Great book with a great hook

printed pencil skirt The Dark City Relic Master

Catherine Fisher's (far too short) "Incarceron" series made me a fan. Her new series (at least, new for North America - the UK has had this series for around ten years now) is just as good, though in another different, bleak yet beautiful world.

The pace of this book is brisk, but that only adds to its sheer beauty. In parts you can feel the bucolic scenery as lush and warm as if it were real when Galen and Raffi make their trek to the Dark City. You get chilled by the cold and wet from the rain - all of my senses were linked and enhanced in a way that is different from the way I experienced the "Incarceron" series. Perhaps because of the element of magic over a technological dystopia has something to do with it, but I just fell in love with Fisher's amazing ability as a writer all over again repeatedly throughout this book.

I love how she always drops hints of things to come, and saves the shock (be it subtle or loud and obvious) until the end; it could be that this world, Anara, is one from an alternate human history that has not yet been charted. I love that idea, and I can't wait to see where she goes with this.

You can bet I've already marked the rest of the series (coming out all this year!) for preorder on my list.

(crossposted to librarything, shelfari, goodreads, and witchoftheatregoing.wordpress.com)

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