review; wayfarer

Wayfarer
by Lili St. Crow

The Charmer’s Ball. Midnight. And one glass slipper…

Newly orphaned, increasingly isolated from her friends, and terrified of her violent stepmother, Ellen Sinder still believes she’ll be okay. She has a plan for surviving and getting through high school, which includes keeping her head down and saving any credits she can earn or steal. But when a train arrives from over the Waste beyond New Haven, carrying a golden boy and a new stepsister, all of Ellie’s plans begin to unravel, one by one.

Just when all hope is lost, Ellie meets an odd old woman with a warm hearth and a heavenly garden. Auntie’s kindness is intoxicating, and Ellie finally has a home again. Yet when the clock strikes twelve on the night of the annual Charmer’s Ball, Ellie realizes that no charm is strong enough to make her past disappear…

In a city where Twisted minotaurs and shifty fey live alongside diplomats and charmers, a teenage girl can disappear through the cracks into safety – or into something much more dangerous. So what happens when the only safety you can find wants to consume you as well?

Review:

Let’s start off by saying that this is less intense than the first of the series. Still intense, but just, a little less so.

Ellie is just as insecure and hurting underneath as Cami was in the first novel. It’s rather painful to see those hurts festering under her smile, to see that both of these girls thought their trio, the people around them, would be better of without them. And neither one wanted to admit it to those very people.

And so Ellie tries to be strong, tries to take care of herself, even as her world crumbles around her. The introduction of Rita into her life, and the reintroduction of Avery, throw her into a tailspin from which she has to either break herself free or let herself fall.

Avery is a complete breath of fresh air, to Ellie and to me as a reader. Where Nico (and Tor) was broodiness and intensity, Avery is goofy charm and bright smiles. It’s a whole other sort of relationship, but also a wonderful read. Avery sees Ellie, even when she is so desperately sure no one sees what she is hiding, even when she so desperately wants to fly under the radar and disappear.

It is a charming love story, and a balm to Ellie’s wounded soul, but insecurities do not disappear, fears do not vanish just because a handsome boy smiles at you and takes you out for milkshakes. Instead the mysterious Auntie takes advantage of the loneliness and the pain, and slowly begins to leech off of Ellie.

This twist was not one that blindsided me, but one that you become gradually aware of as you read. It seeps in through the descriptions and the words, much like Ellie slowly becomes aware that something is not quite right, so do the readers. It is chilling and wonderfully written.

There are parts of the novel that seem a little grammatically incorrect, some editing errors here and there, but they do not detract from the whole experience. All in all, a great and fun read, and there are no loose ends to tie up.