Review Detail

Lili Wilkinson has set up an enthralling magical world as the setting for her story. The story felt like it was two parts even though the events in the first half of the book directly led to the second. In the first half, our character, Maude is on a quest to find her former friend Odette that disappeared a few weeks ago. In a series of memories, we see why Odette is important to Maude and why she feels responsible for finding her and is the only one who can. During this portion of the story, I had a hard time connecting to Maude because Odette really used her and then abandoned her when she was no longer able to provide her with her deep sought desire for a connection to magic. Yet, Maude is loyal and true and put herself in true peril to rescue Odette who has a toxic personality.
The author did a fantastic job making Maude feel real while her magical constructs Ginger and Winnie felt one-dimensional and yet on the path to evolving into something more. Maude accidentally brought them to life when she was twelve and they have developed ever since at the abandoned plant. The feel of the characters reinforces the magical mistakes that Maude made as a child while also making her responsible for helping them as well.
Rufus is a gem in the story and I would have loved for him to have had a larger role. I loved that he defended Maude and told Odette that she was a terrible friend when Maude could not. Maude spends a long time dismissing him and it feels special when she finally sees him. I loved that he breaks through and gets Maude to go back and fix her mistakes leading to a truly awesome ending.
I enjoyed the layers in this story. Maude has a lot of work to do that she thought started and ended when she saved Odette. However, there are generational mistakes, magical mistakes, and ecological mistakes that she must face to set things on a better course.
Maude has great potential and I wonder if we will revisit her world in the future to fight the magical corporations and the oppressive government restrictions that also make this world a dystopia for magic users like herself. It feels wrong to leave her story with that power imbalance after she works so hard to fix one ecological/magical disaster created by these entities.
While this is a fantasy world, I liked the exploration of the ecological disaster that the government and witches artificially fixed and the way it was truly fixed. I think discussion and parallels can be made to our own ecological situations and inspire future generations to find a better path forward.