A Turn of Light

Intricately crafted and with a unique view of magic, it rises above the relatively constrained physical location. Starts slow; seems like an improbably "nice" tale set in a rural village. But then strangeness creeps in as you notice out-of-place things and assumptions - which the characters never notice, this is all normal life for them (!). And then it gets better and better. And you simply never can figure out which way the romances are going to end up. The jacket says this is Book One. Yes, I'll be buying the others....

Long. Very long, slow, gentle, pleasant, happy almost bucolic, character driven fantasy - the author also describes it as a romance which is also true, although it's not massively over done. There is a traditional love triangle where the heroine can't make up her mind between two handsome suitors, but most of the vast page count is spent describing the background magic of Marrowdell and how Jenn can resist or find her 'soul'. With interruptions from toads.

This is Jenn's coming of age year, when she'll be 19 and formally an adult in the small isolated community of Marrowdell. She can't wait for a chance to leave and explore the wider world, even though she knows it is very different from the life she's accustomed to now. Marrowdell was show more formed when some prominent families fled the capitol under the regime of a new prince. She barely remembers the journey, and can't quite believe that toads don't lay eggs elsewhere. Meanwhile she can celebrate in NIght's Edge, her private meadow with Wisp, her best childhood friend, whatever he may be, for she only sees a glimpse of a talon, fragment of a wing, but she doesn't care for he is hers and laughter makes the world a-right. We also follow Bannon who's similarly fleeing the Prince's regime, with a footservant and a bloodthristy horse. Bannon is a rare truthseer, who can tell any lie. As such he's become depressed with life as a soldier, and is instead looking for honest peace. Wisp also gets a part, mostly to contrast just how little Jenn actually knows about the world around her.

For Marrowdell is no ordinary valley. It is a construct brought about by some of the variety of more powerful beings that live in the Verge between 'real' and 'magic'. Every day at sunset, those with eyes, and the knowledge that it's there, can see between both worlds, a time known as the Turn. A very few people through chance are born during those critical seconds. Normally they are from the Verge and have a brief interaction with the 'Real' world, but a few special humans have that chance of seeing the Verge too. Marrowdell is both home to a normal 'real' place and filled with creatures trapped from the Verge, doing the best they can to appear ordinary. The Toads are never really explained.

I did enjoy it, slow moving as it is, which means it doesn't have the intense 'don't put me down' gripping nature of most books that I really love - but not putting down 800+ pages would be a real challenge! I struggled with a few weaker points, - the world isn't really explained, and it's only through thinking about if for this review, that I've sort of understood how it 'works'. The whole love triangle thing is a bit annoying, but well resolved. The motivations of the True-born seem somewhat opaque, even the sei don't make any sense. Both have enough power to just have the world as they want. However all the humans who can live in Marrowdell are happy, which makes a great change from the proliferation of grim-dark fantasy that has swept the shelves recently. There is no suffering. No-one dies, there's only a few flesh wounds, and hardly any disagreement. The harshest situation is Jenn having to choose which of her suitors she really loves, and who she only likes.

Long and peaceful. relaxing. show less

A Turn of Light was quite the treat. Weighing in at over 800 pages you have to know you are in for a very well developed story and characters. The past few years I have been shying away from quite a number of books over 600 pages because I think I've become a bit of an impatient reader. So I mean this in the best way when I say that this book tested my patience.

The reading experience was a bit like a piece of chocolate, slow melting and delicious but I did find myself wanting a bit of a crunch. Now what do I mean by that? There is an extremely slow and even pace to the entirety of A Turn of Light. I was 300 pages in and then I was 600 pages in and I still felt as if the same even pacing continued throughout. That is why I found myself show more thinking of my favorite chocolates that can only be best savored by sucking on them instead of chewing them. BUT I seriously wanted some more ooomph...like throw in some chili pepper or spice to kick things up another notch because I'm nothing if not an action girl. This was village life in a marvelous fantasy world, all of the people's lives here are touched in someway by this magic that they've come to see as commonplace and they don't even acknowledge it as magic though they know these sorts of odd things don't happen outside of their village. We get a slow reveal on all of the quirks about this little village and each new bit I learned made me fall in love with it more and more. So ultimately you should know going in that there is not a lot of action. This reads with a slow pace all the better to really immerse yourself in the world building, the village and each of the characters.

I know I know, but you don't know I know?
The method of storytelling used is the type where the reader knows pretty much everything that is going on while at least one character is completely oblivious. This is accomplished by the 3 character perspectives the story is told from. I really loved Jenn and Bannan's perspective and Wyll's was interesting, but because I found him to be so stubborn and he had that infuriating attitude of 'I know whats good for you and you just need to abide what I say" it made reading his sections aggravating for me. Not because it wasn't just as well written but only because I always have a hard time with that type of domineering character. Ultimately, I felt like I knew what was going to happen the entire book and I can honestly say I wasn't wrong by the end. This didn't bother me because after all this isn't a mystery novel, its a fantasy. Most of the fun for me is learning about the world. Yes, there was some things I didn't see coming here and there but as far as each character and their individual story arcs I saw them all coming. I must say though that I really adored all of the characters, because it was such a long book I was able to get to know each one of them well enough that I was interested in them all and wasn't bored despite some of the aspects that felt predictable.

Eeenie, meenie, miney, moe...
I pick you! Or do I? I just don't know what I want! That was Jenn. Can you handle it? So prepare yourself my dears for the young and unsure heart when it comes to matters of love. Torn between duty & friendship and growing love and attraction - Jenn really doesn't know what to do and we spend the bulk of the novel watching her figure it out. I didn't realize this when I originally picked up the book but Jenn is 18 just a few days away from 19, but like most fantasies that is the age where you should be thinking about settling down with a spouse. So you can expect that she has that sort of personality that is young and naive, and lets not forget rebellious!

Creatures galore!
One of my favorite parts about fantasy is the magnificent creatures that we could encounter. Of course it was absolutely my favorite part about A Turn of Light. From guardian toads to messenger moths and a horse that isn't - I was taken in by each and every creature. Especially the toads!! I want one!

This is one fantasy I'm glad I didn't pass up! show less

A Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda brings to life a beautiful new fantasy world and deep character development for all the inhabitants of a small (but magical) village called Marrowdell. While A Turn of Light is paced quite slowly, the relationships that Jenn is able to develop and the mystery that eventually unfolds makes for an enjoyable fantasy reading experience. You will definitely not get through this one quickly, but once I got to the end I was happy to have had the experience!
Note: I received A Turn of Light from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.



A Turn of Light by Julie E. Czerneda (Night's Edge #1)
Published by DAW on March 5th, 2013
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Length: 896 pages
How I got my copy: Publisher
Amazon - show more IndieBound - Book Depository - Goodreads
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The village of Marrowdell is an isolated pioneer community, but it is also the place where two worlds overlap, and at the turn of light--sunset--the world of magic known as the Verge can briefly be seen.

Jenn Nalynn belongs to both Verge and Marrowdell, but even she doesn't know how special she is--or that her invisible friend Wisp is actually a dragon sent to guard her... and keep her from leaving the valley. But Jenn longs to see the world, and thinking that a husband will help her reach this goal, she decides to create one using spells. Of course, everything goes awry, and suddenly her "invisible friend" has been transformed into a man. But he is not the only newcomer to Marrowdell, and far from the most dangerous of those who are suddenly finding their way to the valley...

Strengths:
A Turn of Light is a hefty book at 800 pages, but this allows for a whole lot of character development. The relationships that Jenn has with all the other villagers isn’t something just hinted at. You as the reader really get to see all the little exchanges between people that add up to life in a small community. This means that by the end, you don’t just care about Jenn and the few important secondary characters, you care about every single villager because you know about their lives as well.
At first we only get hints at the fantasy world that hides behind Marrowdell, but right away you know that it’s going to be awesome. There are toads that have sharp teeth and lay eggs (though the villagers think this is perfectly normal) and a breeze that carries the voice of a hidden being in the meadow. A Turn of Light beautifully captures the mysterious magic that I love about fantasy worlds!
Jenn and her sister Peggs are adorable! I love sisterly and family bonds in general, and Jenn’s family is the best. Her father is very much present and important in her life, her aunt is living with them for the summer and serves as a mother figure to the girls, and Peggs is such a great older sister. It was so refreshing for family to be a positively depicted element for once.
The last 50 or so pages of A Turn of Light were crazy awesome and far more epic than I was expecting. I absolutely loved the ending and how things were wrapped up and really consider it worth the wait in hindsight.

Weaknesses:
The biggest problem that I had with A Turn of Light is that it is reeeeaaaaally slow at times. It took me over a week to read, which is just ridiculous for me. I read 1000 page book in less than a week just the other week. I frequently found myself struggling to keep reading about day to day life in the village. There are exciting and interesting pieces of story in A Turn of Light, but they happen in between pages and pages of sewing and taking care of livestock.
There is a love triangle in A Turn of Light and there is no hiding it. Very near the beginning both men show up and express interest in Jenn and Jenn feels torn between the two. It is resolved by the end, but there is a period of time when she is actually writing love letters to both of them one after the other!
There is pretty heavy info-dumping and purple prose throughout A Turn of Light. While I was excited to find out about the world and cultures in it, it was annoying when it was all of a sudden lesson time. Combine that with a lot of over description of things that I didn’t much care about, and I found myself tempted to skim some paragraphs.
The writing of A Turn of Light is at times beautiful, but often a bit odd. There are a lot of fragments that remind me of a stream-of-consciousness style narration, but it is third person so it didn’t really seem to fit. I also frequently found myself hitting “garden path” sentences where I initially interpreted the sentence one way, got confused, reread the sentence and realized that I had read it wrong. This was really frustrating when it happened at least every page since it slowed down my reading immensely.

Summary:
The world and characters introduced in A Turn of Light are ones that I came to love, even though the going was a bit slow at times. If you are okay with the more traditional fantasy style of lots of description and information about the world, you may fall in love with A Turn of Light, but definitely don’t expect an action-packed read. I’m looking forward to the second book since it sounds like it will have a bit more action and I think that that combined with this amazing world will be a joy to read! show less

Wow, this was long. I got pretty engrossed in this fantasy world Czerneda creates of exiled aristocrats in a sort of "new world" where they have become farmers. They've settled in a valley caught halfway between the magic world and the non-magic world, kind of an edge world, filled with beautiful meadows, rich farming, log cabins guarded by giant needle teethed toads which are quite like house cats, moths which may or may not be fairies, beautiful meadows (but avoid trampling the grain as you may not make it back out again alive), and a young woman named Jenn who is cursed with a wild desire to explore the world and is doomed if she tries. It's a pretty classic fantasy, but the world building is intricate and lovely. Also, 800 pages. show more Yikes. Settle in. show less

A Turn of Light is a brilliant new fantasy novel with excellent characterization and amazing world building. Jenn Nalynn dreams of leaving the isolated village her family was exiled to and seeing the world. However, forces are in place that demand she never leave the village at all. Naturally, everything begins to go haywire as the birthday that marks her coming of age approaches.

I really liked the world Czerneda developed here. I especially liked the toads. Little cousins indeed, they're braver than many of their larger kin. The use of magic is handled well and does not feel forced or made up as it sometimes does in fantasy. The novel can serve as a stand alone, but she's already been signed for a second book in the series. Highly show more recommended for fantasy lovers and those who just love a good story alike. show less

Engaging and witty, suspenseful and romantic, fantastical and magical. A Turn of Light is a wonderful creation. The characters are well developed but slowly revealed. The dialogue is well written with several laugh out loud moments. Thoroughly enjoyed!! Thank you, Julie Czerneda!! :)