Synopsis:
Telana doesn’t want to settle down — she wants to soar!
Truskal was said to be the village at the end of the world, but Telana knew that probably wasn’t so. There was the great icewall that was said to go all around the world, so large that it dwarfed mountains. Telana was determined to find out if that was true. But there was one hitch. Only boys are allowed in the fancy big schools. At least that was until she came along. It will be a long fight before she even sets sail. Between breaking centuries of tradition to antagonising dragonriders and their lucrative taxi service, she’d have a hard fight to just build her dream machine, let alone try and fly it.
Review:
I came into this book looking for something to refresh my reading palate after a long, blood-filled Norse-inspired trilogy. Something in the cosy end of fantasy, with a more genteel feel.
What surprised me was getting so caught up in Telana’s life that it excluded all else. Usually, I have a few things on the go, but this feisty, determined girl whisked me along on her path of discovery. For that, the author should be congratulated, as I rarely read the cosier side of fantasy, but I was hooked.
Until…
We’ll come to that.
Telana begins her journey working alongside her grandpa in his workshop, but her curiosity and determination to see her begin the search for flotancy, and leads to her leaving her small village for the city and the university. A rare thing for a girl, and especially so from a distant fishing village. As with many academia-based stories, Telana’s is filled with the pitfalls of the rich and entitled, the misogyny, and of course, the age differential. Unlike most books that dip into such things, these are overcome with wit and intelligence, as well as another bout of sheer determination.
Needless to say, Telana’s tale is filled with an ever-onward journey to flotancy and then the skyship itself, Telana leaving on a passage of discovery even beyond her well-meaning and supportive tutors’ imaginations. Such wonders she meets, and there I will leave her intrepid journey over the icewall and on to the stars.
After the end comes an epilogue that, for me, didn’t marry with Telana’s journey. It is, of course, the author’s decision, and having reread it I can see where they were headed.
Ah well. This is a rich and beautiful tale, and one I highly recommend you read.
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