Sixteen-year-old Neryn is alone in the land of Alban, where the oppressive king has ordered anyone with magical strengths captured and brought before him. Eager to hide her own canny skill--a uniquely powerful ability to communicate with the fairy-like Good Folk--Neryn sets out for the legendary Shadowfell, a home and training ground for a secret rebel group determined to overthrow the evil King Keldec.
During her dangerous journey, she receives aid from the Good Folk, who tell her she must pass a series of tests in order to recognize her full potential. She also finds help from a handsome young man, Flint, who rescues her from certain death--but whose motives in doing so remain unclear. Neryn struggles to trust her only allies. They both hint that she alone may be the key to Alban's release from Keldec's rule. Homeless, unsure of who to trust, and trapped in an empire determined to crush her, Neryn must make it to Shadowfell not only to save herself, but to save Alban.
I'm kind of torn because in a lot of ways I really liked this book. The world is fascinating and very well drawn. It's a fantasy deep with meaning and history and ritual. I initially thought it had a strong Celtic flavor but learning that [author:Juliet Marillier] is Australian it might be linguistically closer to those legends, I'm not sure. The characters are interesting and complicated and they're easy to become invested in. I even really liked Neryn, including when she was making bad choices.
But it's kind of hard to read because there's a lot of traveling alone. Which only accommodated description and internal monologue. And pages and pages and pages of that after a while are hard. They're not exactly boring because, again the world and story and character are all interesting. But dialog is so nice. And interactions between characters so much more interesting. And relationships between characters more fascinating than any character on their own. It just gets old after 300 pages and I didn't care if Neryn got to where she was going if only she'd encounter someone to talk to along the way. Particularly, Flint. He was an amazingly complex and wonderful character and every time he showed up the story was better and Neryn was more interesting.
And I do have to give Marillier credit, because she kept me interested when I was dying for some character interaction. And it is a great world and an interesting story even if it is a little hard to read.
