The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M. Harris

The Blue Salt Road is where the selkies dwell as kings and queens of the deep. When a young woman named Flora needs to find a husband, she despairs of choosing any of the men on the small island where she lives. They’re hardened by work on the whaling ships and unrefined.

But when Flora’s grandmother teaches her a secret about mysterious beings called the selkies, she knows her search will soon be over.

“In tears he was summoned, salt as the sea,
In silver was his binding. In blood and betrayal, his calling he found.
In cedar, his salvation.” pg 87

Unlike other selkie stories I’ve read, like Sealskin, the person summoned from the waves is male, not female. I’m sure the fairytale has been told both ways, but it’s a nice change from other versions.

Joanne Harris writes interesting and nuanced fantasy in which she takes a look at older stories and puts her own spin on them. If you haven’t had a chance, you may want to read her duology about the Norse god, Loki. (The Gospel of Loki and The Testament of Loki)

“This is my story. The story of the land-folk and the seal-folk, and of treachery, and of the call of the ocean.” pgs 4-5

There’s quite a lot to unpack in the symbols of The Blue Salt Road and the selkie myth. (Warning, spoilers ahead for those unfamiliar with the selkie myth.) In Jungian psychology and dream interpretation, water is a common symbol for the subconscious mind. What floats or comes to the surface is what you’re aware of. Swimming about in the depths of the ocean, are the feelings or situations you’re perhaps unwilling to confront.

In the sad fairytale of the selkie, the fairytale creature emerges from the ocean as a free being, but then is prevented from returning to the depths where it belongs. He or she forced to live a life on land unless she can find the magical item, her sealskin, that allows her to return to the waves.

The added twist to the tale, sometimes, is the selkie has a child that either gets abandoned when he eventually returns to his home or he takes the child with him and the land-bound parent never gets to see the child again.

So, we have a fairytale examining the complex relationship between men, women, and how people handle having a child together. In addition, it looks at the loss of freedom some experience when a single person adopts a life with a family and how some people can’t deal with it.

It also speaks to the individual ways that people deal with growing up and choosing a trade or growing old and growing apart from the people and things they used to cherish.

In Joanne Harris’ version, there’s a family component with the secret passed between mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren.

“I told you that within the year I should catch myself a prince, and bear him a pretty princeling,” she said. “Now I shall be the envy of all the maids on the island, and all the young men who missed their chance will curse their evil fortune.” pg 44

These secrets that we carry are unique as well and help create cultures among family groups. Sometimes, the spouses we choose to add to the mix don’t adapt well to these cultures and eventually leave, not because there’s a loss of love, but because they are never truly accepted into the family group.

All of this is symbolic goodness is packed into a story that is appropriate for young adults to read. There is nothing overly graphic in here, just layers of complexity that a tween might not be able to grasp.

Highly recommended for young adult and adult readers of fantasy fiction and mythology.

Thanks for reading!

Estranged (Estranged, #1) by Ethan M. Aldridge

A cute graphic novel for middle graders that features a changeling, his human counterpart, their human sister and a golem made out of wax.

“There hasn’t been a human in High Court in a century. That makes you special, doesn’t it?” “Oh, they never let me forget that. It’s always ‘the human childe’.”

But trouble brews when a disgruntled elf turns the king and queen of the High Court into rodents. Then, she goes after the “Childe”. In response, he seeks out his changeling twin in the world above or the real world. And that is where our adventure begins.

“The only home I’ve ever had has been taken! This was meant to be my home, my life, and it was taken before I was old enough to remember it!” “I’ve got nothing, nowhere to go! I have as much right to be here as you!”

Along the way, they have to face goblins, magic statues, a witch and a treasure-hungry dragon. The plot is a bit simplistic but it is perfect for children who like fantasy and urban fantasy.

In fact, I picked this book up at the local game shop for my daughter and she read it in one sitting, which is a miracle because she’s a reluctant reader. I’m always looking for stories or formats that appeal to someone who enjoys video games more than books.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

She absolutely loved it and said I HAD to read it. I asked why and she said, “Because it’s just awesome.” She loved the magic and world Ethan Aldridge has created. She also loved the artwork. Her favorite character, and mine, was Whick, the brave wax golem who accompanies the Human Childe from the court below to the world above and back.

The story also touches on the sometimes difficult relationship between a brother and sister. There’s a good message about taking care of your family that I resonated with.

In conclusion, I loved that my Human Childe loved it. Highly recommended.

Thanks for reading!

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

A science fiction twist on the mystery genre — each morning a man, who can’t even remember his own name, wakes up in a different body at a party in the country. Each night, the daughter of the hosts dies. It is his job to solve the mystery to break the cycle. But where to begin?

“My dear man, what on earth happened to you?” he asks, concern crumpling his brow. “Last I saw —” … “We must fetch the police,” I said, clutching his forearm. pg 7

As the man lives the same day again and again, he discovers that he is not the only one trying to solve this mystery. And none of the people in the house are who they appear to be.

“A party?” she says, shaking her head. “Oh, my dear man, you really have no idea what’s happening here, do you?” pg 48

Any readers out there watch the television show, Quantum Leap, in the 80’s and 90’s? (It may be on Netflix now too, I don’t know.) I devoured that show every time it was on.

The television show is about a doctor named Sam Beckett who enters a time travel/quantum physics experiment and it goes terribly wrong. He finds himself stuck in the body of other people throughout history. He has to solve a mystery or right a wrong in each life and then he “leaps” into somebody else.

From the introduction to Quantum Leap: “And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.”

This story is quite similar to a mystery version of that show.

“Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder, and so the murderer won’t be caught. Rectify that injustice and I’ll show you the way out.” pg 68

I enjoyed it immensely. My only complaint is that the introduction is completely baffling until the author begins to drop clues about what’s going on. Other than that, prepare yourself for a twisting, complex ride through the same day, over and over again.

“Somebody wants me dead.” It feels strange to say it out loud, as though I’m calling fate down upon myself, but if I’m to survive until this evening, I’ll need to face down this fear.” pg 34

It doesn’t sound like very much fun, but similar to the film Groundhog Day, the reader soon discovers that much more goes on in one day than can be entirely lived through one viewpoint or life.

This book helped me ponder how complex life actually is. Imagine everything you’re missing by living each day in just one body.

Highly recommended for science fiction and mystery fans.

Thanks for reading!

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, #4) by Seanan McGuire

In this enjoyable entry in the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire, we learn the other-worldly wanderings of the person who calls herself Lundy and why she is the way she is.

Like the other children from this series, the world, in this case the Goblin Market, chose the child for specific reasons.

“Katherine’s remarkability took the form of a quiet self-assuredness, a conviction that as long as she followed the rules, she could find her way through any maze, pass cleanly through any storm.” pg 18

The most enjoyable aspect of this story is Lundy’s unrepentant bibliophilia. I think anyone who loves to read can empathize with much of her character.

“Mysteries in books were the best kind. The real world was absolutely full of boring mysteries, questions that never got answered and lost things that never got found. That wasn’t allowed, in books. In books, mysteries were always interesting and exciting, packed with daring and danger, and in the end, the good guys found the clues and the bad guys got their comeuppance.”pgs 27-28

But it is Lundy’s penchant for always trying to find a loophole in reality, which serves her well in reading and the Goblin Market, that eventually creates a problem.

“If she thought of this as a fairy tale that she had somehow stumbled into, she could handle it. She knew the rules of fairy tales. Most importantly of all, she knew that fairy tales ended with “happily ever after” and everything being just fine.” pg 48

Like McGuire’s other entries in this series, nothing is simple in this tale and there are decisions far more complex than a child can easily make. That’s part of the brilliance of it. These worlds that the children stumble into are dangerous and sometimes innocent people get hurt.

“What’s the Goblin Market?” “It is a place where dreamers go when they don’t fit in with the dreams their homes think worth dreaming.” pgs 56-57

Highly recommended for readers who like their fairy tales told with just enough reality to make it feel real. The Wayward Children series is a treat.

My other reviews in the series:

Every Heart a Doorway

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

Beneath the Sugar Sky

Thanks for reading!

Hang Wire by Adam Christopher

Hang Wire is an urban fantasy novel with a half dozen characters, some immortal, some every-day people, who come together to face a threat of a magnitude that humanity has never known.

In between flash backs to the villain setting up his ghastly scheme, readers get to follow the trail of a killer in San Francisco who garrotes his victims with thick cable and then hangs them by their necks in a grisly display.

“When the second surge threw him up to the surface, and the third pulled him down, he knew something was wrong. When he surfaced again he could hear it, a moaning, like a deep wind howling through a canyon a million miles away.” pg 10

It’s actually a rather complex plot between the flashbacks and the modern day with nearly constant back and forth skips in time, almost like waves in an ocean.

“You are the master of every situation.” pg 45

Which leads to my main complaint about this book. Similar to other urban fantasies I’ve had the privilege of reading in the past, it felt like the plot either needed to be simplified or fully fleshed out. By zipping over so much in so few pages, I felt like we only got part of the story.

“Of course it had happened before. Several times. San Francisco, like an unfortunate number of other cities across the United States, knew what it was like to have a serial killer in their midst.” pg 47

I guess the lesson I took from Hang Wire is that less is more when it comes to storytelling. And Hawaiian gods of death are incredibly cool.

Recommended for readers who don’t mind multiple flashbacks in their urban fantasy.

Thanks for reading!

The Testament of Loki (Loki, #2) by Joanne M. Harris

“Once more the Wolf at Hel’s gate greets Asgard’s heroes, one by one. Battle rages, Worlds collide. Stars fall. Once more, Death has won.” pg 5

Ragnarok has come and gone. It didn’t end well for any of the gods, goddesses or, everyone’s favorite Chaos demon, Loki. He begins this story in the same place we left him in the last one — a dungeon in the world of Chaos, wishing and dreaming for light.

What happens next is surprising and told in only the way that Joanne Harris can do it.

“Stories can do so many things. Build empires, topple kings. They can even raise the dead. I should know; they raised me.” pg 10

This wholly unique tale is more along the lines of what I had expected from The Gospel of Loki, but didn’t get. In the previous book, Harris rewrites Norse mythology in much the same way as it has always been told. I get it, she was giving us context. But, it wasn’t very much fun to read… just rehashing old stories.

In this entry, we see Loki in a whole new light with modern characters and his typical problems. It makes for a more cohesive and, in my opinion, entertaining story.

“You know, ‘crazy’ is such a negative word. I prefer ‘disordered.’ Order’s so dull. Chaos is where the party is.” pg 25

What has an immortal trickster god learned over his long lifetime? In The Gospel of Loki, he learned the only person he could trust in the world is himself. He learned what it was to be hated for what you were, rather than any actions that one may take. (Though, perhaps, he didn’t always behave in a way to endear himself to others. Not that Loki would ever admit that, of course.)

He learned that prophecies are tricky things and can be bent to be of use to those who deliver them.

“The Prophecy promised us new runes, new gods, a new beginning. And I mean to find those new runes with whatever resources this World can provide.” pg 68

Is it too late for Loki to learn new tricks?

It’s been awhile since I read Harris’ other fantasy series Runemarks, but from what little I can remember of it, I think this book leads perfectly into that one. Which is a curious thing, because Runemarks was published years before this.

Oh, that Joanne Harris. She’s so sneaky. I wonder if she planned that or was embracing a bit of chaos in her writing career. If there’s anything I’ve learned from this book and the last one, it’s that a little chaos can be a good thing.

Thanks for reading!

Windhaven: the Graphic Novel by George R.R. Martin, Lisa Tuttle

Windhaven is a world of small islands, connected by messengers who fly with intricate metal wings. The culture of the “flyers” is a closed one, with wings handed from messenger to his or her first born child.

Maris is not the child of a flyer, but that’s not going to keep her from joining their world.

“You don’t bother me. Maybe when you grow up, you can help the flyers like my friends here. Would you like that?” “No.” ” No? What then.” “I want to fly.”

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

And when she does, things will never be the same.

This graphic novel was based off of Windhaven, the first book in a fantasy series by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle. Readers get a “Game of Thrones”-ish feeling from this book in the political machinations between the flyers and those they call the “land bound.” But it lacks the intricacy and extraordinary cast of characters that is “Game of Thrones”.

Having never read anything by Tuttle, I’m not sure how she and Martin blended their visions.

“Don’t waste your time on foolish dreams! I won’t have my daughter be a woodwings!”

The artwork by Elsa Charretier is pretty and I enjoyed how she aged Maris throughout the book.

The scenes of the flyers themselves, especially a few of the chase scenes, must have been difficult to draw. Charretier had to make the characters look like they were in motion for it work. I think she did well, but the wings look kind of chunky in some of the pages, rather than the slick, technological wonders I pictured in my mind.

As for the story itself, I was surprised by the actions of some of the characters, but for the most part, it all seemed inevitable. Maybe that’s what the authors were going for — Maris’ fate was more destiny than choice.

Thanks for reading!

Shades of Magic Vol. 1: The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab

V.E. Schwab has penned a graphic novel about Maxim Maresh, one of the ancillary characters from The Shades of Magic series.

I was very excited to read this. The tidbits Schwab dropped about Maxim in the trilogy were enticing. We learned he had a storied past. He fought notable outlaw figures. Somehow he developed an extraordinary control of his powers, which others had not been able to mimic.

Under his reign, a certain magician opened the doors between the worlds to act as emissaries and messengers. But also, exposed the worlds to the greatest danger that they had ever faced.

“Before he was the King of Arnes, Maxim Maresh was a young, head strong prince with a penchant for metal magic and a lot to learn about the world beyond Red London. Banished by his own father to Verose, a city on the dangerous Blood Coast, Maxim was plunged into a world of danger and adventure.” Foreward, by V.E. Schwab.

So, who was this man? This graphic novel series sheds some light on an enigmatic figure.

“Why would you see those doors pried open again?” “Because sooner or later, all spells fail. And one day the doors to those worlds will open whether we wish it or not.”

What did I think of it? It was the first in a series. It’s hard to give all of the contextual information of a new story without it turning into an info dump or neglecting to develop the characters.

Schwab does a good job of avoiding these pitfalls, but I wanted more depth and development.

We do get to see something of “bone magic,” one of the more terrifying of the magics from Schwab’s stories. Bone magic, unlike the elemental basis of the other magics, allows the user to literally control the actions of those around them.

Bone magicians can make you throw yourself onto their enemies or your friends. Hold still while you’re tortured. Stick a knife in your own eye.

Bone magic, the removal of free will, is the idea that has continued to haunt me from the Shades of Magic series and Schwab uses it to good effect in this story.

That being said, Maxim, at first, acts like a brat and doesn’t understand the complexities of real life, running headlong into the “royalty removed from the world” trope. This focus of his character doesn’t lend itself to likability. Perhaps that will change as the series goes along. Also, we get to see so very little of his extraordinarily abilities and more of his mediocrity.

However, the artwork is stunning. I hope to read and enjoy the next volume. But I can’t say I was knocked off my feet by this installment.

Recommended, of course, for fans of the Shades of Magic series.

Thanks for reading!

The Gospel of Loki (Loki #1) by Joanne M. Harris

Joanne M. Harris treats readers to episodes from Norse mythology from Loki’s point of view.

“No doubt about it, I told myself. These bastards really don’t like me.” pg 27

Born from literal Chaos and tricked into joining Odin’s forces of Order, Loki is perpetually a child of both worlds. From his first moments out of the world of Chaos, Loki is disliked by the other gods. That leads to some initial unpleasantness and he vows, no matter how long it takes, to get his revenge.

“Till then, I bided my time, and smiled as sweetly as my scarred lips would allow, until the day I would take my revenge and bring the gods down, one by one.” pg 67

And it is a long game. Through schemes, tricks and straight up cons, Loki weaves disorder throughout the worlds.

There’s the memorable time he convinces Thor to dress up as a bride in order to sneak into the home of their enemies: “I’ll be your handmaid, Thor,” I said. “Don’t worry, I won’t steal your thunder. You’ll make a gorgeous bride.” Thor growled. pg 118

As he becomes famous for his trickery, it becomes more difficult for Loki to pull off his tricks. He’s pushed into marriage by Odin, but it doesn’t fit who he is. It isn’t in his nature to settle.

“I began to see that celebrity wasn’t all hot girls and free beer. It’s also the curse of expectation — and the bitterness of falling short.”pg 141

We all know where the story is headed, but it’s a train wreck you can’t quite look away from.

My quibbles with this book included a disjointed feel to the overall story. Loki and company run from one disaster to the next. I realize that the source material is probably the reason for this, but it just doesn’t coalesce into something more than its parts.

Odin’s gods, the gods of Order, come off as rather one note. It’s interesting how Odin was able to see potential in Loki, enough so that he calls him from Chaos to begin with, but the other immortals share none of his vision.

Other than a few notable exceptions, they never extend an olive branch or give Loki the smallest chance to prove himself. In my mind, it’s easy to see why he wants them to fall. Who wouldn’t wish that on the people who are mistreating you?

I’ve read a few of Joanne Harris’ other books, and I remember they contained delightful twists in them, so that the plot wasn’t so straight forward. She’s somehow stuck in telling conventional mythology in this book.

If only she could have used this book to tell aspects of the story we haven’t heard before, or even imagined, using the voice of one of the most interesting of the gods to do so. That would have been something I may have enjoyed even more.

Recommended for readers who adore Loki. There’s plenty of him in here, and that’s it.

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Category: Fantasy

The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M. Harris

Estranged (Estranged, #1) by Ethan M. Aldridge

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, #4) by Seanan McGuire

Hang Wire by Adam Christopher

The Testament of Loki (Loki, #2) by Joanne M. Harris

Windhaven: the Graphic Novel by George R.R. Martin, Lisa Tuttle

Shades of Magic Vol. 1: The Steel Prince by V.E. Schwab

The Gospel of Loki (Loki #1) by Joanne M. Harris

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