Thornspell
Recently I sent fellow author Mary Victoria a copy of my novel Thornspell (Knopf, 2008) and she was kind enough to write back (amongst other things): “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share a corner of your lively, lucid and rambunctious imagination!”
Lively, lucid and rambunctious—I definitely like that! And although every book is a work of imagination, I do think that Thornspell fits Mary Victoria’s “bill” (or should that be “billing”?) The basic premise of the story is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, but it’s from the perspective of the prince: from his childhood growing up beside the vast tangled forest and hearing all sorts of stories; and then hearing the story—and finding out it is not ancient history, old and dead mouldering beneath tree roots, but very much a clear and present danger to him, in his everyday world. The tale that follows is the kind of adventurous fantasy that I loved as a kid, where sword fights and hunts are as much a part of the story as the magic that stalks through dreams and can reveal both beauty and terror …
A few people have asked me whether Thornspell is “like” The Heir of Night—and I think the answer, like those given by Tolkien’s elves, is “both yes and no.” Yes, they’re both Fantasy and both “crossover” reads, although Thornspell is aimed at the 11-14 year old readership, whereas Heir is more for adults. And yes, they’re both stories where adventure is a large part of the action, but the magic has a strong element of mystery deriving from dreamscapes and parallel dimensions.
I think the biggest differences are that Thornspell, although a fairytale retelling, is very much of this world (albeit in that country ‘far away’), with one central protagonist and a small group of key supporting characters. The Heir of Night, on the other hand, is set in an alternate world, with two central protgonists but five or six other important point of view characters as well. Finally, Thornspell is a standalone novel, whereas The Heir of Night is the first part of a quartet.
But I like to think that they’re both lively, lucid and rambunctious works of imagination.;-) (Thank you, Mary Victoria!)
You are most welcome. And I’ll have you know I’m reading and enjoying ‘Heir’, too. Which is just as lively. And lucid. We’ll see about rambunctious…
My favourite sequence in ‘Thornspell’ has to be the opening one – I just loved that portrait of the boy on the wall.
Interestingly, that opening sequence was the very first flash of story that came to me and remained ‘the beginning’ no matter how much the rest of the story evolved from there.
I am glad that you are enjoying Heir—and suspect you may detect a certain amount of ‘rambunctiousness’ as the story progresses … 😉