This is a classic Fantasy, based on the traditional Hero’s Journey format. The heroine, Grey, goes on a physical and metaphysical journey as she matures and struggles with the fact that her future is bound up in her past. Images of metamorphosis abound as she sheds the ties that bind her. It is a story of emotions and dreams. It is a slow read, delving into the thoughts and souls of the main characters.
A great deal of the narrative is involved with philosophy and psychology, explained as the point of view rotates among the three characters. It is all intricately entwined in the story of the journey, but it is explanation, nonetheless.
The metaphysical journey is revealed by soliloquies of the inner thoughts of the characters and dream sequences that seem to predict the future, giving the whole reading experience a surrealistic feel.
The conflict is on multiple levels, with simple good-versus-evil tension interwoven tightly with complex interpersonal interactions, individual inner conflicts, and magical tensions. The story is anchored by serious themes like the nature of power and the double-edged swords of friendship and love, truth and lies.
The author himself sums up the difficulty with the story in his blurb at the end. “I have a tendency to take much longer to tell a story than is necessarily required.” The intricacy of the metaphysical world and the philosophical complexity of the ideas does demand a lot of explanation, but too often it is taken to extremes.
The pace is recovered by several places by tense and well-presented action sequences, but each time we surface for a breath of normal reading, we are immediately pulled back into the endless maze of the characters’ minds.
A slippery point of view and sloppy paragraphing don’t help. Many times, I was forced to stop and go back to find out who, exactly, was talking at a given point.
The saving grace of the plotline is that, in the end, it does work out, and the multiple conflicts do come together in a satisfying conclusion, with a clear path leading towards the next book of the series. This is Book 3, but it can be read as a stand-alone.
Highly recommended for Fantasy fans who aren’t in a hurry, and like their reading experience to be evocative, emotional, and thoughtful.
(5 / 5)
This review was originally published on Reedsy Discovery.