Marjorie Lawrence [Jori to her friends and Cynthia] rather resents having to spend her first year at Willowood College but as her father had insisted she is prepared to go along with his wishes. What she does not realise is that within days of her arrival she would be offered a part-time job in Old Solar’s Shoppe, a rambling emporium that sells antiques, collectibles, old clothes and other bric-a-brac, and that she would become apprenticed to the proprietor, the eccentric Lewis Solar.
Amongst many oddities in the Shoppe is a large closet on the other side of which is a door that opens into Unipuri, a world of magicians, shape-shifters and curious artefacts known as dreamstones. It has the interesting property of being flat, that is to say a disc world rather than your common-or-garden sphere like Earth. It is also the site of a centuries-old war, a conflict that forms the background to the tale.
Flat worlds hurtling through space like cosmic Frisbees, sorcerers, shape-shifters and magical stones I can handle with aplomb. My mind has drifted through such places since I was in play-school, which is a very long time ago now. What gave me pause was that much of the action in the novel takes place within the context of the American educational system, which is to me a place far more bizarre than any fantasy world. Even more problematic for a sixty-eight year old male, the tale is told from the viewpoint of an eighteen-year-old woman. For a few moments there I wondered if I could get past page two.
Despite initial misgivings, I read on and soon found myself quite comfortable in the weird world of Willowood College, and the completely comprehensible one of Unipuri. Teenage girls are teenage girls wherever they are, and I have known quite a few of them in my time so I was soon back in the swing of that. I was a third of the way through the book before I realised it, so infectious did the tale become.
Levigne sets a good pace, and her storytelling is clear and unforced. Dialogue, one of the more difficult aspects of narrative, is fluent and natural. She has obviously put a lot of thought into the construction of Unipuri [this is the fourth book in the series], its history, geography and culture, and presents the reader with a believable alternative universe that is internally consistent. The ending is satisfactory, although with every expectation that there is more to come – which there is, of course. Volume Five – “Apprentice Solar” – should be available soon. I shall definitely be looking forward to it.
Four stars, without a doubt.
Stephen Symons.
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2016
