jimimi

With its present-day teenage protagonist, this sometimes reads like a Kay effort for young adults-- Not meant slightingly, although occasionally he does try too hard (the slang and pop culture references were sometimes heavy-handed). He does manage to create a warm, intelligent family, where members tease each other with a lightness unfound in his other, more formal/epic works. Kay's tried to meld the modern and mythic in a previous work (the Fionavar Tapestry; keep it in mind). I found it more elegantly and realistically done here, where the collision has reverbations in both worlds. The intersection really is more between two tales than two settings; characters in the book even refer to others' intrusions into their story. I liked that horizon: the feeling that one of the stories we crash into extended beyond, unseen. Ends weren't compulsively tucked up, as they have been in previous books, but instead allowed to wind onward. In that sense, you could say that, despite the YA perspective, this is one of Kay's more mature works.

2022-11-14 13:38