The Book Stacks

Synopsis

Rosette is a child of two worlds: Gaela, steeped in magic, and an Earth choked with failing technology. The key to their survival is literally in her blood, a spell passed down through her family line to preserve the one they’re sworn to protect.

Unaware of her lineage, Rosette runs scared when her family is murdered. She takes refuge with Nell, a shape-shifting high priestess of the ancient blood, who teaches her the arts of witchcraft, stars and sword.

Shadowed by the fabled Kreshkali, queen of the underworld and mistress of the wolf-like Lupins, Rosette and the temple cat, Drayco, find themselves little more than a step ahead of those who will do anything to control the portal that links the many-worlds.

Review

When I first began reading The Spell of Rosette, I found the beginning to be slightly confusing. However, the synopsis sounded interesting enough for me ignore the niggling confusion and keep reading. I am definitely glad I did.

For the first time in a long time, I was swept away by a book. It was quite easy for me to sit down with this book for a few hundred pages and not realize I had been reading for as long as I had. I’m not sure if it’s Falconer’s writing style, the story itself or a combination of both, but this ‘epic but intimate’ novel kept me turning pages.

Readability is paired with a main character I quite like: Rosette. While she is a heroine (of a sort; see my comments about the ending), she is also engaging through her flaws. Stubborn and seemingly quite willing to make silly mistakes, I identified with her more than I usually do with fantasy or sci-fi heroines.

The end, unfortunately, came with a slight twinge of disappointment. Towards the end of the book, Nell makes the comment, “That was easier than I thought” about a certain event (not the ‘final battle’) and therein lies my problem with the ending: it was too easy. I felt as if Falconer was in a hurry to get things done.

The ending is good, but things felt rushed and I would have liked to have seen Rosette have a bigger role in ‘the final battle’ given all the build up about how special she is.

All in all, I quite enjoyed The Spell of Rosette.