Nonfiction
Book Review: Ancestral Magic by Moondancer Drake
There’s a powerful nexus on the grounds, one that evil forces want to possess and the good forces want to protect . . . and Sky is now the de facto guardian of that nexus.
There’s a powerful nexus on the grounds, one that evil forces want to possess and the good forces want to protect . . . and Sky is now the de facto guardian of that nexus.
I suppose part of my awareness of culture, as such, is about how similar in many ways people are. What seems exotic to one person is commonplace to another. The question is who do you write for? How much do you explain, how much do you let the reader infer from the text? It’s a balancing act.
Usually, I have to find the ending through draft after draft, but not this time. I was driving through South Alabama (on the way to Disney World) with my family a few summers ago and saw an ancient looking water tower. Immediately, I thought: What if some kids find something in the water tower?
Evil Ways belongs to what I think of as the new generation of urban fantasy. Magic isn’t creeping into the real world to astonish and enchant the lucky few, it’s already here, walking around in broad daylight for anyone to see. This particular example of the genre is not of the best, but in some ways it seems unfair to review it harshly.
The novel unfortunately feels very same-old, same-old. The writer with debilitating writer’s block. The serial killer using the Internet to find victims. The mysterious phone calls with the husky-voiced stranger on the other end. While the murders themselves might be effectively portrayed on the screen, for me they felt about as scary as one might see on an episode of CSI.
There was a certain ancient, mythological, allegorical feel to the whole “married to the sea” idea, and I wondered how it would translate to a more contemporary setting, i.e., “what would really happen” if this was a real custom. I think there’s a lot to be said for humanizing myths.