Review Detail

I realized the other day that I, for some reason, always seem to mix up Catherine Fisher and Cornelia Funke. This led to me being a little hesitant to pick up The Obsidian Mirror because I was thinking it was written by Funke and I haven't particularly cared for any of her books. I did, however, enjoy Incarceron and ended up being rather pleased with The Obsidian Mirror as well.

I'm not going to lie. I was pretty darn confused for the first few chapters. Heck, I didn't realize it was set in the present until they were on a plane (and then I only realized halfway through the ride), but then again, I can be pretty unobservant. There's a lot of mystery and dancing around the main story, but eventually things start coming to light and I don't think it took too long either.

I often don't like the third-person omniscient POV because it can be confusing and feel too far removed from the characters and the story, but Fisher does an excellent job with it. Sometimes it will transition from one person to another within the space of a few paragraphs with no warning, but it was so smooth that it didn't bother me at all. And thankfully, I liked all the characters. I wasn't particularly disappointed when it would move from one character's situation to another because I was equally interested in them.

I loved learning all about the mirror, it's past and future. I'm really hoping that we'll eventually figure out the mirror's backstory because even while everything else is going on, there's the ever-present question: where did the mirror come from and what was it's original purpose? On top of that, there's both the past and present strorylines which I'm dying to know more about.

The Nutshell: The Obsidian Mirror has pretty much everything you could ask of a scifi/fantasy. Time travel, a desolate future, a man determined at all costs to get what he wants, interesting faeries, and about a million storylines that manage not to get all tangled and confusing. If you're looking for a story that will capture you with it's mysteries, you should definitely check out The Obsidian Mirror.
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