snugglekitty

This book was beautifully written and very odd. It was a recommendation from

omniamutantur. It concerns itself with a group of people who live at the edge of a river, near subsistence level, who are in conflict with a group of developers. The developers don't know everything, though - a strange power inhabits the region, and the river is rising. From this description, you might think you can predict the course of the book a bit - the plucky townspeople will get help from a magical friend to foil the evil developers - but the truth is far more complex.

This book is not for children. Maybe that's obvious from the title. It's quite graphic and includes portrayals of sex (lots of sex), drugs, alcoholism, neglect, and violence. At times I had to set it down because I found it disturbing. But it manages to be very hopeful despite the bleakness. The prose is yummy - good enough writing to be unusual for this genre. It's pretty unique in the fantasy line - the spirit of urban fantasy, with its modern setting and portrayal of the grittier aspects of human lives, but with a group of protagonists who live in a very rural area and are uninterested in technology. Three and a half stars - I'll probably read it again once, but wouldn't read it over and over.