Richard reviews Mariah's Song, by Barbara Emanuelson

The author of this book has kindly offered one copy of ‘Mariah's Song’. To be in with a chance to win, just leave a comment below or on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/thereviewgroup/posts/1676615552367792).

The draw will be announced about a week after this post.

Mariah's Song, by Barbara Emanuelson, is primarily intended as a YA book, but can easily be enjoyed by a much wider age range. It is rooted in a place and period of American history about which I knew almost nothing - a fishing village in mid 19th century coastal New England - but this underpinning is done so thoroughly that I soon felt at home. But the history, however authentic, is only the starting point for this lovely tale.

I'm a sucker for Selkie stories, which traditionally come from what we think of as Celtic lands, chiefly Scotland and Ireland. It seemed altogether plausible to me that similar themes might easily arise in the New England fishing communities we read about here. After all, the seal colonies are much the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

It was there that the seals would come. They were there that day, and were a comforting, familiar sight to my eyes... One in particular got my attention. It was a cow. Her head was raised higher than the rest, and she stared at me through the throng. She had beautiful dark eyes that seemed to call me, even though she made no sound.

The story, then, bridges historical fiction and fantasy, and carries the reader along with it. The main character, Mariah, faces difficulties in her community, and has to exercise the ordinary kind of courage needed for navigating through life. There are all kinds of choices to be made, both within her family and also as her romantic life begins to blossom. Such choices are not easy, nor does Mariah always choose rightly.

Monomoy Point Lighthouse, c.1865 (Wiki)

Circumstances have forced maturity on her earlier than we would consider normal today, but which has been the case for many young women throughout history. Surrounded as she is by kindness and cruelty, loyalty and prejudice, she has to choose which to imitate and fashion in her own life, and which to reject. The unfolding events - some of which are acutely painful - challenge her assumptions about life and her future, and draw out from her a growing sensitivity of soul.

But Mariah's life is lived in the liminal zone between two worlds - that of human society and that of the sea. Identifying and choosing the heritage site wants is not an easy task. She is essentially an amphibian, drawn towards two very different futures. On the one hand her life is very ordinary and constrained, but on the other it is full of mystery, enjoying a magical communion with the ocean. She is surrounded by help and support from both sides, but in the end has to make her own decisions.

Seal - Eastern Isles - Scilly

We lifted the nets, one at a time, with me standing in the middle to assist. We heaved as we threw the teeming nets on board. The cod wriggled and jumped, gasping for air, dancing until they moved no more. Soon, the boat was as still as our catch... It took us a few hours to get back to the wharf... Other fishermen were in, some before and some after us... None of them had a catch like ours.

I really enjoyed this book, as much for the immersion in period American life as for the fantasy elements. Mariah becomes a vivid, intensely credible person, and it is easy to prolong the fantasy and imagine her descendants still roaming the Atlantic seaboard. Mariah's Song comes highly recommended by me.


About the author:

Barbara Emanuelson

Barbara Emanuelson  is a retired educator and award winning author of fiction and folklore fantasy. In addition to MARIAH'S SONG, she is the author of the historical fiction  novel, THROUGH TEMPEST FORGED and two short ghost stories, "Blue Like the Water" (TALES FROM THE WASATCH AND BEYOND) and  "The Unveiled Bride" (TALES FROM OGDEN CANYON). As well as writing, she enjoys reading, gardening, walking, and playing the piano. She is the mother of three wonderful daughters. Barbara currently resides in North Carolina with her beloved husband, Reverend Father Jon and two cats, Marzipan and Chimene. The Mariah's Song Facebook page may be found at https://www.facebook.com/Mariahs-Song-1504253213233652

About the reviewer:
Richard Abbott lives in London, England. He writes science fiction about our solar system in the fairly near future, and also historical fiction set in the ancient Middle East - Egypt, Syria, Canaan and Israel.

When not writing words or computer code, he enjoys spending time with family, walking, and wildlife, ideally combining all three pursuits in the English Lake District. He is the author of In a Milk and Honeyed Land, Scenes From a Life, The Flame Before Us,Far from the Spaceports- and most recently Timing. He can be found at his website or blog, on Google+, Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter.

Richard Reviews Nyssa Glass and the House of Mirrors by H.L. Burke

The author of this book has kindly offered an e-copy (Kindle or epub) of Nyssa Glass and the House of Mirrors to one lucky reader. To be in with a chance to win, just leave a comment below or on our Facebook page.

The draw will be announced about a week after this post.

Cover - Nyssa Glass and the House of Mirrors

I read Nyssa Glass and the House of Mirrors, by H.L. Burke, on the recommendation of a friend and am very glad to have done so: I really enjoyed this story.

The plot follows a young lady - Nyssa, of course - through a series of exploits as she tries to extricate herself from being unjustly accused of murder. Her background is dubious enough to make the accusation likely to be believed, but she is determined to deserve the trust of her employer Mr Calloway, and her former teachers at Miss Pratchett's School for Mechanically Minded Maids. This determination keeps her going through puzzles, dangers, and difficulties.

On the surface, her basic task seems clear - find a way into a seemingly abandoned house and retrieve a missing item. But inevitably things are not so simple. The house turns out to be well-defended, although the protective systems are overdue for servicing and overhaul, and it is not so empty as it seems at first sight...

"A little over four years ago, all traffic in and out of Dalhart Manor ceased. Up until that point, Dalhart had been reclusive, but his staff and son were often seen going about their business. Then one day, half the staff was unexpectedly let go, and the remaining half..."

The action takes place almost entirely within a single day - barring some necessary flashbacks and a brief "what followed" section - but it is easy to forget the shortness of the timespan as you are carried along with the action. You reach the end of the book feeling that you have come to learn a great deal about her, owing to the intensity of her experiences.

"Once you start scraping away at the puzzle of that house, you won't be able to stop until you've excavated its last secret."

Hall of mirror, Palace of Versailles (Wiki)

A recurring theme of the book is the question of who Nyssa can rely on. Sometimes she makes the wrong decision, and finds herself having to work out how to undo the difficulties resulting from this. Her life experiences have not disposed her to be particularly trusting, and suspicion of motives easily rises to the surface of her thoughts. But the ongoing need to work out who is dependable and who is fickle is a major thread of the book, and one which several of the characters grapple with. The answers to these questions shift multiple times through the book as various facts and snippets of background become clear.

"Did I just turn on the security system? That has to be the biggest blunder in the history of cat burglary."

The author's chosen style is most like Steampunk, though with her own personal spin on the conventions of that genre which worked well for me. The level of scientific and technological accomplishment was a perfect complement to Nyssa's skills and abilities. Both feel entirely credible and I was fully immersed in the tale. I particularly liked the approach towards mechanical intelligence was handled - a very different route to our society's, or indeed what I choose for my own writing - but it is a persuasive and compelling alternative. There is a point where curious enquiry of possibilities gives way to the horrified realisation of reality, and this is handled particularly well.

"Please, someone... no, professor, no. It's not what I want. It's not right..."

House of Mirrors is a YA novel and the personal interactions reflect this. However, this should not deter anyone, and there is ample interest and character depth to satisfy an adult reader.

The cast of characters is comparatively small, and the end of the book strongly suggests that other books set in this world will follow in the future. I certainly hope so, and will be looking out for them.

Meanwhile, Mrs Burke has written a number of other YA fantasy novels, often with a dragonish theme.

About the author:

H.L. Burke

Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.

An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.

Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes that home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are - currently in southern California. She has written twelve books in speculative genres, ranging from Epic Fantasy to YA Steampunk.

Find out more at her web site, blog, on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

About the reviewer:
Richard Abbott lives in London, England. He writes science fiction about our solar system in the fairly near future, and also historical fiction set in the ancient Middle East - Egypt, Syria, Canaan and Israel.

When not writing words or computer code, he enjoys spending time with family, walking, and wildlife, ideally combining all three pursuits in the English Lake District. He is the author of In a Milk and Honeyed Land, Scenes From a Life, The Flame Before Us - and most recently Far from the Spaceports. He can be found at his website or blog, on Google+, Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter.

Anna Reviews: Fractured by D. Hart St. Martin

Fractured by D. Hart St. Martin

When seventeen-year-old Lisen Holt decides to go down to the beach at night, little does she know that life as she knows it is about to change forever. One moment she’s in Malibu, watching the waves crash in under the weak light of a slivered moon, the next an eerie appearance in grey robes has her flat on her back while doing some sort of magic over her. And when Lisen next regains full consciousness, she is no longer on Earth; she is in the haven of Solsta, an isolated outpost of learning and healing in a world known as Garla.

Even worse than finding herself transported elsewhere against her own will, are the physical changes to her body. Lisen no longer has breasts; instead she has a furry pouch further down her torso, making her some sort of human marsupial. In brief, Lisen has a lot to take in, starting with the fact that apparently she was born here, in Garla, and transported for her own safety to Earth some seven years ago.  

Garla is, from a feminist perspective, an interesting place. Parents share the burden of “pouching” their young; women are as often as men chosen to hold positions of high power; all grandees, no matter gender, are addressed as “my lord”; and to top it all off, the ruler is also a woman, the Empir Flandari. Ms. Hart St. Martin is to be commended for all her strong female characters – some of them bad, some of them good, but all of them interesting.

During her first few days in Garla, Lisen’s memories of her earlier life at Solsta are restored to her, and slowly she starts coming to terms with the fact that this is where she belongs. Which is when yet another surprise is sprung on her, namely that she is the true Heir to the Empir Flandari, and therefore next in line to the throne.  Due to a dire prophesy, Lisen was spirited away from her mother while still in her mother’s pouch so as to ensure she grew up safe from her twin brother’s evil intents – which per definition means Lisen grew up without her mother.

Too much, Lisen thinks, and as the reader one can but sympathise with this young, bright woman who suddenly has a new name, Ariannas, a mother she has never met, a twin brother, Ariel, who apparently is evil incarnate, and a new mission in life, namely to become the next Empir once her mother dies.  The Empir Flandari herself is coming to fetch Lisen home and train her for her new role, but unfortunately she is murdered by an assassin, and the single time Lisen will hold her mother in her arms is while the poor woman is dying.

The assassin takes poison, but due to her newly discovered spiritual gifts Lisen manages to make connection with the assassin’s soul as it departs, and learns that the assassin has been hired by no other than her brother, Ariel.

And so the author has set the scene for quite the romp through the world of Garla, with Lisen under orders to stay hidden until she is strong enough to challenge her brother, while Ariel suspects there is something fishy about the young woman he heard held Flandari as she died, but has no idea this is his sister.

Ms. Hart St. Martin presents her readers with an interesting alternative world, and she has populated this world with a number of characters, such as Lisen herself, her allies Jozan and Korin, and the manipulative Lorain, Ariel’s ambitious lover. Other than Lisen, my personal favourite is Korin, a man of few words but a huge heart, who takes his new job as Lisen’s bodyguard very seriously. I also like it that Lorain is a complex character, not necessarily evil, but rather driven to act as she does. 

The story revolves around Lisen, Ms. Hart St. Martin’s very likeable protagonist. More than bewildered by the turns her life has taken, Lisen proves herself courageous and intrepid, handling one stranger situation after the other with aplomb. Her confusion, her grief over her lost life on Earth, her fear of this destiny suddenly shoved down her throat – all of this is well-described. Add to this Lisen’s engaging capacity to be self-deprecating, and we have a heroine it is very easy to root for.

Fractured has its fair share of magic, starting with the initial chapter when Lisen is spirited back to her real world. I’m a sucker for well-described magic, and one of the more fascinating passages in the book is when Lisen is possessed by a soul she tries to guide to the afterlife. Lisen’s self is threatened by this unwelcome guest, and the author does a great job of portraying the borderline schizophrenia that afflicts Lisen – and the utter relief she feels when she is back to being alone in her head again.

Ms. Hart St. Martin’s writing flows easily across the pages, making this an enjoyable and entertaining read. My one gripe is the very abrupt ending, leaving the reader very much hanging as to what will happen to Lisen next – but should one want to find out, Ms. Hart St. Martin has been kind enough to publish a sequel.

*********

About the author: D. Hart St. Martin opened her eyes to life in La Jolla, California during the baby boom. She grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona where she served as editor of her high school yearbook. Throughout high school, she and her best friend constantly made up stories and sometimes even wrote them down. In her late twenties, she devoted three years to writing the very first draft of her very first book. Now, thirty-five years later, she has published Fractured, volume one of the Lisen of Solsta trilogy. For more information about Ms. Hart St. Martin, please visit her website.

Fractured is available on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

The author has also kindly offered a paperback copy of Fractured to gift to one of our lovely readers. To get your name in the hat, simply comment below or on our Facebook thread. We'll draw a name, so keep an eye out because out could be yours!

Anna Belfrage is the author of five published books, all part of The Graham Saga. Set in the 17th century, the books tell the story of Matthew Graham and his time-travelling wife, Alex Lind. Anna can be found on amazon, twitter, facebook and on her website. If you would like Anna to review your book, please see our submissions tab above.