Balancing Stone

Hope is spending time with Jemis Greenwing and the Darts, and hopes to marry Hal soon, so she's happy but has one niggling problem: she's an adopted orphan and doesn't know her true name. The reason this is an issue is that she is the Ironwood heiress, a cursed legacy in which she needs to know her true name to take possession of it and lift the curse. But how can she discover what it is?

Sometimes short stories leave you wanting more, but this was the perfect length for the story Goddard has to tell here. It's basically a side quest in the Greenwing & Dart series and doesn't make a lot of sense if you haven't read the novels. And it did leave me wanting to read more about Hope and see what happens next, but in a way that I was still show more satisfied by the story of her discovery. I'm really looking forward to see where the story goes next. show less

The usual gorgeous descriptions of places and people and... Other things. Hope gets a nice long walk, out with Jemis and back with Mrs Etaris, some interesting stones, and some interesting questions to consider. It's nice to get something from her POV, too - we've seen what she does but not how she feels about things, mostly. And maybe she's found an answer to her biggest question. It's not precisely resolved, but it's an interesting path to take, anyway. Not a lot to the story, though.

Hope Stornaway is staying for the winter holidays with the Darts, all pretty much unknown to her before this holiday—or, in the case of Mr. Dart and his niece, recently met at a murder scene, in company with Jemis and Hal, classmates of hers from Marrowlea. Jemis drops by when the Darts are out with a family ceremony, and they go for a walk. As always when Jemis is involved, it gets interesting.