Review
One: “A Thousand Glass Flowers” by Prue Batten
This is one of those books that
feeds my reading addiction like pellets for my stove. Seriously you buy the
pellets, feed them into the stove and they heat our family room like nobody’s
business. She did the same thing with her book, lighting my mind with the
passion to read. The only reason I remembered to make dinner is because my
husband reminded me to.
I started reading this book on
January 29th, thinking I was getting a head start on my February novel. Yeah,
that little percent read mark, well it made it to 100% before midnight on
January 31st. That’s okay I’ll read “Walter’s Purple Heart” by Catherine Ryan
Hyde this month. But what made “A Thousand Glass Flowers” so good that I had to
read it whenever I had the chance to?
It was most definitely the
characters. It starts with Lalita who is a young scribe; a profession normally
reserved for men. She is a strong woman, raised by her loving aunt and uncle,
suddenly thrust into a world of lust and greed. Opposite her is Finnian who is a
Færan or magical being that is ‘Other’
than human. At first it’s hard to form an opinion of him, but as his story
unfolds you feel deep sympathy for the man who grew up without love.
Their connection was painted
with such skill that by the end of the second chapter, I had to read two more;
hers and his. Continuing on two chapters at a time I waited with baited breath
for their paths to cross. But, there is more at stake than their meeting as
they race to find the Cantrips of Unlife. Sometimes working together sometimes
apart, each with their own reason for the hunt.
Besides the characters, there is
the rich and varied world though which they travel. “A Thousand Glass Flowers”
takes us on a tour of the Mediterranean coastlands. The names of places are
slightly changed, but familiar enough that only a minimum of description was
required to immerse me in it. A feat Prue pulled off well.
But in the end, it was the
characters I cared about, wondering if they would ever trust each other enough
to work as a team and how their quest would end. I’ll warn you that the end had
no happily ever after, but it was satisfying. So satisfying I’m not
even trying to imagine what happens next. And that’s pretty amazing since I
have a tendency to imagine more.
Review
2: CHARLEY’S PUBLISHED!
The i in MWiDP doesn’t stand for international for no reason!
I think I might have to see if I
can get in the next edition, so we can get a running streak – Miriam in Volume 1,
Charley in Volume 2 and Me in Volume 3... But what in the world would I submit?
:} Cathryn Leigh
