To be published March 9th 2021…
In Heyne Town babies are sometimes born with two hearts. Two hearts mean that the baby is a Striga. The mother faces a choice then. There are three options: to kill her baby, to abandon her baby by the hope tree and hope that others of its kind will find it, or to take her baby and leave the town forever. Miriat is one such mother. She makes the choice. She names her baby Salka and leaves Heyne Town behind to take Salka to the Striga village hidden in the forest. There they receive an uneasy welcome and live an uneasy life; for the Striga’s trust no one, not even themselves. Because if a Striga gives in to the power of their second heart then they become a Stigoi and everyone knows that Stigoi are evil demons who feed off life itself.
Exile stemming from a distrust of magic is an age old trope, but Gabriela Houston manages to make it feel new. As a concept the idea of the Striga and Stigoi is simple, but with an overwhelming potential which at times is only hinted at. Having them live together in a village of destitute exile makes for a tense and rewarding setting. The Striga tribe is both elite in its community togetherness and regressed in the ease with which they turn against their own at the first hint of trouble. It makes for an interesting conflict where the ‘fight or flight’ instinct is constantly warring.
All of Houston’s characters are impressively distinct; from Miriat’s overprotective loyalty, to Dran’s harsh desperation, to Salka’s stubborn restlessness. Even characters introduced only briefly have easily recognisable personality traits to define them as realistic individuals. In fact one of my favourite characters was Salka’s pet falcon, Munu, whose behaviour towards Salka and others, driven by almost human seeming emotions, made for an endearing character.
The pace of this novel was perfect, with a slow building momentum, until the very end events which I felt were a bit too rushed for me to fully appreciate. I would have liked more time to process the consequences of one large conflict before moving straight on to the next one. The speedy pace did keep me hooked on the narrative and unable to put the book down, although I did find that I had to keep backtracking and rereading parts to make sure I was fully understanding each event as it unfolded. In contrast, the earlier events in the book bled into one another with an easy progression which made for easy reading.
Overall, it was the characters and the anticipation of magic which kept me gripped as I read this book. Mostly it was Salka’s very human choices, paired with her very inhuman struggle, that made me love this book.
Escape to the Bookshelf 