Uncommon and Surprising - In A Very Good Way

So, I read the blurbs for this and figured it would be fairly predictable - heroine girl travels to a magical world to save her kidnapped dad. That's not a bad frame, but it's not the most original premise either. Well guess what? From page one this is a gorgeous, clever, surprising, feast, and every aspect of it is fresh and surprising.

I won't try to summarize the plot beyond a very basic outline. Basically, Mup is the heroine, her Mam is the heir to some witchy kingdom, and her Mam's mom is the evil Queen of the witchy kingdom. Mam has been hidden in our world, but she's been forced to return to the witchy kingdom because dad has been kidnapped and is being used as bait. After the kidnapping Mam gets mad, grabs Mup and her baby brother, and they cross the border into the kingdom to kick some witchy butt, take some names, and get dad back.

Here's the thing. This is all beautifully well written, creatively magical, and yet muscular and no nonsense.

As to the writing, the opening, during witch a flock of evil witches first tries to kidnap Mam, is one of the creepiest slow burn scary episodes I've read. The mood, the odd details, the unnerving moonlight, the flapping raggedy witches flying hand over hand through the treetops, the growing dread as they pursue Mam and Mup, is intense. (They make the flying monkeys from "Wizard of Oz" look like plush toys.) Descriptions are elegant. The pages are filled with funny, scary, insightful, or edgy observations and throwaway lines.

The magic here isn't wands and spells. It's powerful Earth magic. Once they get across the border and into the witch kingdom, Mom regains her memory of what her powers were. Mup, who is totally new to this, is exhilarated by the energy that courses through her. (She is, after all, the evil witch Queen's granddaughter.) Now this is girrrrl power. Mup's confused about and a bit awed by this new, angry, powerful version of Mam, but through it all Mup keeps her common sense, her kindness, her deadpan sense of humor, and her old-fashioned spunk.

And that leads to the other thing that's going on. Nothing here is cutesy. Mam is angry, and she's in a bad mood about this kidnapping. She's on a mission, and it's not a touchy feely mission. Mam's also not very happy about having been hidden in our world and separated from magic, and she's ready to step up and settle this whole evil Queen deal. Mup is floored by what a tough cookie her Mam is, and Mup steps right up and pulls her weight. Talk about a coming of age story. The first time Mup feels magical power rise up through her is actually stirring.

So, elegant, stylish, touched with humor but still no nonsense, this is a book that just whacked me between the eyes, and I loved it.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

A wonderful, fast paced, and highly memorable fantasy novel. This is one of those works that had me immediately order the author's back-catalog of works.