This mystery/fantasy/horror follows Sadie - a young woman who is unexpectedly made the new Liar of Red Valley. The Liar has the power to make lies into truths at the cost of only a little blood but with that power comes threats in multiple forms. Red Valley has three rules that every child learns while growing up - do not trust the Liar, do not go in the River, and do not cross the King - and when Sadie finds herself in a battle for her life and the future of the town of Red Valley, she just might consider breaking the rules.
I absolutely loved this book. Fantasy is a genre that I want to like but I find myself not meshing with it in book form (audio books are okay, TV or movies are much better). This book, however, hit the bullseye of very specific things I like in my fantasy books and the rest of the book came together so precisely that I ended up loving this story. I found this a really nice mash up of mystery, fantasy, and light horror that I think would appeal to readers of all those genres.
The fantasy elements, I thought, were introduced perfectly. The story is set in Red Valley, California so we are pretty grounded in reality. In fact, Red Valley is a pretty normal town that is just vaguely magical. There are some magical creatures, some people have magical powers, the King is magical, but we don't get into too many specifics. We get eased into the different layers and magical elements as the story progresses so I never felt overwhelmed or confused and the elements have a good habit of building on each other so I never felt tricked or cheated. We find out one tidbit, then have a bit of time to adjust, then we find out another tidbit, etc. I also really enjoyed the way the townspeople acted about the magic as well. Everyone just sort of accepts that magic is a thing in this town but no one really seems all that bothered to figure out the exact reason for it. There is a sort of reason given, but when it comes to questions like "why is there only one Liar", no one really has an answer, it is just how it has always been. I really enjoy that sort of *shrug* explanations when it comes to the magic systems in my fantasy stories. However, if you're a reader who really wants a deep explanation into the roots and history of the magic, then this book isn't for you. The fantasy elements were just accepted by the characters so when they were presented to the reader, I would just accept them alongside the characters. I was getting pretty solid Welcome to Night Vale mixed with SCP Foundation vibes for the town and I was onboard from page 1. The horror elements were pretty light and I found they leaned more toward creepy and slightly bloody. A lot of the fantasy elements leaned on the darker side (no bubblegum pink fairy godmothers here) so we get a good amount of creature horror. I'd say it was the same level of horror as a summer blockbuster zombie action movie.
The characters were really well developed and the side characters had really strong characterization which made it easy to sink into the narrative. We are primarily following Sadie throughout the book (but do occasionally follow some of the outside threats to the town as they arise in the second half of the book) so we see her interactions with the townsfolk and how growing up as equal parts famous but also a bit of a social pariah given the implications of being the Liar. Sadie does have a close friend and the two do a good amount of investigating together in the story. I thought their friendship was really well illustrated and while we obviously don't get a whole play by play of their whole lives, the way they interact shows the reader just how great of friends they really are. I really enjoyed Sadie's character and thought her development arc as the main character was really well done. I don't believe her exact age is ever given, but she had graduated high school in the past few years so I'd say early 20s at the oldest. I think a lot of the character development came from the fact that she'd been just living her life and following the rules the same way she'd always done when suddenly this extra responsibility is thrust upon her and she has to make the best of it. There were multiple times when someone would ask her if she was scared and her internal voice would say 'of course, I'm terrified' but then she's pull herself up by her bootstraps and actually give some sort of witty/vaguely threatening retort.
The ending was a little anti-climatic for me, especially given the ramp up of the events throughout the story. As mentioned previously, we are following Sadie 98% of the time, but we do get some outside perspective. My biggest complaint with the ending was that we stayed with Sadie instead of switching to one of the other perspectives. We follow Sadie as she is putting together the last pieces of information she needs and then continue to follow her as she sees the big climax happening on the other side of town. I wanted to see that big ending and since we had already established in the narrative that we do switch POV at times, I think getting a bit of those other view points would really solidify the gravity of the situation that Sadie was in. It also would have been a nice pay-off for the reader. Since we've been following Sadie through her investigation I was pretty invested in the outcome of all these plot lines converging only for it to come to the climax basically off page. I also would have liked a bit more of a gentle wind-down of the story. This ended pretty quickly after the ending climax and I generally prefer a chapter or two of the aftermath to see how all the characters settled in after the events of the story. We do get a really quick run through of how characters are feeling, but it felt pretty rushed and considering the whole plot of the book takes place in just a few days, I would have liked a moment where the characters could finally breathe.
The investigation and twists were really well done and I think they worked well with the fantasy elements. Most of the investigating was pretty much driving around and finding the right person to talk to which could have been boring but when the people Sadie needs to talk to are a bit odd and fantastical and every conversation answers some questions but leaves with others, it was a really fun ride. I really enjoyed how a few of the twists were big enough to change how Sadie understood the history of the town she's lived in her whole life but they also made her more resolved to figure out what the real truth is. I really liked how the process of the investigation really brought out Sadie's character and we saw her growth through going through all these trials without much preparation at all. There was a nice mix of her both succeeding and failing at certain points that also showed her growth. For me, this was first and foremost a mystery book with fantasy elements and it worked so well!
Thanks NetGalley and Rebellion publishing for the ARC in exchange for review
Expected publication date is September 28, 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment