This is a really sweet story, inspired by a note in the author’s great –grandmother’s diary from when she emigrated to America from Norway. Her husband had asked her to take on a young woman from the ship as a maid, because she was young, and on her own. The author’s invented a back story for her, using Scandinavian fairy tales as the back drop. It works really well.
Astri’s father has gone off to America, leaving her and her sister Greta behind with their aunt. The aunt sells Astri to the local goatman, so Astri steals back to the house to find Greta, and they’re off to America. What makes this story is the weaving in of fairy tales, as Astri tries to use them as inspiration when their path grows rough. It’s a really lovely way to tell this story – very sweetly done.
In book three of the Raven Cycle, Blue Sargent and the Algionby boys are growing closer to finding Glendower, in many ways because by this point in the story, they’ve acquired powers. This book is about them accepting those powers – in many ways, it’s about growing up.
This book has a really interesting set up – a Regency England in a world with magic, where England has been losing their ability to work magic. The Sorcerer Royal, Sir Stephen, realized that there are plenty of other powerful magicians in the world, including Zacharias, a young slave that he bought because he sensed his potential power. He emancipated and adopted Zacharias, and it’s been his fondest wish for Zacharias to follow in his footsteps as Sorcerer Royal. Well, Sir Stephen has died, and Zacharias has succeeded to the Staff, and naturally, being an African sorcerer in Regency England is not at all easy.
The North Wind and the Sea 