Rutabaga's Reads 2022: Part 24

With 2022 quickly coming to an end, I’m not a moment too soon in sneaking in the third YA compilation post of this year. These are all authors familiar to me.

The Ballad of Never After (Sept. 13, 2022) by Stephanie Garber.

*This is the second novel in a trilogy.* 

“One for luck. One for truth. One for mirth. One for youth.” These are the four stones needed to re-open the Valory Arch. One was found by the previous key. The task now falls to Evangeline Fox, the young woman who used to believe that love was like a house. Now she wonders if love is “more like a war with new foes constantly appearing and battles creeping up.” Love is something to fight for, over and over. And Evangeline is fighting ... to live. Her first love has made a reappearance (as a vampire), her husband has been cursed to kill her (like The Ballad of the Archer and the Fox) and Jacks is as aloof – but sometimes protective – as ever (for his own agenda). She knows that she cannot trust Jacks (a.k.a. the Prince of Hearts), and she swears she won’t look for, rely upon or think about him, but that’s all easier said than done, especially when Jacks always tends to show up. But when a new curse surfaces – one turning Apollo’s eyes a glaring red – Jacks might be the only one she can trust. As much as she desires to loathe him, she also desires him, as says her traitorous heart. But Jacks can only kiss one person without killing her, and that kiss never belonged to Evangeline. With new foes, fresh betrayals by one considered a friend and magic that is as mischievous as it is wondrous, the Magnificent North is a crafty place.

            Amidst the tulle and the beauty are sharp-edged daggers and curses that draw blood. It is, at turns, as gorgeous as a decadent ball, but also dark with menace and violence. Evangeline’s seemingly endless hope grated my nerves, because, from the reader’s perspective, you know she’s making a terrible decision, but I remained drawn to the story with its dangerous allure and graceful edginess. It’s a world that I get lost in with characters that’d be intriguing to interact with, Jacks especially. Despite that he’s a Fate, dazzlingly inhuman, untrustworthily charming and potentially deadly, or perhaps because he is. The middle novel in the Once Upon a Broken Heart trilogy manages to glimmer and dazzle with magic, mystery, deceit, passion, hope and danger. The novel’s ending has me wishing I could read the final installment yesterday.

            Book One: Once Upon a Broken Heart

            Note of interest: The original Great Houses: Fortuna, Slaughterwood, Merrywood, Redthorne, Hawkleaf, Casstel, Bloodgrave, Verita, Ravencross, Darling, Havok, Bellflower, and Acadian (p. 131).

            Wondering: How did the Fates come to be? Without giving away spoilers, more than one Fate seems to have ties to the original Great Houses. I’m just putting it out there that I wouldn’t say no to reading a story from Jacks’ POV or even a story of how all the Fates became Fates.

Bravely (May 3, 2022) by Maggie Stiefvater.

*This is a standalone novel, but is marketed as a sequel to Disney’s Brave​.*

Stagnation has come to DunBroch and with it, a threat to the kingdom in the form of Feradach, the god who wears many faces and appears differently to each person he encounters. He demolishes and destroys so that what’s gone stagnant can be made new (“I am not cruel, Merida. I am nature.”). But it’s been so long since change has come to DunBroch. Merida continues to prefer archery to embroidery, the triplets are chaos manifested, King Fergus remains jovial and Queen Elinor is as eternally regal as can be with DunBroch itself looking lackluster. Shingles need replacing, various things need fixing, and DunBroch is falling into neglect, but Merida refuses to watch her beloved home be destroyed along with her and her entire family. A small light of hope surfaces with the intervention of the Cailleach, an ancient goddess of creation, the goddess of Scotland (“Bringer of rain, of life, of justice.”). Merida has a year to change her family or be destroyed, but she can talk to no one of this deal outside the three who made it. Feradach must see her work and she must see his. Feradach’s work balances life, which Merida doesn’t at first understand. She only sees him as a destroyer, rather like the Dasachtach, who pillages and gruesomely kills because he’s a violent, vicious tyrant with a god complex. The Dasachtach (Domhnall mac Alpin) will never change, but Feradach, against all expectation, might. Through all of this, Merida will voyage to three kingdoms to inspire those she loves, but she’s forgetting the one Clan member who’s grown the most stagnant. Herself.

            A novel that accepts the movie, Brave, as canon, this is a different sort of fairy tale, one for older readers. Since the movie’s events, Merida and Queen Elinor have negotiated a truce to never discuss betrothals or marriage. Merida has spent a year traveling before having to travel yet again (to save DunBroch). As I expected, Stiefvater has crafted a wonderful world, not only pulling from the familiar movie, but incorporating her understanding of medieval history (see her author’s note) and her own skill at writing. Despite the pressure Merida feels to change those she loves, the novel has a languid quality to the reading. To be fair, stories often journey slower than movies do, but the story does contain adventure and ruin, pluck and tenacity. Central to the story is Merida having to grow up and the growing pains that come along with that. It’s also a story of how saving loved ones can mean altering what one knows and is familiar with. In other words, change can be hard and hard to accept. I love the unexpected depth written for Feradach and Queen Elinor. It had me seeing both of them through a different lens, which feels heavy and notable. Not all will fall under the literary spell the movie started, but it should be a win for readers of YA looking for something familiar but maturing.

The Dragon’s Promise (Aug. 30, 2022) by Elizabeth Lim.

*This is the concluding novel in a duology.*

To uphold the promise she made to her stepmother, Princess Shiori’anma (the youngest of seven and only daughter of Emperor Hanriyu) will journey to Ai’long, the realm of dragons, at the bottom of the Taijin Sea. She has vowed to return the dragon’s pearl to its rightful owner, but Dragon King Nazayun expects her to give the pearl to him when she only stated she’d bring it to him. It doesn’t belong to Nazayun, but to the Wraith. The Wraith’s pearl is unlike other dragons’ pearls and not only because it’s broken. Escaping from Ai’long is harrowing, and Shiori learns that she should trust Seryu’ginan, while also falling victim to betrayal. It is here that she first meets Gen (turning to stone). Being home in the Imperial Palace in Gindara is weighted, not only because she still has the pearl, but because the realm now knows she’s a sorceress in a land that’s not supposed to have magic. As the Kingdom of Kiata’s bloodsake, there are many that would condemn her and harm her. The most frenzied want to kill her, thus keeping the demons sealed in the Holy Mountains of Fortitude. But there’s one demon that won’t be sealed in. He was once an enchanter, turning demon when he broke his oath and killed someone. Fueled by greed and the power of magic, he greedily wants more power from the pearl. He plans, of course, to kill Shiori. To locate the Wraith, Shiori will need to venture across the Cuiyan Ocean and over the enchanted waters of Lake Paduan to the Forgotten Isles of Lapzur. She won’t be alone. She’ll have her six brothers (back in crane form), Bushi’an Takkan (her betrothed) and Kiki (her paper bird). Unfortunately, she’s still got the pearl (thrumming with malevolent, usually unpredictable power) and a powerful demon semi-trapped in an amulet. Shiori’s going to need more strength than she’s ever imagined having if she’s going to survive and defend those she loves.

            A concluding novel in the Six Crimson Cranes duology, this story is a literary work of art, as vibrant and sweeping as a painter with paints on canvas filled with colors bright and bold, graceful and light, but also dark and murky, dangerous and wild. With more than one quest for the heroine, there’s no shortage of adventure in this YA tale. Shiori remains stubborn and impulsive, though her impulsivity is sometimes quelled when listening to others’ advice finally wins out. This is a tale of love and keeping promises (no matter the cost to oneself) and of allies who help grow the main character, just as much as it’s a story that integrates Chinese legends, young love, powerful dragons and treacherous demons. It’s not a relaxing read, but a dramatic one. It’s an adventure that I’m glad to have gone on.

            P.S. For someone who’s read Lim’s The Blood of Stars duology, it was nice to meet Gen before he’s a full-fledged enchanter.

            Book One: Six Crimson Cranes