When 13-year-old Elliot is taken to the Wall, which apparently is the
gateway to a magical land that none of the other kids in his class can
see, he's highly skeptical. Did that woman in leather just buy him from
his teacher? Are these people perverts or serial killers? Is Elliot
going to be forced to become a child soldier? On the other hand, his dad
is not going to miss him, and there are supposedly mermaids in this
land, so. Upon arrival in the training camp, he meets an insufferable
blond warrior named Luke Sunborn, and a kick-butt female elf named
Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle (Serene, to her friends). Over the
next several years, Elliot learns the ins and outs of this magical
world, and finds it a pretty miserable place. He's in the council
training track, while Serene (whom he immediately crushes on) is in
warrior training with Luke. The cabins are cold, the beds are hard, and
they expect him to write with a quill. Worse, the council training
cadets are generally ignored by the warriors, because war is the most
important thing. Elliot, a pacifist, knows that he could make a
difference with treaties and agreements, if only he were allowed to get
anywhere near them. As he watches Luke and Serene grow closer, it
becomes obvious to Elliot that, in any fantasy story, he would be doomed
to become evil -- but really, he's never been interested in embracing
the tropes.
I found this a delightful and engrossing read. It
takes a look at a lot of the standard fare of juvenile and YA fantasy,
and says, "But why, though?" Elliot starts out as an annoying little
squirt, and through incremental character development, written with an
extraordinarily light hand, the reader (or at least, this reader) comes
to love him. It's like a book written from the perspective of Eustace
from The Chronicles of Narnia, except without the drastic events that
lead to his change of heart. (Some of the language and situations are
much more advanced -- this is definitely a book for teen or adult
readers who loved Narnia but maybe haven't yet gotten to
The Magicians,
not for the innocent 8-year-old looking for a Narnia readalike.) Some
of the situations are tragic (Elliot notes how his warrior friends go
from being sickened by their first kills, to killing without a hint of
remorse), while some are delightfully comic (Elvish society is
matriarchal, which leads to some hilarious conversations with Serene).
Recommended for fantasy fans, as it turns fantasy tropes on their heads
with an affectionate hand, without sacrificing character development and
a satisfying plot.
(reviewed from a copy borrowed through my library system.)
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