Book 17
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I received this via Netgalley (thank you) which in no way influenced my review. I see a lot of readers instantly dismissing this as Labyrinth rip off and somehow missing that the whole idea of a Goblin King (known as the Der Erlkönig in this book) predate the Jim Henson movie by centuries. It’s an entire mythology found throughout Europe and not just a David Bowie movie (but yes both are pulling from the same mythology) with written records going back to the tenth century so my advice is put the movie aside and try to read this on its own merits.
And it’s a book well worth it. It came close to getting five stars from me and might have if not for a few things. Liesl is a young woman of talents from a musical family fallen on hard times thanks to her father’s alcoholism. She is, however, also unhappy and it’s hard to blame her. It’s the 1700s and a woman composer such as herself has no real future due to her sex. Her much prettier sister, kathe, has been engaged to Hans, a man Liesl hoped to marry. Liesl has her own future hopes tied up in her sickly brother Josef, a talented young violinist. He plays her music and they consider themselves two halves of one coin.
When she was younger, she and her siblings played in the Goblin grove with another young boy with whom Liesl was close. Now she has set aside childish things except for listening to her grandmother’s old-fashioned superstitions about the goblin folk. As the time for Josef to audition with a famous musical mentor comes close, the house is in an uproar and Liesl’s mother doesn’t allow for the old fashioned protections against the goblins in her house fearing the mentor would take them for bumpkins. This is a mistake.
Kathe is kidnapped by the Goblin King (yes like the movie, yes like a hundred other folk tales from centuries ago) and Liesl must rescue her. That is only a third of the story and for me the least of it. What is far more interesting is the sacrifice Liesl makes bringing her into the Goblin King’s world. The rest of the novel revolves around Liesl and Der Erlkönig. She wants to reclaim her life and the world above (shades of Hades and Persephone) but she is intrigued by the Der Erlkönig who she realizes is more complex than she thought. Der Erlkönig is both the Goblin King but like her, now his queen, was once human.
Tehey share music and hope and hopelessness. They are complicated and fascinating characters whose story I didn’t want to end. Der Erlkönig’s secrets weren’t all revealed and for all his monstrous at times, kind at times behavior (shades of Beauty and the Beast) , he is very sympathetic. Liesl’s heart breaks for him (and mine was tugged as well). I wanted a happy ending for them. Through this we see Liesl’s coming of age as a woman, shedding her childhood name and embracing her identity as Elizabeth, a woman filled with music, magic and wildness torn between her enigmatic lover and her family in the world above, especially her brother Josef.
I loved the characters and the setting. I wanted more of them. So why not the full five rating? There is a bit of repetitiveness that slowed this down, especially in the beginning. I was getting weary of how many times Liesl had to tell us how plain she was and how she could never expect to out compete Kathe. Her music and her relationship with her brother, while good, also trod the same ground over numerous times. Also, wasn’t entirely a fan of the ending. There will be more as it’s a duology (though from the author’s own answers to reader questions it wasn’t really planned that way and this nebulous ending was going to be the end of it.) I think the reason I wanted more from the ending (spoilers ahead) was that there was hints that the Goblin King could lay down his crown. Okay more than hints but it wasn’t explored fully or even suggested between the two of them (because it did have dark implications). I would have liked to see that explored more. I hope it is in the sequel.
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