The beginning of the end

Book Review:  The Black Elfstone by Terry Brooks

An army is approaching from the north and they have the ability to magically shift from one place to another in an instant.  Two tribes of Trolls, seasoned warriors, are annihilated by this army.  Who are they?  What do they want?  Why are they intent on destroying everyone in their path?   Under the leadership of a paranoid, self-serving Ard Rhys, Paranor is a shadow of its former self.  Still, the Druids attempt what no one else has -- they send a delegation to learn what they can about the invaders from the north.

In the small town of Backing Fell, the magic of the wishsong appears in siblings Tarsha and Tavo Kaynin.  Although younger, the magic appears in Tarsha first and it seems a gentle thing, readily responding to her wishes.  Tavo has suffered from black moods for years when the magic emerges in him -- and when it does, it's violent, destructive, and uncontrollable.  

There's a lot of drama in this first installment of the projected four-part conclusion to the Shannara series.  The Tarsha/Tavo storyline is classic Shannara and represents what I feel is the heart of the series: a sheltered youth whose actions will determine the fates of many.  Tavo presents a new exploration of this theme:  is he volatile because the magic within him is volatile, or is the magic destructive because he is destructive?  That said, I think there's another question to be considered as well:  Has there been an outside force exerting its influence on Tavo from a young age?

Back in the Ilse Witch days, Grianne Ohmsford was groomed by the Morgawr, and committed horrible acts before being turned around by the efforts of her brother, Bek Ohmsford, and the Druid, Walker Boh.  So, there's precedent for suspecting that Tavo has been deliberately molded by a malevolent being, for its own purposes.  Tavo is an unreliable narrator, so it's hard to know what can be taken at face value, but he remembers that he wasn't always like he is now.  Things seemed to drastically change around his fifteenth birthday.  He became subject to sudden rages and feelings of hostility towards everyone, most of the time without reason.  And years later, leaving carnage in his wake, Tavo mentions his only true friend, Fluken.  No one else can see this individual.  It's possible that Fluken is just a figment of a deranged imagination but I suspect he's real.  Tavo remembers Tarsha looking at him oddly, from time to time -- did she sense something shadowing her brother?  The world of Shannara is filled with beings who show themselves only to those they choose. 


To help her brother, Tarsha seeks out Drisker Arc, former Ard Rhys, now reclusive exiled Druid.  Drisker is impressed with her initiative and her skill; he agrees.  However, when two separate groups of assassins come for him, their agreement is interrupted.  A journey to Varfleet reveals that someone within Paranor ordered the contract.  It also introduces Drisker to a resourceful young orphan named Shea Ohmsford.

It wouldn't be a Shannara story without a Leah.  Dar Leah is the High Druid's Blade.  He is part of the delegation sent to investigate the invading army.  There is way too much drama between him and his former lover, a Druid named Zia.  I get that working with an ex you still have feelings for is awkward, but this storyline felt overwritten.  I think it would have had more impact if Brooks had focused more on a glance here, a terse comment there, rather than paragraphs of introspection and endless arguments.  It felt like I was being told repeatedly that these two characters still had feelings for one another -- but I never actually felt their turmoil.  Brooks writes romance best when it's a plot complication rather than a storyline (Amberle and Wil in The Elfstones of Shannara).


As there are three books yet to come, several questions remain unanswered.  Three of the biggest questions I'm most intrigued by are:  What is the leader of the invading army's interest in Dar Leah?  Is Fluken real or imaginary?  And who is Kassen Drue, truly???  Separate characters, each of whom we can trust to be attentive to detail, describe him differently.  Some see him as smooth-faced, unusually pale, and quite blond -- and at least one describes his face as showing some weathering and much exposure to the outdoors.  Two of these different perceptions occurred on the same day -- why so different?  And does it have anything to do with the statement, "Like I do the life within me" (in response to the question of whether he loves a girl -- just before he kills her).  What is he??? 

Up next:  The Skaar Invasion

Three parts, four twists, one gripping read

Book Review:  The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
 

There are four books that I've re-read immediately after reading them for the first time.  This is one of them.

Richard is Vanessa's ex-husband and Nellie's fiancé.  The Wife Between Us begins with alternating chapters between Vanessa and Nellie, each detailing their relationships with Richard.  It's obvious that he is a charismatic but controlling partner.  While his manipulations appear considerate on the surface, they are not.  Richard has a dark side that Vanessa is well-acquainted with and Nellie is soon to discover.

Despite the warnings to assume nothing, there is one assumption that I believe every reader will make and it will lead to Twist 1.  I loved Twist 1 the first time I read the book.  I liked it the second time.  It's a good twist; the only reason that I went from loving it to liking it is that we're dealing with an unreliable narrator.  When I read the book again, immediately after finishing it the first time, I was expecting to notice clues that I'd missed the first time. Instead, I discovered that the version of events was inconsistent -- at least it appeared that way.  Going back through my notes now, as I'm writing this review, I'm reminded that the inconsistency was largely due to my interpretation of the narration.  Very little means what you think it means in this novel.  I may give this book a third read, to fully appreciate the dexterity of the authors in leading us astray.

Twist 2 is closely related to Twist 1.  If Twist 1 was clever, Twist 2 is brilliant. 

Readers more attentive than I may suspect Twist 3 as they are reading.  There are a few hints regarding Twist 4.  There's one more revelation that some might count as a Twist but it's fairly small and it didn't have a huge effect on events, so I'm just counting it as a reveal.

Highly recommended!

Don't you know that you're toxic?

Book Review:  Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen

Hannah returns home from a training session in Oxford, to find that her boyfriend of four years, Matt, is gone.  His belongings have been removed from their house and her belongings have been rearranged to the way they were when the house was hers alone.  Every text she's ever sent him has been deleted from her phone, as well as every photo of him.  His social media accounts have disappeared.  She can find no trace of him, except for one, an old social media photo that he was never tagged in.  

She's desperate to know what happened.  Consumed by the need to know where Matt is, she starts slipping at work -- and it's noticed.  Once on-track for a promotion, she finds herself in danger of losing her job.  It doesn't matter though -- she's certain that once she finds Matt, everything will be okay.  Until she does -- and it isn't.

At first, I questioned whether Matt was a real person or a figment of her imagination, but he's real.  Hannah is an unreliable narrator though -- there are plenty of hints to indicate this throughout the book.  There's more to her history with Matt than she is willing to admit -- and that's what kept me reading.  Hannah is not a likeable character.  She has toxic relationship with her best friend (also not a likeable character) and there's something amiss with her parents.  And it's simply hard to relate to someone so fixated on someone else.  I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened between Matt and Hannah that was so bad that he felt the need to disappear so completely.  I had a guess and I was close to the truth.

The ending offers a twist with all sorts of questions.  A solid but tough read.  I don't always have to like the main character to like the book -- I loved Gone Girl and The Perfect Ghost, but I still don't know how to sum up my reaction to this one.  Uncomfortable?  It was well-written and I'll admit that I flipped its pages furiously, to see what happened next.  Maybe it's the fact that Hannah is so unrelatable for me -- Gone Girl's Amy was a monster, yes, but there were parts of her story I could empathize with, and The Perfect Ghost was so brilliantly written that I had to re-read it immediately.  I suppose what troubles me about Hannah is that I don't understand her obsession with Matt -- he's not the first guy to leave her -- but he is the first guy to disappear.  Maybe if he'd just moved out but left a note, it would have been different?  

Weekend getaway to a remote cabin in the woods? Maybe not.

Book Review:  in a dark, dark wood by Ruth Ware

Although she once considered Clare her best friend, it's been ten years since Nora has had any contact with her.  So, she's conflicted when she receives an invite to Clare's hen party weekend.  Her curiosity outweighs her misgivings -- she accepts the invite.  And wakes up in the hospital afterwards with little memory of what happened on the last night, a night that left at least one person dead -- a night that made Nora a suspect in a murder investigation.

Ware uses flashbacks to effectively create a compelling mystery with a menacing tone.  Beyond the initial "why was she racing through the woods?", "who died?", and "what happened?", I have to admit, the biggest mystery for me was why anyone chose to remain Clare's friend once she revealed her toxicity.  That said, Nora's not the only one at the party who's seen Clare's dark side and chose to attend anyway.  Clare has the kind of magnetism that draws people in, despite themselves.

I needed the big secret spelled out for me -- the one that caused Nora to suddenly switch schools at age 16 and cut off ties with most of her schoolmates.  Things slow down a bit after that reveal, mainly because the reader now knows who the likely murderer is.  The rest is just details.  There is suspense (and frustration) in wondering if Nora will figure it out before it's too late.

Aside of a couple of questionable scenes (if you're already spooked, and you find the kitchen door open in the middle of the night, wouldn't you check the whole house before going back to bed?), this novel was plotted for maximum impact. Although the characters didn't really grab me, in a dark, dark wood is well-written with a deliciously spooky setting (a glass house, off the beaten track, in the middle of the woods, with no cellphone reception).