Darkhenge by Catherine Fisher
Several months ago, Rob’s sister, Chloe, fell from her horse, and she’s been in a coma ever since, causing what’s left of his family to become increasingly fractured. Seeking a distraction from his frustrations, Rob, who is also an artist, gets a summer job at a nearby archeological dig. But soon, a giant tree that’s literally growing upside down is discovered, and a man named Vetch who claims to be an immortal, tells him that Chloe is not actually in a “normal” coma, but that her soul has been taken into the Unworld to be the king’s bride.
Fisher assumes that the reader is at least passingly familiar with things like “Tam Lin,” the myth of Taliesin and Ceridwen, and general myths and traditions surrounding the abducted bride, faery rings, and faery abductions in general. Since she lives in Wales and the book is an import from Great Britain, this is likely a fair assumption for the original audience. I’m not fond of how a couple things play out on a metanarrative level, but I love the world created, especially the Unworld, and the use of myth, and how the narrative, despite falling very heavily on the side of myth, still had a positive view of Christianity and had relative openmindedness on both sides.
While most readers will probably find Rob easy to get attached to, I think Chloe is rather like Sarah in Labyrinth in that readers older than her will get her and her motivations better than readers her own age, who are likely more likely to see her and hateful and selfish. (I don’t think she is. At least, no more so than any other 14-year-old who isn’t the “gifted” child.)
Fisher assumes that the reader is at least passingly familiar with things like “Tam Lin,” the myth of Taliesin and Ceridwen, and general myths and traditions surrounding the abducted bride, faery rings, and faery abductions in general. Since she lives in Wales and the book is an import from Great Britain, this is likely a fair assumption for the original audience. I’m not fond of how a couple things play out on a metanarrative level, but I love the world created, especially the Unworld, and the use of myth, and how the narrative, despite falling very heavily on the side of myth, still had a positive view of Christianity and had relative openmindedness on both sides.
While most readers will probably find Rob easy to get attached to, I think Chloe is rather like Sarah in Labyrinth in that readers older than her will get her and her motivations better than readers her own age, who are likely more likely to see her and hateful and selfish. (I don’t think she is. At least, no more so than any other 14-year-old who isn’t the “gifted” child.)