Review Detail

One of the most remarkable things about this book was the dialogue. The story was set in a time where electricity wasn’t real, there was no such thing as ‘industrial’ and magic was completely real. One of the things that can make or break a story that’s set in a place like this is the dialogue, and in this one it was on point. It made me feel like I was in a different time, but it wasn’t so overwhelmingly odd that it distracted from the story. It was just the right amount of different to really compliment the story.



This book is from the point of view of Neryn, a girl with a ‘canny’ gift. This book refers to the people who can use magic in some way as ‘canny’. Neryn was a really interesting character to follow and learn about, not only because of her canny gift but because of her life’s story. Everything that she did when she was younger and the evil kind Keldec took the thrown reflects how she acts now.



Her on-again-off-again companion Flint is something else. You don’t really know much about Flint until really late in the book. This helps a lot to make Flint look how Neryn sees him—untrustworthy. She can’t decide if he’s someone she can trust, or someone she should run from. And for the most part—you don’t know either.



The plot of this story was really nice. It flowed in a way to make me feel like she really was traveling a dangerous journey to Shadowfell, and at the same time passing these ‘tests’ the Good Folk tell her about. Oh, the Good Folk—some of my favorite characters in this book were those Good Folk. They’re all kinds of odd little things, but they’re all different and fun—and they help Neryn on her journey. One of my favorite characters is called a ‘Stanie Mon’. They don’t do much—but somehow they became my favorite.



This story may take a little more focus than others, but it was worth it. It was a great story, and I can’t wait for the second book to come out.