A Curse so Dark and Lonely, by Brigid Kemmerer. Young Adults
Seventeen-year-old Cerebral Palsy sufferer Harper and her
older brother Jake are in trouble in Washington DC: their father has abandoned the family with
huge debts; their mother is a terminal
cancer patient, and the people from whom their dad borrowed want their money
back yesterday – with interest, the interest being Jake as enforcer and
standover man to extort money out of other unfortunate debtors. Harper is Jake’s reluctant look-out when he
works as a heavy, until one night she sees a woman being attacked by a man not
far from where she is hiding. Without
thinking she grabs an old tire-iron and gives the attacker a good swipe – and
finds herself hoisted up and dragged away, away into an alarming parallel world
that bears no relation to her own in real life, for she is transported by her
abductor Commander Grey to a fairy-tale castle inhabited by a handsome prince,
and no, she wasn’t dropped on her head on the way: she is now a captive in the realm of
Emberfall, and is part of a curse that lays upon the land, a curse so dark and
lonely that it seems no-one can break it.
The
curse has been imposed by an enchantress called Lilith, and can only be broken
by true love (truly! Sound familiar?) between
the handsome Prince Rhen and whichever young woman Commander Grey manages to
purloin from the other side: so far,
results have been very sketchy, especially as Rhen turns into a monster every
month and lays waste to anything that moves, including most of his subjects and
all of the castle inhabitants, including the royal family. Commander Grey is still alive because he’s a
fast mover. Believe it or not.
And, needless to say, the arrival of Harper
with her palsied leg does not inspire Prince Rhen toward any affectionate
feelings – until Harper (after she has accepted her impossible circumstances) shows
an aptitude for strategy, planning and tactics that are an unexpected and
refreshing change from the norm:
handicapped Harper from DC becomes Princess Harper of Disi, a powerful
and entirely fictitious ally of Emberfall, and there to promise Disi’s
thousands of fictional troops to save the country’s inhabitants from a hostile
Queen’s border attacks, the evil enchantress, and the monster, who is scheduled
to make his dreaded appearance soon.
This
is a great blend of fantasy, fairy tale and hard lessons in the Big City, and
Ms Kemmerer leaves so many questions hanging that she must have Book Two
underway. Well, I hope so: - what about Commander Grey, eh? What’s happening with him?! FOUR STARS.
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