Torch (The Flight and Flame Trilogy, Book 3)

Written by R. J. Anderson

Enclave Publishing

978-1-62184-160-9

239 pp.

Ages 11+

February 2021

 

 

When we first met the piskey Ivy in Swift, the first book in R. J. Anderson's The Flight and Flame Trilogy, she'd been determined to look out for her family and friends of the Delve, worried about poisonous air and long-held conflicts with spriggans, faeries and even humans. But, because of her unique wingless nature, Ivy has always had to prove herself. In the second book, Nomad, while looking to help the piskeys of the Delve escape the tyranny of her Aunt Betony, the Joan i.e., the queen of the Delve, Ivy becomes romantically involved with the spriggan-faery Martin whose own story needed telling. Then, after a violent confrontation with the Joan, a handful of piskeys, including Ivy's little sister Cicely, brother Mica and his fellow hunter Maddock, follow Ivy above-ground.

Now, Ivy is challenged to providing a safe home for the piskeys who've followed her, but worries that she could never become the Joan they need, as she lacks the skill of making fire at will. Things become worse when a deception is perpetrated to make her appear to make fire, and she is compelled into a betrothal with Maddock who offers to act as her Jack, the consort to the Joan. But Ivy and the piskeys know that Betony will not stand to lose her people to Ivy and an attack is sure to come. Fortunately for Ivy, she can rely on the help of faeries Thorn and Broch, and especially Martin who comes to her aid time and time again. Unfortunately, Martin is a spriggan and hated by the piskeys for being so, and Ivy must hide her love for Martin from her people.

But Martin, who had always believed himself to be the last of the spriggans who'd been killed off in conflicts with the piskeys, discovers a barrow of chambers with spriggan treasure, arms and stores. Most surprising are the egg-like shells harbouring young spriggans. While Martin nurtures the awakened young spriggans, about thirty boys and girls, becoming a true leader to his people, Ivy is torn between being with Martin, doing what's right for her own people, and contending with their distrust of all spriggans and faeries. Though Ivy knows that Martin has had his own issues with her people, she has come to trust him and he repeatedly shows himself to be worthy of that trust. But can Ivy find a way to save the piskeys, from the poison in the Delve and the tyranny of Betony and her Jack Gossan, bring peace between those who distrust and discriminate, and still be with Martin?

 

R. J. Anderson may be writing about fantastical creatures like piskeys, spriggans and faeries but the hostility between these groups and Ivy's need to balance her own wishes with the obligations she feels to her people are as human as anything we might experience. Mica's infuriating knows-better attitude and Cicely's petulance when she doesn't get what she wants are all too human, as is Ivy's unhappiness with being pressured to do what everyone else decides is the right thing to do. When she leads with her heart, driven by her love for Martin and her people, she leads well as a true Joan would.

But Torch is also a book of fantasy, of incredible people who inhabit Cornwall and beyond. Some are tasked with digging while others protect treasure. They can shape-shift and cast glamours and spells and wards of protection.  The worlds of Torch, as in Swift and Nomad, are both imaginative and real, and R. J. Anderson has excelled at making the reader feel everything from the gentleness of love to the anger of frustration with her characters. Thankfully through all that emotion and otherworldliness, R. J. Anderson has resolved her tale of the Cornish piskeys and their neighbours with much heart, happiness and hope, demonstrating that it's possible to find the way through conflict and prejudice to understanding and love.

A Little Taste of...new youngCanLit: Multi-author book launch (Waterloo, ON)

Partake in a little taste of youngCanLit,

middle grade and young adult, 

at this multi-author book launch

for

A Little Taste of Poison

by R. J. Anderson

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

978-1-481437714

352 pp.

Ages 10+

September 2016

Reviewed here

The Swan Riders 

by Erin Bow

Margaret K. McElderry Books

978-1481442749

384 pp.

Ages 14+

September 2016

Icarus Down

by James Bow

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-3913-7

374 pp.

Ages 12+

August 2016

Howard Wallace, P.I.

by Casey Lyall

Sterling Children's Books

978-1454919490

272 pp.

Ages 8-12

September 2016

on

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

 at 7 p.m.

Words Worth Books

96 King St. S.

Waterloo ON

(519) 884-2665

A Little Taste of Poison

Written by R. J. Anderson

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

978-1-481437714

352 pp.

Ages 10+

September 2016

Move over Harry Potter (well, J. K. Rowling has sort of taken care of that now) because there's a new magic in town and Isaveth Breck, a Moshite girl from a commoner's family, is its champion.  If you've read Book 1 in this new middle-grade series by R. J. Anderson (and you should have!), A Pocket Full of Murder (Atheneum, 2015), you already know about this young girl whose father, a stonemason, was arrested for the murder by Common Magic, not by Sagery the magic of the nobles, of the head of Tarreton College, Governor Orien.  Only with the help of a street-boy named Quiz, who turns out to be the ruling Sagelord's youngest son, Esmond Lilord, and her own proficiency in Common Magic, does Isaveth discover the true culprits and gets her father freed.  Ah, it should be the end of the story, but it's only the beginning of a twisted conspiracy with Esmond's older brother, Eryx Lording, at its center.

Though her family continues to face the challenges of being practising Moshites, considered lawless and radical by much of society, and of Papa finding limited work and of the family struggling with finances, Isaveth has benefitted from her friendship with Esmond.  He introduced her to the charming president of Glow-Mor Light and Fire Company, J. J. Wregget, who purchased her magic-resistant paper and has offered her a scholarship to attend the excusive Tarreton College for nobility and the wealthy, which offers general and magical (i.e., Sagery) education.

It would appear that things are on the upswing for Isaveth and her family, but her attendance at Tarreton brings new incidents of discrimination and bullying against the thirteen-year-old girl.  Though Esmond, who is a year ahead of her, continues to communicate secretly with Isaveth in the hopes of a kiss (!) and of exposing the evil deeds of his cunning brother, the two try to keep their relationship a secret.  But Isaveth does make the acquaintance of the friendly and supportive, though still secretive, Eulalie Fairpont, daughter of the new Deputy Justice.

While Esmond searches for evidence of Eryx’s guilt, amidst party planning for his sister Civilla’s coming-of-age ball (depicted on the cover of A Little Taste of Poison), concern grows for the health of his bombastic father, Lord Arvis, the Sagelord.  But, the masked ball, to which Esmond arranges for Isaveth to attend, brings more mysterious circumstances, including a murder worthy of an Agatha Christie story.

A Little Taste of Poison, and its predecessor A Pocket Full of Murder, are no ordinary mysteries however.  R. J. Anderson creates a time and place of magic like no other.  The worlds in which these mysteries take place are complex and otherworldly, filled with spell-tablets and magic cookery, political and educational institutions ruled by sagelords, masters and mistresses, imperials for money, contraptions like crystal-sets, and a society of Arcans, Uniting folk and Moshites.   And all of it adds to the richness of the story, the characters and the messages against discrimination and greed and for equality, determination, and courage.  That’s an astounding accomplishment for a fantasy novel for middle-grade readers.  But, just as Dr. Seuss penned cheerful rhyming children’s books disguised as parables, R. J. Anderson writes extraordinary fantasies steeped in magic that have much to teach us about society.

“…just because you don’t have money doesn’t mean you’ve got no worth” (pg. 153)

By inviting us into Tarreton and environs, and a time of both a familiar past and unfamiliar age,  R. J. Anderson easily entertains, teaches and pleases the reader with her words and story.

Come and hear R. J. Anderson read, and perhaps get a book or two signed, at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival this September 18, 2016. Details here at CanLit for LittleCanadians.

A Pocket Full of Murder

by R. J. Anderson

Atheneum Books For Young Readers

978-1-4814-3771-4

352 pp.

Ages 9-12

September 2015

R. J. Anderson, best known for her complex young adult fantasy novels involving faeries and magic   (e.g., Arrow, Nomad, etc.) and science fiction (e.g., Ultraviolet and Quicksilver) with romantic entanglements, delves into a very different fantasy with A Pocket Full of Murder.  But, R. J. Anderson is just as skilful in writing the middle-grade fiction immersed in magic and mystery that is A Pocket Full of Murder. 

Life for twelve-year-old Isaveth Breck and her sisters Annagail, Mimmi and Lilet is anything but easy since their Mama, a talented spell maker, has passed and Papa, a stonemason, has been without steady work.  Moreover, because of their Moshite ancestry and beliefs, the Brecks experience discrimination and limited opportunities.  But they keep on keeping on.  Though she had her schooling for becoming a healer interrupted, Annagail works at the shirt factory.  Papa looks for any small jobs, though resentful of a cancelled job for building the new charmery for Tarreton College.  And Isaveth is determined to learn to make Common Magic–different from Sagery, the magic of the Sages and the nobles–and sell her spell-tablets, for light, heat, etc.  just as her mother had once.

While poverty and discrimination may be their greatest concerns, the arrest of Papa for the murder of the governor of Tarreton College, Master Orien, the man who’d initially cancelled his commission for the charm house,  changes everything.  Luckily, Isaveth makes the acquaintance of an eye-patched street-boy named Quiz, who not only defends her from a local bully and also likes to listen to the talkie-play about justice seeker Auradia Champion but is convinced her father is innocent.  And Quiz is determined to help prove it.  Together, Isaveth and Quiz collaborate to infiltrate Tarreton College and the Workers’ Club to whom her father belonged to attempt to solve the of mystery of Master Orien’s death.  

But, R. J. Anderson makes the story more than just a murder mystery by infusing her tale with magic elements and embedding it in a society of unique hierarchy, beliefs, money and transportation.  Everything is fresh and thought-provoking, providing layers of newness to the concept of a whodunit for young readers.  And yet readers will recognize the issues of friendship, trust, independence, sadness, and family that will make it all so familiar and provoke empathy, allowing R. J. Anderson to share much wisdom to middle-grade readers.

You don’t have to be sad all the itime, you know.  It doesn’t make anything better. (pg. 138) 

…he believed things like friendship could be bought and sold so easily.  Everything was negotiable to him, even his principles.  But what was the point of being wealthy, or even comfortabley well off if you had to betray the people who cared about you  to get there?  What was the use of having everything if it cost you your soul? (pg. 335)

A Pocket Full of Murder has a superbly crafted murder mystery charmed with a world of new characters and a curious culture that will surely sustain a succession of plots featuring Isaveth and her compatriots.  And I look forward to revisiting Tarreton and its inhabitants in a new puzzle from R. J. Anderson, who continues to impress with the richness of her plots and the intricacy of her story-telling.  

Nomad

Written by R. J. Anderson

Orchard Books

978-1408326480

352 pp.

Ages 12+

2014

Reviewed from audiobook
Oakhill Publishing Ltd.
 978-1784331016
Narrated by Lucy Scott
2014

When R. J. Anderson ended Swift (Orchard Books, 2012), Ivy had helped save her piskey family and friends of the Delve from the evil faery Gillian, but had been banished by her aunt Betony, the Joan, as a traitor.  Since then she has been looking for a place where the piskeys might live in safety away from the poison infiltrating th Delve –their below-ground tunnels home–and colluding with her brother Mica’s hunting partner, Mattock, who obviously has feelings for her and with her best friend Jenny to convince the piskeys that they are unsafe.

Meanwhile, Ivy is dreaming of a spriggan boy who is the son of a chief and a faery and Martin (formerly known as Richard), the faery-raised spriggan with whom she has been traveling, believes that Ivy must be having visions of memories of what actually happened, and perhaps these will help them find other spriggans.

But poor Ivy and Martin are trying so hard to do the right thing, for themselves and each other and the people from which they come, and there are so many others working against them.  Sadly, so much is tied up in prejudices between the different supernatural folk.  Although Ivy and Martin are both part faery, they have been raised to distrust each other, just as spriggans, faeries and piskeys have as long as they can remember.  And now, Ivy and Martin find themselves helping each other more than just as repayment for previous help and are experiencing growing affection for each other.  How to balance all their needs and feelings and be true to themselves?

R. J. Anderson is a a masterful storyteller of faery fantasy, easily convincing the reader that her characters are more than just human, even better than human.  And that’s saying something.  R. J. Anderson can create empathy for characters who can change into bird form, wield magic, and transfer memories, while creating realistic story-lines about finding or making home under unusual, if not dire, circumstances.  While R. J. Anderson continues to weave amazing stories–she has a new one called A Pocket Full of Murder coming out in September–she has announced on the FAQ page on her website that there are no current plans for a sequel to Nomad. As disappointing as that is not to revisit the characters in whom we've invested our hearts, readers can be assured that R. J. Anderson has cobbled an ending that will appease and successfully bring all her characters home where they belong.

R. J. Anderson: Author Interview

With the UK editions of Knife, Rebel, Arrow and Swift being released in Canada for the first time, 

and 

with my review yesterday of youngCanLit author  

R. J. Anderson's book Quicksilver, 

sequel to Ultraviolet, 

I asked her if she'd be willing to take some time 

to answer a few questions for CanLit for LittleCanadians.  

R. J. Anderson graciously accepted 

and I'm pleased to share that interview here. 

HK: When your first book of the Faery Rebels series, Spell Hunter (more recently republished as Knife) came out in 2009, it was selected as one of nine honour books for the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children Award. You were in auspicious company, including authors Gordon Korman, Janet McNaughton, Arthur Slade and Tim Wynne-Jones. Looking back, what do you think distinguished your novel and grabbed readers’ attention?

RJA: I can’t speak for the committee, but I know what aspects of the story stood out in my own mind when I was writing it. For one, it took small faeries seriously and presented them as characters the reader could identify with, rather than cute accessories or malevolent pests. For another, it turned the usual idea of humans being enchanted by the magic of fairyland on its head – in this case, it’s the human world that astonishes and entices my faery heroine, and through her eyes we see the wonder of the everyday things we often take for granted. And finally, it was the only story I knew of at the time where a wheelchair-using teen was portrayed as athletic, attractive and even romantic, instead of a brainy sidekick or a sickly object of pity. Ultimately it’s the characters that make or break a story, and I’d like to think the committee was won over by Knife and Paul and the remarkable friendship they share.

HK: Why did your publishers choose different titles and covers of your Canadian and UK books? Do you think it has affected your audience or those who choose your books? Why or why not?

RJA:  Knife was my original title for the first book, and my UK publisher was happy to run with that and give my heroine an appropriately fierce look on the cover. It quickly went into multiple printings and became a bestseller.  But HarperCollins, who published the first hardcover edition here in Canada, didn’t think Knife was a good title for the North American market. They also wanted to emphasize the series aspect, and that’s how we ended up with Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter. Unfortunately, readers couldn’t remember (or spell) the title, and the cover didn’t seem to grab their attention either. The second book Rebel also did very well in the UK, but struggled in North America with a photographic cover and its original title of Wayfarer.
     I do think UK readers are more willing to read about faeries, especially small faeries, than North American readers are. Over there, faeries are a respected part of folklore that dates back hundreds of years, and boys as well as girls will read about them; while here, people tend to think of Disney and Tinkerbell, and assume that faery stories are for six-year-old girls. I’m hoping the recent Canadian release of the UK paperbacks, with their more dramatic and action-oriented covers and titles, will help to overcome that misconception.



HK: Would you ever consider adding a genealogy or family tree to help clarify relationships between the characters and different books or do you believe that the surprise revelations are too significant to your story lines?

RJA: I hope that the narrative speaks for itself, as far as who’s related to whom and which relationships are really most important. If people need a family tree to figure it all out, I’d say I’ve probably not been clear enough! But also yes, I would say that some of the more surprising connections are too important to spoil.



HK: You’re definitely a versatile fantasy writer, having your Faery Rebels series and then your Ultraviolet books. Although both fantasy series focus on struggles between good and evil and those with the courage to stand up for their beliefs, these books are substantially different in atmosphere, tone, setting, etc. How did the writing process differ with respect to these two series?

RJA:  They are certainly quite different, and I was alternating between the two series as I was writing them, so I found that I had to give myself a couple of months to get my head out of one world before I could immerse myself in the other. I did a lot of folklore, historical and geographical research for the faery series, including travelling to the UK. But the most intense and demanding work I’ve ever done was on my contemporary Canadian books Ultraviolet and Quicksilver, because it was so crucial to me to get the real-world details – legal, medical, scientific and so on – as accurate as I could possibly make them. There were times I thought researching those books would kill me, but I’m very proud of the way they turned out.



HK: I have one favourite question that I like to ask authors. This is it: would you rather produce one book of extraordinary importance that becomes a classic but one to which all your writing is forever compared, or would you prefer to author many different books for different audiences and which could not be compared to each other easily?

RJA:  Ideally I’d like to write a whole series that could be considered a classic, like C.S. Lewis’s Narnia. Certainly, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the most famous and much-acclaimed of those books, but the series gets talked about as a whole more often than not.



HK: If there were one thing that you would really like to share with young readers about yourself, your books or your writing, what would it be?

RJA: I’d like to encourage kids who love fantasy and science fiction not to be discouraged from reading and writing it, even though current educational (and alas, even literary) wisdom doesn’t tend to count such things as Worthy Canadian Literature. There are some fantastic stories waiting to be read – and told – about this country and the people who live in it, and I’d love to see children’s fantasy become as widely written and well respected here as it is in some other places. As Anne of Green Gables said, “It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything… There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?”

Quicksilver

by R. J. Anderson

Carolrhoda Lab

978-0-7613-8799-2

316 pp.

Ages 14+

2013

In Ultraviolet (reviewed here), R. J. Anderson's prequel to Quicksilver, teen Alison Jeffries had been hospitalized in a youth psych facility and receiving treatment after claiming to see a fellow student, Tori Beaugrand, disintegrate.  Though others saw her as acting out and a potential head case, Sebastian Faraday, who'd claimed to be a neuropsychologist, recognized Alison as a synesthete for whom the interconnectedness of her senses was overwhelming.  Moreover, Tori had disintegrated, when a relay (connecting to her embedded transmitter) transported her to a different world, from which both she and Faraday had come originally, and back to the experimentation of Mathis.  Ultraviolet ends with Alison and Faraday admitting that they cared for each other but Faraday staying behind to help Alison and Tori escape back to earth.

As Ultraviolet was primarily Alison's story, albeit contingent on Tori's existence, Quicksilver focuses on Tori and the need to keep her safe from those who would choose to study her "genetics".  Even with a change of name and appearance and a move far from Sudbury for Tori and her parents (who'd always known her history), trusting and staying inconspicuous are difficult.  This is especially so when Milo, a workmate of Tori's, witnesses Faraday's materializing into Tori's bedroom.  By concocting a scenario about an unethical company, Meridian, from which both Faraday and Tori are hiding, Faraday is able to enlist Milo's help in keeping Tori safe, and in helping to find the means to destroy the relay. Sadly but characteristically, there are the recurring misinterpretations of feelings, by Milo, Alison, Tori and others, as they attempt to understand new relationships. 

With layer upon layer of lies, coupled with the otherworldly truths regarding Faraday and Tori, Quicksilver becomes as complicated as Faraday and Tori's attempts to prevent Mathis from controlling them via the relay and its quicksilver, a programmable material.  Refreshingly R. J. Anderson keeps her characters from early success, choosing instead to demonstrate the need for creative thinking and perseverance.  Fans of engineering and inventions will love Tori's mechanical exploits, especially as she needs to use Milo as the male cover for her brilliance (apparently uncharacteristic of females).  And, if scientific intricacies and physics are not your strengths, then perhaps the schemes by which Tori, Faraday and Milo go to protect those for whom they care will have you considering their choices as effective or subterfuge.   Even the most brilliant of them aren't sure how to handle love and its often undecipherable messages. Regardless, Quicksilver has sophisticated plotting at its core, a prerequisite for complex speculative fiction.  Whether it be faeries or physics, R. J. Anderson has no qualms about synthesizing a tight weave of emotions, science and interpretation into a durable and unique story-telling fabric.

Look for my interview with author R. J. Anderson tomorrow, to commemorate the launch of her highly successful UK version of her Faery Rebels' series. 

Swift

Written by R. J. Anderson
Orchard Books
978-1408312636
368 pp.
Ages 11-15
2012

When the piskeys of the Delve leave their below-ground home (built into an abandoned human mine) for the Lighting celebrations on the surface, it is a time of frivolity, feasting, storytelling and music.  It is the same for ten-year-old Ivy except that, unlike the other female piskeys, she was born without wings, and must make the arduous journey through the tunnels with her mother, Marigold, to reach the surface.  But, when her mother disappears that night, surely kidnapped by the legendary evil spriggans, life in the Delve will never be the same for Ivy, her young sister Cicely, her hunter older brother, and father Flint, a miner.

Five years later, at Cicely's first Lighting, a piskey-boy, Keev, goes missing and a spriggan is captured and jailed.  Ivy helps the spriggan, who is actually a faery she calls Richard, once she learns that he was sent by her mother Marigold.  She agrees to help him escape if he teaches her to shape change into a bird so that she might fly. But when Cicely disappears, Ivy declines to go with Richard so that she may search for her sister, albeit in swift form.  Injured during her search, Ivy is rescued by Richard who takes her to hide at the home of his human friend, Molly, a young girl who loves everything faery. In fact, when Richard goes missing, it is Molly who takes Ivy to Truro to find her mother.

What should be a wonderful reunion with Marigold is clouded with the unsettling truths her mother shares with Ivy regarding the history of the piskeys, faeries and spriggans, about Ivy's own heritage, and the dangers afflicting the Delve.  Confused as to what recourse she has, Ivy becomes even more enmeshed in the human-faery world when she purchases a clay sculpture of a faery that she is convinced has Richard trapped within.  Determined to help Richard, find Cicely, and return to the Delve to ensure the survival of the piskeys, Ivy must manage to understand the machinations of the human world, the trickery of a faery plotting revenge and the inclinations of the piskeys and her family from whom she fled.

Swift is a fantastical adventure of mesmerizing proportions, from the tiniest of piskey and faery to the legendary spriggans and large, unfamiliar humans, everyone has an agenda, selfish or otherwise, governed by the truths they believe and the affections and resentments they harbour. The plot twists and turns with new revelations and discoveries, mostly surprising, taking Ivy from the sheltered Delve to a larger world of duplicitous entities and strange circumstances, and then back to her endangered homeland.  R. J. Anderson deftly creates a world of fantasy in Swift, taking the reader effortlessly from the below-ground tunnels and nooks of the Delve, to the flight arenas of the swifts and other birds, all visually tangible.  And she draws her readers in, promising answers to questions of family loyalty, community, and self-awareness, while teaching that the answers are actually within us all the time. 

    ≈   ≈   ≈   ≈   ≈   ≈    

The sequel to Swift is slated to be named Nomad, and is tentatively scheduled for release in early 2014 from Orchard Books.

Arrow

Written by R. J. Anderson

Orchard Books

978-1-40831-262-9

357 pp.

Ages 11-15

2011

Every once in a while I decide to review a book that was published a few years ago just to bring attention to a worthwhile read that I may have missed.  In fact, I have enjoyed the first two books of R. J. Anderson's Faery Rebels series, Spell Hunter (HarperCollins Canada, 2009) and Wayfarer (HarperCollins Canada, 2010), reading them when they were published, and had looked forward to a third book in the series.

However, the third book was never published in Canada, only in the United Kingdom, and its name follows the alternate titles for the books published in Great Britain.  Arrow is the title of this third book, following Knife (Orchard Books, 2009) and Rebel (Orchard Books, 2010).

So, now that I've tried to clarify that there were only two books in the series prior to Arrow, but with different titles depending on where they were published, I insist that you read them before this third book just because you'll not want to miss out on the superb story-telling and strong characterizations of the very different faeries and how they all come together in Arrow.  And in case you're convinced that faeries are for little girls, I might remind you of a mermaid prejudice I had that was completely unfounded. These faery books are not for little girls.  There is romance and treachery and bullying.  In Spell Hunter, there is talk of stealing children, a suicide attempt and a man using laudanum as a pain-killer.  Not your typical faery book.  What is typical of each of R. J. Anderson's books is the flavourful and robust language (e.g., "Great Gardener" is the faery expletive) and the intricate plots and subplots, chock full of connections and relationships, and secrets and revelations.  And I haven't even mentioned the humour.

Just for a little background, in Knife (a.k.a. Spell Hunter), a world of faeries live in the Oak, rarely leaving, for fear of death or losing their powers, except as dictated by their queen. Knife has become the Queen's hunter and freely leaves the Oak, reacquainting herself with a human young man, Paul. Together they learn the truth of the Sunderling, an event that cost the faeries their magic.

With the last vestiges of magic, fifteen-year-old faery, Linden, leaves the Oak in Rebel (a.k.a. Wayfarer), and with a human ally, Timothy, attempts to find other faeries and help the Oakenfolk recover their magic as well as ensure the people don't die off.  Together they bring back the Stone of Naming from the Green Isles, home of the Children of Rhys, to help protect them from the Empress, a self-appointed ruler who learns the true names of faeries to bind them to her forever.

Now the Oakenfolk, all female faeries under Queen Valerian, with Rob and the rebel faeries who escaped the Empress' control, and Garan and other Children of Rhys, who'd taken the Stone of Naming and left the Green Isles without permission, are preparing for an attack by the Empress. 

Back on the Green Isles, the Elders of the Children of Rhys are convinced that they have been cursed by the removal of the Stone of Naming, but are assured that they are not threatened by the Empress.  Rhosmari, formerly betrothed to Garan, is determined to retrieve the Stone of Naming.  Leaving the Green Isles through its secret portal, Rhosmari heads to the mainland and meets Martin, a faery who is trying to evade the Empress and her "enforcers", the Blackwings.  Having heard that the Empress has already attacked the Oak and burned it to the ground, Martin offers to work with Rhosmari to find Garan.

R. J. Anderson's newest faery rebel book plays on several keys themes, including trust vs. deceit, and freedom vs. bondage. While the power and control that the Empress seeks, at all costs, is the obvious example of bondage, Martin recognizes that the Children of Rhys have their own bondage.  Moreover the subjugation to which Rhosmari and others subconsciously relinquish control goes beyond these extraordinary constraints, often including the much more typical ones of guilt, remorse, survival, and love. The extent to which the individual chooses to accept or reject these restraints or even see them as such depends on the individual.  And the submission of one's trust to another, for their affections, or their loyalty or their admiration.

But if you're not looking for understanding or clarification with regards to these themes, and would still enjoy a fantastical romp, Arrow (after Knife and Rebel) provides an inviting portal into the faery realm.  But be forewarned:  Arrow's world of faeries has little in common with those in which faeries scatter sparkly dust and flit around granting wishes.  This one is immersed in politics, love, and allegiances - all the issues sure to cause heated discussions among humans and faeries alike.

Ultraviolet

by R. J. Anderson

Carolrhoda Lab

978-0-7613-7408-4

303 pp.

Ages 14+

2011

R. J. Anderson, author of Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter (HarperCollins Canada, 2009) and Wayfarer (HarperCollins Canada, 2010), continues her foray into speculative fiction, but this time immersed in the issue of youth mental health, a reality that could read like fiction.

Waking up in a hospital, Alison Jeffries learns quickly that she has been admitted to a psychiatric department after a psychotic episode that had her harming herself and assaulting  a police officer.  Upon her transfer to Pine Hills, a youth facility, she realizes that another Gr. 10 student from her school, Tori Beaugrand, disappeared on the same day of Alison's crisis, and that many believe that Alison had something to do with the girl's disappearance.  Of course, it also might be because Alison claimed that she'd made Tori disintegrate.

Because of her interactions with Constable Deckard (who returns several times to question her memory of the day's events), her therapy sessions with Dr. Minta (who seems to see every action of Alison's in terms of psychoses), visits from her family (or lack thereof), and a visit from her best friend, Melissa, Alison spends much of her weeks in Pine Hills recalling that day's events, particularly her memory of seeing Tori vanish before her eyes.  She believes that she might have always been "crazy", recollecting her mother's reaction to her sharing the colours and shapes and smells she associates with random items and feelings.

While she learns to interact with her Pine Hills' peers, who deal with anorexia, bipolar disorder, depression, paranoia, etc., her most significant relationship is established with the young Dr. Sebastian Faraday, a neuropsychologist from South Africa, whose unique violet eyes and startling beauty assure and calm her.  Faraday identifies Alison as a synesthete, one of only 4% of the population whose senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) are interconnected.  Convinced that Alison is not crazy and that she is not responsible for Tori's disappearance, Faraday becomes a strong emotional support for Alison, causing some awkwardness for flirtatious patient, Kirk, whose anger and jealousy are brought to the surface, resulting in a destructive fire, the removal of Faraday from Pine Hills, and permission for Alison to visit home.

But, that is hardly the end of the story.  A whole new set of circumstances bring Alison's relationship with Faraday and the "madness" of her experiences with Tori into play, demonstrating the speculative nature of Ultraviolet.  Telling you any more than that would destroy the systematic "aha" moments that bring this story to its unpredictable resolution.  Fortunately, the story has not concluded, since a sequel, tentatively titled Quicksilver, is slated for publication in 2013.

R. J. Anderson seems to whip up amazing plots that are rich in their interconnectedness and their complexity, here taking mental health issues and wrapping them in fantastical elements, playing down the fear and anxiety of mental illness while revealing much about it.  Her characters can be enigmas, not unlike most of us, who change their minds and alter their behaviour, sometimes without apparent rationale.  But, they ultimately reveal themselves as complex beings and begin to see and be seen beyond first impressions.  Creating empathetic characters in speculative fiction is a skill that R. J. Anderson has demonstrated repeatedly, recognizing that the richness of her characters can carry any bizarre plot she may be imaginative enough to create. 

 

 Uploaded by LernerPublishing on Mar 30, 2011

The publisher, Carolrhoda Lab, is an imprint of Lerner Publishing, who has posted this very brief trailer for Ultraviolet.

Spoiler alert: If you'd like to see a Fan trailer for "Ultraviolet"that focuses on Alison and Faraday, check out this link BUT it does include a spoiler not revealed in this review.