Golden Daughter is the seventh book in the Tales of
Goldstone Wood series (this is a review of a free preview copy) and is a worthy
addition to an excellent series. Until I
picked up these books, I was quite convinced that any fantasy writer worth
reading had been dead for fifty years or more.
Happily I am quite mistaken; Ms. Stengl is a worthy heir to George
Macdonald, Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis. In
this book particularly she combines the aching beauty of Macdonald, the whimsy
and charm of Lewis, and the intricate world-building of Tolkien with her own
quick wit, all too real characters, a complex and interconnected plot, superb
writing, and shrewd humor, enwrapping it all in a mystique and intrigue that
may well lead to lost sleep and neglected duties as the reader falls under her
spell and desires nothing else in life but to know what happens next. This book can be read as a stand alone, but I
would recommend starting at the beginning as it fleshes out and explains some
of the questions left from earlier in the series and you will get far more out
of it if you already understand something of the world in which it
happens.
This book deepens and widens an already immense world, adds
new characters that feel more real, more complex than some of the people you
meet in real life, and only worsens the yearning to hear the Song of Spheres
for yourself. There is sorrow, pain,
grief, despair, and darkness in this story as in life, but there is a hope
beyond the doubt, a light beyond the darkness, life beyond death. This book will stir the deep places of the
soul and ask of you the same questions the characters themselves must face,
which is exactly what a good book does, for a good story is not merely a well
told tale but a mirror upon ourselves and the world at large, if only we have
the courage to look therein. I very much
enjoyed this book and impatiently await the advent of the next addition to the
series!
No comments:
Post a Comment