Scan barcode
tigheskye's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Aluminum Leaves (2019) is the debut novella by Marion Deeds, who is also part of the review team here at Fantasy Literature. Because Marion is one of our own, we are not going to give Aluminum Leaves a star rating — but we still wanted to highlight her work in the field of speculative fiction. We are very excited to see her share her work with the world.
Aluminum Leaves begins with a house fire; Erin Dosmanos is escaping her crumbling home in more ways than one, as it quickly becomes apparent that she is not only fleeing the fire, but plans to go through a portal to another world. This novella, the first in the BROKEN CITIES series, is the story of how Erin uses her quick wits and specific skills to protect a magical item that is intrinsically linked to her family’s legacy.
Erin is fleeing a powerful wizard who is willing to destroy anything, anyone, and any world in order to achieve his goal of collecting four magical items of great power and using them to serve his terrible ambitions. Erin’s family legacy, along with the legacies of other families across various realities, is bound up in those objects, and her entire life has revolved around keeping one of those objects — a special book — safe from harm. When she stumbles through a portal into another world, she encounters Trevian Langtree, a prospector with an uncanny ability to sense copper and some truly complicated family issues of his own. The future of their worlds, and others, depend on Erin’s and Trevian’s capacity to trust one another despite being perfect strangers.
I am not the type of reader who is particularly interested in setting. Aluminum Leaves is an exception for me. The setting(s) stood out to me — and maybe it’s because I have a latent admiration for portal fantasies, or because the world-jumping was communicated in a novel way — but I remained engaged with and curious about the world of the story.
For me, there were a few little snags in how the story unfolded — but in the end I did want to know more and see what happens next. In particular I liked the magic system and how it connected to the setting. I liked how we got a little bit of an understanding of how different magics worked, but I still had questions that would make another story in this world interesting.
With its creative magic system, playfulness of language, and captivating imagery, Aluminum Leaves is engaging and entertaining.
For me, there were a few little snags in how the story unfolded — but in the end I did want to know more and see what happens next. In particular I liked the magic system and how it connected to the setting. I liked how we got a little bit of an understanding of how different magics worked, but I still had questions that would make another story in this world interesting.
With its creative magic system, playfulness of language, and captivating imagery, Aluminum Leaves is engaging and entertaining.
More...