the other fae ruler, Queen Rúnda. They had interesting magical abilities, such as being able to summon the winds to ride or teleport using rays of sunlight. In fact, every one of the magical folk had interesting abilities, though they weren’t always shown as much as I would have liked. There is a mystery element to this book that I wasn’t expecting, but quite liked. There are spooky shadows that keep appearing to Iohmar, seeming to want something from him, but not communicating what that is. And then there the ripplings, shimmering creatures that were long ago enemies and are now popping up again, much to Iohmar’s horror. The actual raising of the human baby might have been, sadly, my least favorite part of the story. It was sweet, sure, but I think it would have been better if the baby had behaved a bit more like an actual baby. At first, he did cry and seemed more like a real child, but became remarkably well behaved after Iohmar decided to keep him forever. I won’t say too much as to why, because that’s a bit of a spoiler, but personally, I would have liked it if Iohmar had to struggle a bit with raising a kid. Instead, it was just the perfect parts of parenting, which made me feel like the adorable parts between Iohmar and his baby weren’t really earned. Which sounds weird, but that’s the only way I can think of to phrase it. Though there was a mystery element to the story, the stakes did not feel very high. This really contributed to its fairy tale-ness, because when you read a fairy tale or fable, you usually know that good people have a good ending. So, it was kind of relaxing in that way. You don’t have to constantly be worrying about the whole world crashing and burning around them really and I liked that. As I said before, the wording of this book is just absolutely stellar. Everything is described so beautifully and if you close your eyes, you can picture yourself in the magical forest, you can almost smell the earth in the underground scenes, or feel the heat of the sand in the desert. I’ve never read Tolkien (yes, I know, I'm the worst), but from what I’ve heard, this story and his writings share lengthy nature descriptions. So if you are in the mood for that, then this would be a great read for you. The living forest aspect of it also reminded me somewhat of Narnia (which I have read... some of). Honestly, this is the perfect book to curl up outside or by a fire. When you want to be engaged in the act of reading and soaking in words, but also soaking in the environment around you. So glad that I came across this book, and while it wasn’t exactly what I hoped it would be, I still enjoyed reading it before bed and feeling extra cozy with it. Well, I’m off to catch a ride on the wind! Thanks for reading, until next time! Cover image source: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61419513
0 Comments
I have to admit, this one was a little bit of a let down, but there was still some fun stuff. Also, I wanted to note that, since I've made this video, LitJoy Crate has announced the end of their YA subscription box as it is now. They will be changing it so that you can personalize your box and it will be called To Bee Read (the logo is really cool). They don't have much public information about it at this time and I only know because I get their newsletters, but if that is something that sounds interesting to you, keep an eye on their website! Spoilers for Steampunk and Petticoats box: 🕰️Book: My Imaginary Mary by Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows, and Cynthia Hand 🕰️Android Repair office supply kit from Cinder by Marissa Meyer 🕰️Frankenstein book tin designed by @carellafra_art 🕰️Discovery of Witches storybook key 🕰️Through the Wardrobe bookplates inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis 🕰️Peter Pan "Big Ben" pin designed by @carellafra_art 🕰️Adventure card from The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazaelwood designed by @sophia_volovik 🕰️Mystery signed book plate? |
Categories
All
Archives
April 2024
|