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Ancestral Magic (spoiler-free reactions)
You know it's a good book when you get to the end and feel all like noooooooo I want moar!!! and then you click over to the author's website and then you're all like AW HELL YEAH there's gonna be a continuation SWEET!
So, Ancestral Magic. I loved this book, even though it took me a shamefully long time to finish. Here's a synopsis of the plot and an excerpt to read. But to wit, if you like slow-burn romances, complex love triangles, lesbian romance, epic supernatural struggles, and lots of slice-of-life details to ground the whole thing firmly in reality, then you're probably going to like this book.
One of the things that I liked about this book was that there were no cop-outs. Drake was neither a pity-case meant only to make Sky look saintly, nor did he fall into the Saintly Cripple stereotype himself. He was a fully realized teenage boy who just happened to be blind, and although this affects his life in profound ways, it's not the sole defining trait of his character. Likewise, the numerous details about how Drake and Sky adapt their lives to deal with his disability are smoothly worked into the narrative, adding a nice sense of realism without ever descending into Pity Poor Drake territory. (One character does have a blatant Pity Poor Drake reaction when she first realizes that Drake is blind, but Sky deals with this realistically.) Likewise, there are no cop-outs where Roger is concerned, either. He could easily have been written as The Obstacle Guy, just another jerk that Sky falls for before she realizes that Meg is the only one for her... But he wasn't. Roger is a genuinely awesome guy, and the relationship that he begins with Sky is powerful, moving, and real. Which of course elevates the book into a true love triangle, so you know that there's going to be at least one broken heart at the end.
Another thing that I enjoyed about this book was that parts of it read very much like slice-of-life manga. By which I mean, quite of lot of the narrative is devoted to describing Sky and Meg's daily life, their new house and various locations in their new town, and their interactions with their new friends and neighbors. None of this is boring, though, and it all serves to establish a real sense of place and community that Meg and Sky become involved in. If there's one thing that manga has taught me, it's that powerful stories can be told around simple things like meeting neighbors for the first time, cooking food together, going to the hardware store, etc. Of course, every scene in the book contains some move-the-plot-forward element, so I guess it's not really like a slice-of-life manga, where the pumpkin soup/missing lightbulb/raisin toast would BE the point of any particular scene. But at the same time, I can't help but make the comparison in my head, especially since the sense of a warm and loving community surrounding Meg and Sky becomes more and more important as the book progresses. And like a slice-of-life manga, a lot of this book is all about establishing a sense of time, place, and a web of relationships between the characters.
Of course it's not all warm fuzzies and romantic yearning. Yes, there's a plot, and yes, there are bad guys (some of whom are pretty conflicted about things, though), and yes, there is a struggle between light and darkness, and yes, people get hurt. But as with all romances, the plot-plot sometimes takes a back seat to the love triangle side of the story, especially toward the end.
So anyway, in short, this book is awesome and y'all should read it. I ordered my copy from here and they shipped all the way to middle-of-nowhere rural Japan for a very reasonable price. ;)
Edited to add: Oh yes, I should have mentioned this earlier. But of the two heroines in this story, one is white and one is not, and that's pretty awesome. Sky's Navajo ancestry eventually becomes an important part of the supernatural/plot-plot side of the story, but it fortunately never descends into tired stereotype territory. Oh, and from the thank-you notes in the front of the book, it looks like Moondancer Drake did a lot of research in order to portray the Navajo cultural elements accurately. So hooray for authors actually Doing the Research!
Aside: Man, I've been so neck-deep in shounen manga lately, that I didn't even realize how long it's been since I sank my teeth into a good romance novel. Well, that, and... Between Tsubasa and Finnegans Wake I'd been kind of dying for a romance that isn't freakin' incestuous, plz kthnx. So, another point in Ancestral Magic's favor: No parentfucking! Good gravy, I cannot believe that I just wrote that. What does that even SAY about my reading habits?! Probably something not very good.
So, Ancestral Magic. I loved this book, even though it took me a shamefully long time to finish. Here's a synopsis of the plot and an excerpt to read. But to wit, if you like slow-burn romances, complex love triangles, lesbian romance, epic supernatural struggles, and lots of slice-of-life details to ground the whole thing firmly in reality, then you're probably going to like this book.
One of the things that I liked about this book was that there were no cop-outs. Drake was neither a pity-case meant only to make Sky look saintly, nor did he fall into the Saintly Cripple stereotype himself. He was a fully realized teenage boy who just happened to be blind, and although this affects his life in profound ways, it's not the sole defining trait of his character. Likewise, the numerous details about how Drake and Sky adapt their lives to deal with his disability are smoothly worked into the narrative, adding a nice sense of realism without ever descending into Pity Poor Drake territory. (One character does have a blatant Pity Poor Drake reaction when she first realizes that Drake is blind, but Sky deals with this realistically.) Likewise, there are no cop-outs where Roger is concerned, either. He could easily have been written as The Obstacle Guy, just another jerk that Sky falls for before she realizes that Meg is the only one for her... But he wasn't. Roger is a genuinely awesome guy, and the relationship that he begins with Sky is powerful, moving, and real. Which of course elevates the book into a true love triangle, so you know that there's going to be at least one broken heart at the end.
Another thing that I enjoyed about this book was that parts of it read very much like slice-of-life manga. By which I mean, quite of lot of the narrative is devoted to describing Sky and Meg's daily life, their new house and various locations in their new town, and their interactions with their new friends and neighbors. None of this is boring, though, and it all serves to establish a real sense of place and community that Meg and Sky become involved in. If there's one thing that manga has taught me, it's that powerful stories can be told around simple things like meeting neighbors for the first time, cooking food together, going to the hardware store, etc. Of course, every scene in the book contains some move-the-plot-forward element, so I guess it's not really like a slice-of-life manga, where the pumpkin soup/missing lightbulb/raisin toast would BE the point of any particular scene. But at the same time, I can't help but make the comparison in my head, especially since the sense of a warm and loving community surrounding Meg and Sky becomes more and more important as the book progresses. And like a slice-of-life manga, a lot of this book is all about establishing a sense of time, place, and a web of relationships between the characters.
Of course it's not all warm fuzzies and romantic yearning. Yes, there's a plot, and yes, there are bad guys (some of whom are pretty conflicted about things, though), and yes, there is a struggle between light and darkness, and yes, people get hurt. But as with all romances, the plot-plot sometimes takes a back seat to the love triangle side of the story, especially toward the end.
So anyway, in short, this book is awesome and y'all should read it. I ordered my copy from here and they shipped all the way to middle-of-nowhere rural Japan for a very reasonable price. ;)
Edited to add: Oh yes, I should have mentioned this earlier. But of the two heroines in this story, one is white and one is not, and that's pretty awesome. Sky's Navajo ancestry eventually becomes an important part of the supernatural/plot-plot side of the story, but it fortunately never descends into tired stereotype territory. Oh, and from the thank-you notes in the front of the book, it looks like Moondancer Drake did a lot of research in order to portray the Navajo cultural elements accurately. So hooray for authors actually Doing the Research!
Aside: Man, I've been so neck-deep in shounen manga lately, that I didn't even realize how long it's been since I sank my teeth into a good romance novel. Well, that, and... Between Tsubasa and Finnegans Wake I'd been kind of dying for a romance that isn't freakin' incestuous, plz kthnx. So, another point in Ancestral Magic's favor: No parentfucking! Good gravy, I cannot believe that I just wrote that. What does that even SAY about my reading habits?! Probably something not very good.
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I really can't wait for the sequel.
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It looks good!
And... I'm a lesbian-love fangirl so... YEAH.