It begins with the birth of a baby girl, and a visit from the marsh witch...who foresees the destruction of the town (the unraveling of Wentwater). Her prophecy, like Sleeping Beauty, involves a spinning wheel, but that is where the similarities end.
This isn't the tale of a princess hiding away until her sixteenth birthday with multicolored fairy godmothers, nor is there a prince who falls in love and saves her with a kiss. It's a love triangle between a girl with pale hair and two brothers--one who steals her heart with music and the other who tries to steal her heart through a curse--that takes the town apart word by word.
What I love about Lakin's writing is her complexity of story. Yes, the characters are strong and distinct--and the villains are wickedly villainous. But what makes the books for me are the twists and turns, and Lakin's love for words creates layer upon layer in intricacy.
I also adore that this series isn't a "series" in the true sense. Rather, the stories all take place in the same realm, and are tied together, but the books can be read out of order. The series is more tapestry than time line. Which means you could actually start with this book and not find yourself lost at all. The books reference story elements in the other books, but not enough to spoil the plot if you haven't read them yet.
Oh, and the cover art is lovely on them all!
*Note--this book hasn't released yet. I reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy.
4 comments:
Lakin is churning these out quickly. The Wold of Tebron (which I believe is the first book) only came out in 2010. I'm looking forward to the next ones but waiting for them to be on the blog tour.
She is, isn't she? Makes me wonder if she's had these written for a while and they are now being published. I know it took her a while to find a publisher for the first one, so she may have had much of the others already drafted.
I found the other three a somewhat different flavor from The Wolf of Tebron. And as I said, The Map Across Time is my favorite so far. She used time travel in a brilliant way, imho :).
Map Across Time is the only one of the series (of the books that have been written so far) that I haven't read yet. Sounds like I will have to find a copy.
Yep, A.R., you must!
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