Monday, January 30, 2012

13 Treasures & 13 Curses, Michelle Harrison

These two are actually pretty good.  I wasn't as impressed with the first one, especially since the 13 Treasures in the title actually had very little to do with the storyline.  In fact, in some ways, the first story is really just a set-up for the second, but it was an interesting story in it's own right.

For 13 Treasures, Tonya has the second sight, has been desperately trying to find anyone to believe that she is not crazy.  She has been tormented by fairies all her life because of her determination to tell.  Her mother has had enough, and sends her away for a break in the countryside.  A summer away at her grandmother's spooky mansion, with her stern groundskeeper, his irritating son, and a deep dark forest (forbidden of course) filled with danger will show her that her sight doesn't show her everything, and that the fairies can be quite dangerous.

In 13 Curses, we get a lot more background on fairy lore and countermeasures as we follow Red (a secondary character from Treasures) into fairyland to rescue her baby brother, stolen years ago.  Red, like Tonya, has the sight, and she is determined to do anything necessary to rescue her brother.

The second installment is actually much better than the first, and Red is in intriguing choice as the hero - she's brusque and haughty, and actively vengeful against anyone who has wronged her - even accidentally.  This makes her a little harder to like, but certainly understandable.

The cast from the first is back again, to help her complete her mission, and learn some interesting thigns about her own family, just as Tonya did in the first installment.

Both books have plotlines that are resolved neatly, but there are enough edges of stories (the groundskeeper and his son have yet to feature) to possibly create a third to round out the set.  Even without another addition, these are remarkably good overall, despite some little niggles of sloppy plotting and action by off-screen characters.  

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