This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroesĪdventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.Įlisa-Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle-has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting-plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers-escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel. Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail. In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. While the plot follows a familiar high-fantasy arc that occasionally dips into melodrama, the worldbuilding is dynamic, original and intriguing (if a tad schematic), and the characters, appealing.Ī gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.įifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. Jensen and King’s cosmology draws from weaving and tailoring, as do the tools fabricators manipulate-thread, thimbles, scissors-and what they create with them. They’re pursued by Rasmus, Bosh’s former apprentice, bent but powerful and wielding a terrifying gift. Mentoring the heroes’ journey is Ickabosh, who practices Fabrication, as he is able to perceive and manipulate the threads from which reality is woven. She may be able to help him back to life, but first he must persuade her to do so and to accompany him on a dangerous quest before time runs out. Just hours later, Nels is murdered by a mysterious stranger and becomes a ghost, visible only to Tyra. Coaxed into disobeying her to attend the summer festival, he beats Avërand’s chief knight in a wrestling match but is publicly snubbed by Princess Tyra, who reneges on her promise to kiss the winner (after all, Nels is a mere peasant). Nels longs to be a knight and can’t understand why his mother’s forbidden him to pursue his dream. In a world where reality is created on looms and woven into complex tapestries, Nels’ life dangles from a single vulnerable thread.

Woven by michael jensen