Pages: 318
Published: 21st June 2022
Genre: Fantasy
Content warnings: Domestic abuse, sexual references, misogyny
A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites.
Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.
As Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.
This is a richly imaginative and evocative story that casts us into the world of a dark fairytale, full of creepy vibes and moody textures that leave you fully immersed. With a fantastical depiction of stormy family relationships and a forbidden romance that increases the levels of threat and unease, it appears strangely grounded in reality with the help of compelling characters and effective juxtapositions.
The world-building here is what catches the eye straight away, conveying an atmosphere which feels in many ways familiar but just slightly distorted, and that in itself is the foremost aspect that makes this book unsettling. It also gives us a fresh and arresting take on the theme of magic and witchcraft, with the idea of the main characters being curiosities in a city moving towards modernisation and urban expansion acting as a marvellous premise.
Within that, we have the claustrophobia of Marlinchen’s fragile existence, and for a lot of this book that keeps you firmly on edge. Her father looms large over everything she does, his power always palpable and his horrific temper never far from rising to the surface. As she takes risks with her late night visits to the theatre to see Sevas or even when she is at home providing a client with an ancient remedy, there is a perpetual sense of jeopardy.
That is what the plot largely revolves around, Marlinchen treading a fine line between keeping her dangerous, unpredictable father subdued and incurring his wrath – and it does not take much to do the latter. The whole setup is made more unstable by her less than amicable relationship with her sisters and the squalid living conditions they all have to contend with, all of which the author realises with great clarity. And there is no denying that it is very dark in moments, with imagery that is not always easy to stomach.
The whole dynamic with Sevas adds another layer of intensity to the story. Although you could say there is a hint of insta-love about it, the bond Marlinchen forges with him is something you can get behind as aside from mutual attraction, they share a commonality and a sense of vulnerability, so it feels very genuine. And as we later discover, their worlds are not quite as far apart as we are made to think in the beginning.
When those two worlds meet, it eventually alters the pacing slightly into something more urgent despite the relatively long chapter lengths. The internal chaos that is so evident in Marlinchen’s first-person narrative becomes more pronounced and that is both a positive and a negative; on the one hand it is gloriously unsettling yet equally, the plot just gets that little bit harder to follow.
Marlinchen is a likeable protagonist and one you can build a connection with quite early on. She is magical but good-natured, dealt a rough hand and downtrodden by her father’s tyranny, governed by her fear. After such a sheltered life it is a thrill to see through her eyes as she discovers the wonders of Oblya and her awe at seeing Sevas perform. All through the book, you are willing her on to somehow make an escape.
When we first encounter Sevas and his passionate on-stage presence, he seems untouchable from Marlinchen’s eyes like he is something more than human, so it is a pleasant surprise to her as well as us readers that he is from humble territory too. It makes us feel more invested in their relationship for one thing, but Derkach’s exploitation of him allows us to draw parallels and acts as another moving thread.
While Marlinchen’s father Zmiy is the unfortunate victim of a curse that renders him permanently discontented, there is no way you can find any sympathy for his actions. Though he is a wizard of exceptional power, he spends most of the time making threats and shows many characteristics of a domestic abuser, praising Marlinchen’s loyalty and then turning nasty whenever she does anything he disapproves of.
The way Marlinchen’s two sisters are developed is fascinating too, as they are far from united. Rose is at least protective towards Marlinchen, but in contrast Undine lashes out and you can sense the self-hatred that lies beneath all that. It is only towards the end that we understand the full depths of this, with a shocking revelation.
Oblya is an enchanting setting that deepens the fairytale vibe, and that makes you wish it could have been explored more. Most of the story takes place either at Marlinchen’s home or in the theatre, but those glimpses we do get capture the imagination. That time spent outside in the city certainly act as a hopeful counter to the living conditions Marlinchen and Sevas have to contend with in their daily lives.
Along with the world-building, the main takeaway here is the author’s creativity with her writing, as you will be hard pressed to find a book with more similes than this one. You will find a simile in almost every paragraph and it is understandable if that sounds like a gimmick, but it honestly works. They are a fundamental part of the atmosphere and individuality of this novel and it would be a much lesser piece of work without them.
Overall, an enjoyable and inventive story that sets the scene perfectly and delivers plenty of tension, such is the grim reality of Marlinchen’s situation allied with the promise of her romance with Sevas. The plot does get slightly chaotic towards the end and that felt out of keeping with the rest, while Derkach was a character who needed developing a lot more, but the writing was stunning from start to finish and you could never fault its originality.
I loved the dark fairytale feel right from the outset, and was often enraptured by Ava Reid’s writing style and all the similes – despite some unsettling scenes here and there. The final few chapters were less easy to follow and a little too much happened, but this was such an immersive read.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Stephen Reads Books 