Tag: good and evil

Tree of Ages (Tree of Ages #1) by Sara C. Roethle

Tree of Ages (Tree of Ages #1) by Sara C. Roethle

Tree of Ages is a fantasy novel about a tree who becomes a girl… or is it a girl who becomes a tree and then reverts back into a girl?

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Finn is trying to figure out who she is and so is the rest of the world- which itself is on the verge of something big, something having to do with the magical creatures.  Author Sara Roethle calls these creatures, ‘Faie,’ who disappeared years ago and now are reappearing all over the place.

The group’s trip into the fairy forest was my favorite part. That whole section had me flying through the pages, I just had to know what was going to happen next!

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Sadly, this is only the first installment and I was left with so many questions: will Finn ever figure out who she is? Will Aed come to terms with his shadowy past? Will Iseult clear his family name?

Guess I’ll have to read the next novel to find out…

This book, the first in a series, reminded me of Katharine Kerr’s Deverry saga. We have an old, wizard type person in Aed (Nevyn in Deverry), who is trying to help a young female, Finn (Jill in Deverry), come into her powers. Then there’s the confused, tormented, perhaps love interest, Iseult (Rhodry in Deverry) and a whole cast of other characters who are along for the ride.

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And, like Kerr’s creation, the world that Roethle has crafted is very large and unexpected with, sometimes terrifying, creatures.

I’d recommend Tree of Ages for anyone who loves high fantasy.

If you like this, I’d also suggest Katharine Kerr’s Deverry (start with Daggerspell) and Kage Baker’s The Company series (start with In the Garden of Iden).

Baker’s world is more of a steam punk/historical fiction/low fantasy type place, but I think that the relationships that she has knit together were quite like what Roethle has made in Tree of Ages.

Here’s a short book trailer for “Tree of Ages” by Sara C Roethle. Available on all digital platforms for only 99 cents: https://books2read.com/u/bw8XAe

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check! And thank you for reading.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making is a modern take on more traditional fairy tales wherein a child finds a way to another world and comes back changed.

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I first read the title of this book in Catherynne Valente‘s much more adult novel, Palimpsest. I think it was mentioned as sitting on someone’s book shelf. I remember thinking how I wish I could read that book too. Imagine my surprise to discover it was actually a book in the real world. Of course, I had to pick it up.

“You seem an ill-tempered and irascible enough child,” said the Green Wind. “How would you like to come away with me and ride upon the Leopard of Little Breezes and be delivered to the great sea, which borders Fairyland?” pg 2

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How could any heroine refuse an invitation like that?

The main character of this tale, a girl with the curious name of September, has read enough books to know a once-in-a-lifetime chance when she sees it. Though she doubts, at first, that she is the appropriate girl for the adventure.

“In stories, when someone appears in a poof of green clouds and asks a girl to go away on an adventure, it’s because she’s special, because she’s smart and strong and can solve riddles and fight with swords and give really good speeches, and… I don’t know that I’m any of those things.” pg 14

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Part of Valente’s fairytale, like most good fairytales, is how September realizes how special she actually is — one of the conclusions heroes tend to arrive at during their various journeys.

September’s journey is a danger-filled jaunt through a land under the thumb of a smartly-hatted villain named the Marquess. September meets curious characters along the way including a trio of witches, a wyvern who claims his father is a library, and a boy from under the ocean with dark eyes and a secret.

The story contains plenty of winks and nods to anyone who loves reading: “Stories have a way of changing faces. They are unruly things, undisciplined, given to delinquency and the throwing of erasers. This is why we must close them up into thick, solid books, so they cannot get out and cause trouble.” pg 36

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And: “She sounds like someone who spends a lot of time in libraries, which are the best sorts of people.” pg 55

They are the best sorts, aren’t they.

Recommended for young adults, the young-at-heart, or anyone who enjoys quirky portal fantasy reads. I thought this book was charming.