Froi of the Exiles (The Lumatere Chronicles, #2)

by Melina Marchetta

[ladygrey]

The thing I love about this book is that it's not the sort of thing I would ever like. It's dark and hard, full of broken people and so little hope. And yet I love it. 

I accept the darkness and the inhumanity and the cruelty because it's real and not salacious and not written to shock or terrorize because Melina Marchetta knows that reality can be horrible enough without having to be magnified. And I accept it because the story full of awful things isn't bereft of hope or dignity or even nobility.

I love the characters that are so rich and complex in a very tangled world. I love Froi. When he can't contain his rage and can't count and Arjuro starts counting for him I was so moved and full of compassion and that was the moment that I truly loved this character. And I love at the end when he tells her to let go. It was so strong and so heartbreaking.

The first, maybe, third of the book I was a little surprised that the story seemed to revolve around a single subject matter. But then I realized it really was the theme of the book and she kept coming back to it and coming back again because it is the essence of these characters' story and this kingdom. And she handled it in a way that almost no other author could; with straight-forward honesty but without reveling in it which would be so inappropriate and tacky. 

And somewhere around page 400 I was struck by the thought that there are people in the world who live this way; who live in broken lands and are haunted by fear and anger and Charyn seemed like an echo of Darfur or Rowanda or Croatia. Which also made the inhumanity bearable (which seems like an awful thing to say) because she isn't writing about it for the sake of writing about terrible things people do to each other and she isn't writing it because it's fun (and who am I to say why she's writing it?) but because it's real and its a horrible part of being human. 

But in the midst of all that - the tangled narrative and the complex, broken characters - it isn't horrible to read. Her authenticity and her unflinching strength to write these characters and this story makes it incredibly readable and engaging. They're broken but they're good and even when they aren't easy to love you don't want to look away. And sometimes they are very easy to love.

I talk about what a hard story it is, mostly because that's the sort of thing I would normally criticize a story for. So I'm really impressed that she wrote a story like this and I love it. And it is also laced with hope and unbelievable courage and heartbreaking nobility and it's the mingling of the light in the midst of the darkness that makes it truly wonderful.

And the only reason I'm still sane even though I don't have Quintana of Charyn right NOW is that I have to believe that Marchetta is an author who ultimately believes in happy endings.