This is a book that is largely about the journey, so short attention spans need not apply. But their paths keep crossing as she makes for the only place that seems like it might be a haven: Shadowfell. Why he – Flint – acts for her she doesn’t know whether she can trust him or not she doesn’t know, and opts for not. When she is horrifically betrayed by her father, she is left on her own at the mercy of a complete stranger who stepped in to save her life. It was, partly, for this ability that her grandmother was horribly killed in front of her – and that her village and much of its population was destroyed around her Neryn must hide the skill at all costs. One talent the hunters look for signs of is the ability to see and communicate with the Good Folk, basically the fae of all shapes, size, and constitutions – and Neryn can see them.
The background of Neryn’s story and of her world is sketched in gradually, until it becomes clear: the land is under a new and brutal regime which is making a concerted effort to harness magic-users when possible, and when that is not possible to stamp it out with a brutality that borders on parody. They have no real destination, not really their goal is more survival than any other objective, though the name Shadowfell has been whispered. Neryn, fifteen, is traveling with her father.
Shadowfell was provided to me by the publisher through Netgalley – thanks to them.
I’ve read little Marillier in the past, so I was going in almost blind.
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