I should not have stayed up into the wee hours reading this book, and yet – I did. I finished the rest of the book during a long bath that exceeded an hour.
Maggie is transported into the world of her favourite unfinished book series. Hijinks ensue oh, and she cannot die. Whaaaat-
I have some thoughts. They are disorganised. They might not tell you much about the book, but like Jean Jacques Rousseau, the current bane of my existence, they will tell you my feelings about it. Which, as he would say, are extremely important.
is this, like, a study session?
There is so much information delivered to us, the reader, and while the world of Kair Toren is familiar to Maggie, obviously we have no idea about it. And we are educated. Ma’am, I don’t want to go back to home education. Please, cease. Desist. Maggie, with the zest and zeal of a true fan, dives into this subject for paragraphs upon paragraphs, pages upon pages.
At times I was like hmm so blah blah blah did blah at blah and then blah happened and I had to zone back in. It’s like regency books where they get to the bedroom and it’s like okay sure sure sure but give me the plot you know? There is just so much information. I may have blanked out on some of it. I will neither confirm nor deny.
It made me wonder about the original book series; I concluded that it must have been very, very high fantasy. There’s just so much *gestures* of it.
But Maggie is a true fan. She really wants to make a difference to the world that has meant so much to her. And she really wants to tell us about that world. Which, as I have mentioned, she does exhaustively.
I cannot overstate how much this happens. If I wanted a history lesson midplot, I’d pick up a G A Henty.
i quite like it, y’know?
When you get past all of the muchness of the world building … this is actually a very interesting story. Naturally. (I don’t stay up late reading and stay in a cold bath for nothing). When the plot moves, it moves.
Maggie’s efforts & choices felt intelligent & I like her title of ‘the Undying’. It was cool, it was badass, I’m not too old to use either of those descriptors.
As someone who definitely has never spent much time daydreaming about fictional worlds and how to fix them, I really feel Maggie, you know? What an opportunity. Enter the fictional world you care very, very strongly about and fix it? Reader, *gestures in ao3* this is fanfiction made flesh.
It feels a little like the Gentlemen Bastard series – but with slightly less cursing. But I wouldn’t have noticed that there was lots of cursing. So. Make of that what you will. I give excellent book recommendations, what can I say?
c’est twist!
There were twists and there were twists and yes, there was that I really did enjoy because I spent some seconds of my life pondering novel rules and puzzling over a choice, and then something happened and it alllll made sense.
And I approved. And I cannot tell you what that twist was because: spoilers.
I finished this book absolutely gasping for the sequel and berating myself for once again reading a book in a series that had not been completed (which is ironic considering this is Maggie’s annoyance too). I hope the sequel comes out post haste.
I wrote a portal fantasy myself and I find myself once more with a thirst. I may have to go on a hunt for other books in this subgenre …
happy reading!
of words & books 