Among Others
by Jo Walton 
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Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. It doesn't matter. I have books, new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books.' Fifteen-year-old Morwenna lives in Wales with her twin sister and a mother who spins dark magic for ill. One day, Mori and her mother fight a powerful, magical battle that kills her sister and leaves Mori crippled. Devastated, Mori flees to her long-lost father in England. Adrift, outcast at boarding school, Mori retreats into the worlds she knows best: her magic and her show more books. She works a spell to meet kindred souls and continues to devour every fantasy and science fiction novel she can lay her hands on. But danger lurks... She knows her mother is looking for her and that when she finds her, there will be no escape. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
norabelle414 A young, bookish kid in 1970s England gets tangled up in magical and scary events larger than they are.
110
anglemark Both books are about how reading shaped a child, although they are not both viewing it exactly the same way.
40
Jannes Both are fantasy or fantasy-sih books about fantasy readers and how the stories you read hape you and affect your sense of the world.
63
Herenya Both stories have a heroine dealing with grief and the sometimes-loneliness of being 15.
20
aulsmith Both works have a hint of Faerie, without being clear whether it's real or not. Also bad parents and their struggling offspring.
10
susanbooks Both are realistic novels in which the worlds of magic and fairy may be real and/or function as coping mechanisms for the narrators. Beautiful PTSD novels.
Cecrow Mo references several works in 'Among Us', but the terminology of 'Cat's Cradle' is especially important.
Member Reviews
Every time I read a book by Jo Walton, I am in awe all over again. Half way through this one, I knew I was going to have to reread it someday -- after I make a list of all the science fiction and fantasy books that it references and read those that I've missed out on. This autobiographically influenced fantasy novel is as intimate an experience between reader and author as I have ever encountered. Reading it is like inhabiting Walton's real life and your own at the same time, even when the narrative is talking about fairies and magic and other worlds. Nothing here is overblown or overwrought and yet each detail feels both real and magical at once. This is the story of a young woman who has lost her twin, and all the family she knew. It show more is also a story of that young woman rebuilding herself, in the face of opposition that is sometimes real and sometimes magical and sometimes both or maybe neither. It is still also a love letter to the great science fiction and fantasy classics of the twentieth century; the narrative is peppered with references to the works of Zelazny, Delany, Bradbury, LeGuin, and dozens of others as our heroine uses her enthusiasm for her favorite books to connect with those who seem so different from herself. And don't we all? This book will resonate deeply with anyone who has every been that lone book nerd searching for her people. Seriously, read it. show less
‘Among Others’ is a slow and subtle novel that I grew on me until I wholeheartedly loved it. I think I reached that point about a third of the way though. It is told as the diary of Mori, a fifteen year old who has been sent to boarding school after a magical confrontation with her insane and dangerous mother. The part of the story being told is thus unusual straight off; the dramatic plot developments have already happened and Mori is trying to recover from them. She has escaped her mother, lost her twin sister, and suffered a debilitating injury. The reader gradually comes to understand these prior events and the complicated context of a somewhat magical family. Another aspect of the book that immediately stands out is the show more juxtaposition of Mori’s familiarity with magic and fondness of sci-fi and fantasy books. I don’t think I’ve come across this combination anywhere else and it was fascinating and charming. Mori’s diary describes mundane details of boarding school life, books she’s reading, and encounters with fairies. The narrative is not plot-led and took me a little while to get used to, however the same distinctiveness that requires adjustment is also deeply appealing.
Once I was accustomed to Mori’s voice, I found her a deeply sympathetic character. In fact, I couldn’t help but compare her to my teenage self. My teenage years didn’t feature any magic, disability, or boarding schools, and my family life was stable and happy, however I was also an obsessive reader who measured out the weeks in library visits. None of my friends or family had any particular interest in sci-fi, so I devoured the genre without discussing it much with anyone. When Mori used magic to find friends to talk about sci-fi with, I totally understood. Her comments on books I’d enjoyed at the same point in my own life gave me a strong feeling of nostalgia and reminded me to re-read my teenage diaries sometime. I was especially pleased that Mori loved [b:Stand on Zanzibar|41069|Stand on Zanzibar|John Brunner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360613921s/41069.jpg|2184253] as much I did and that librarians were treated as very important. They really are.
As well as feeling a certain personal connection, I appreciated the subtleties and ambiguities of magic in ‘Among Others’. It can make things happen more easily if they already want to happen and you can never be sure that wouldn’t have happened anyway. It seems, in fact, to stack the odds in the favour of the person performing it, rather than giving them some sort of superpowers. Part way through Mori decides to stop using magic except for protection, a decision prompted by the uncertainty of not knowing whether she was inadvertently manipulating people. This prompts a lovely comparison with [b:The Lathe of Heaven|59924|The Lathe of Heaven|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433084322s/59924.jpg|425872], another fantastic sci-fi novel. I was intrigued to know how Mori had learned magic, which she never really explains. There are also some excellent details, for instance a surprisingly dramatic moment when Mori realises that getting her ears pierced would prevent her ever doing magic again. This is instinctive knowledge on her part somehow fits perfectly with the mysteries of fairies and magic in this particular world.
I already knew that Walton was a brilliant writer from [b:The Just City|22055276|The Just City (Thessaly, #1)|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1416448145s/22055276.jpg|39841651] and [b:The Philosopher Kings|23168762|The Philosopher Kings (Thessaly, #2)|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418113402s/23168762.jpg|27103894]. ‘Among Others’ is a very different but equally beautifully written and thoughtful novel, in which teenage life is juxtaposed with questions about the nature of reality and free will. Walton is adept at balancing the mundane and the profound, while evoking places and people vividly. She also conveys a great love of reading, sci-fi in particular. Now I want to go back through ‘Among Others’ to find sci-fi novels I haven’t read, as well as tracking down [b:What Makes This Book So Great|17910076|What Makes This Book So Great|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1370009391s/17910076.jpg|25095529], a compendium of her essays on favourite books. show less
Once I was accustomed to Mori’s voice, I found her a deeply sympathetic character. In fact, I couldn’t help but compare her to my teenage self. My teenage years didn’t feature any magic, disability, or boarding schools, and my family life was stable and happy, however I was also an obsessive reader who measured out the weeks in library visits. None of my friends or family had any particular interest in sci-fi, so I devoured the genre without discussing it much with anyone. When Mori used magic to find friends to talk about sci-fi with, I totally understood. Her comments on books I’d enjoyed at the same point in my own life gave me a strong feeling of nostalgia and reminded me to re-read my teenage diaries sometime. I was especially pleased that Mori loved [b:Stand on Zanzibar|41069|Stand on Zanzibar|John Brunner|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360613921s/41069.jpg|2184253] as much I did and that librarians were treated as very important. They really are.
As well as feeling a certain personal connection, I appreciated the subtleties and ambiguities of magic in ‘Among Others’. It can make things happen more easily if they already want to happen and you can never be sure that wouldn’t have happened anyway. It seems, in fact, to stack the odds in the favour of the person performing it, rather than giving them some sort of superpowers. Part way through Mori decides to stop using magic except for protection, a decision prompted by the uncertainty of not knowing whether she was inadvertently manipulating people. This prompts a lovely comparison with [b:The Lathe of Heaven|59924|The Lathe of Heaven|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1433084322s/59924.jpg|425872], another fantastic sci-fi novel. I was intrigued to know how Mori had learned magic, which she never really explains. There are also some excellent details, for instance a surprisingly dramatic moment when Mori realises that getting her ears pierced would prevent her ever doing magic again. This is instinctive knowledge on her part somehow fits perfectly with the mysteries of fairies and magic in this particular world.
I already knew that Walton was a brilliant writer from [b:The Just City|22055276|The Just City (Thessaly, #1)|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1416448145s/22055276.jpg|39841651] and [b:The Philosopher Kings|23168762|The Philosopher Kings (Thessaly, #2)|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1418113402s/23168762.jpg|27103894]. ‘Among Others’ is a very different but equally beautifully written and thoughtful novel, in which teenage life is juxtaposed with questions about the nature of reality and free will. Walton is adept at balancing the mundane and the profound, while evoking places and people vividly. She also conveys a great love of reading, sci-fi in particular. Now I want to go back through ‘Among Others’ to find sci-fi novels I haven’t read, as well as tracking down [b:What Makes This Book So Great|17910076|What Makes This Book So Great|Jo Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1370009391s/17910076.jpg|25095529], a compendium of her essays on favourite books. show less
4.5 stars. I thought this was really fun. Not what I expected and the better for it.
The story is set in a slightly alternative Wales and England circa 1979-1980. It's written as diary entries by a teenage girl (Mori) who's gone through some pretty serious trauma - an accident that has damaged her ability to walk, the loss of her twin sister, surviving an insane and power-hungry mother who's a bit of an evil witch, and escaping the tangles of that past to wind up in boarding school England. The author never gives much detail to most of this trauma, although parts are revealed slowly, which makes sense for a girl writing her own diary.
Life in a boarding school when you are not from the area, don't understand (or care about) the social show more norms, and are physically different is challenging. Mori finds escape, adventure, and eventually friendship through her love of SF. I can see why the book won a Nebula and a Hugo - there are so many references to SF novels of the era, it must have been like a homecoming to so many of the folks who voted for the awards. I'm a little bit younger than Mori but because my true love is fantasy, I personally only knew a few of the works she referenced (LOTR, Pern, Le Guin).
I really liked how the book treated magic. It's not "wave a wand and everything's different instantaneously," it's "cast a spell and things start to unfold." Seems a bit more like how magic might actually work in the world we live in. :-)
I also really liked the end. It wasn't what I expected from the book jacket. It was less dramatic but oh so powerful at the same time. show less
The story is set in a slightly alternative Wales and England circa 1979-1980. It's written as diary entries by a teenage girl (Mori) who's gone through some pretty serious trauma - an accident that has damaged her ability to walk, the loss of her twin sister, surviving an insane and power-hungry mother who's a bit of an evil witch, and escaping the tangles of that past to wind up in boarding school England. The author never gives much detail to most of this trauma, although parts are revealed slowly, which makes sense for a girl writing her own diary.
Life in a boarding school when you are not from the area, don't understand (or care about) the social show more norms, and are physically different is challenging. Mori finds escape, adventure, and eventually friendship through her love of SF. I can see why the book won a Nebula and a Hugo - there are so many references to SF novels of the era, it must have been like a homecoming to so many of the folks who voted for the awards. I'm a little bit younger than Mori but because my true love is fantasy, I personally only knew a few of the works she referenced (LOTR, Pern, Le Guin).
I really liked how the book treated magic. It's not "wave a wand and everything's different instantaneously," it's "cast a spell and things start to unfold." Seems a bit more like how magic might actually work in the world we live in. :-)
I also really liked the end. It wasn't what I expected from the book jacket. It was less dramatic but oh so powerful at the same time. show less
The first few chapters of this novel triggered an astonishing cascade of thoughts, memories and sensations. Growing up in the seventies/eighties, reading Tolkien, Lewis, Garner, and any and all science fiction and fantasy I could get my hands on, the chord struck was, presumably, the intended one. My reading would not have been anywhere near the breadth or vigour of Mori's, nor would my responses have been as astute or thoughtful, but the effect on my imagination of reading The Lord Of The Rings was like hooking up a Christmas tree to a nuclear power plant. And a few years ago that might have been enough to make me fall in love with this book, just to see it being recreated, reimagined like this. I cherish my memories of being a bookish show more boy who half preferred to live in fantasy or way out in the galaxy somewhere than the real world, but I'm also perfectly aware of the drawbacks to such a life, the seclusion, the ant-social avoidance of other people and the tendency towards solipsism. There was also the seductive lure of language and wish-fulfillment, as it seemed possible to achieve things just by describing them in a few pages or chapter. Learn magic or warrior skills in as long as it takes to describe it! Much easier than actually doing the hard physical graft.
So it's worth remembering that I didn't just live my life through books. I was extremely fond of climbing mountains, for one thing, and I climbed most of the mountains in Ireland at one time or another, which meant that I climbed them in the worst weather imaginable and had the skills, experience and strength to love every minute. I also hiked through Wales, twice, which is relevant.
What I mean to say is that I had the suspicion that I was being pandered to, being told that I was special and misunderstood, but that I wasn't alone. Well I wasn't really, they don't let you climb mountains alone at that age. Fortunately, Jo Walton seems to get this, too, but that initial rush was the most vivid response to a book I've had in a long time. Which is fine, but is it any good?
It really is better than it has a right to be. A confection of whimsical fantasy, realism and nostalgia, the three worlds co-exist separately, much as the fairies do, so it's like an odd triangle balancing on one point at any given time.
Mori Markova has saved the world from her insane mother's magic, resulting in a dreadful sacrifice, and this is what happens in the aftermath. Sent away from her childhood home and extended family in the valleys and mountains of Wales to a boarding school in England, bringing with her a voracious appetite for reading. Lonely and isolated, she tries to find her way back to a life, but can't quite escape her mother's dark influence and her own propensity for magic.
Thus the three sides of her life: her books - a barrage of names and titles most of which I'm not too proud to say I am familiar with (but if you're not, there's a particularly lovely section where Mori describes her family and its history, another barrage of names and details, and like the books you really don't need to keep close track of everyone and everything to follow along); her new life and all its complexities and difficulties; and the fairies - which she sees everywhere - and the magic, and somehow it all works. Beautifully written, perceptive, quirky and evocative, Walton keeps them all balanced and poised with perfection.
This has won the Nebula and the Hugo, and it's easy to see why this has won the hearts of pros and fans alike, but it does more than just pander, which is not to say that it isn't a kind of wish fulfillment. The life, the books, the magic. Mori gets to have all three. But she earns it and she deserves it, and it's not a happy ending, but a happy beginning. After that, anything could happen. It's called growing up.
Just to note the coincidence: the last book I read and reviewed here was The Magus, which is one of the books Mori reads and talks about, which brought me up short a bit. I mean, you can read hundreds and hundreds of books, and none of them mention The Magus, but then you go and read The Magus, and in the very next book you read, the protagonist reads and talks about The Magus. Is that not peculiar? I found it peculiar. VERY peculiar. show less
So it's worth remembering that I didn't just live my life through books. I was extremely fond of climbing mountains, for one thing, and I climbed most of the mountains in Ireland at one time or another, which meant that I climbed them in the worst weather imaginable and had the skills, experience and strength to love every minute. I also hiked through Wales, twice, which is relevant.
What I mean to say is that I had the suspicion that I was being pandered to, being told that I was special and misunderstood, but that I wasn't alone. Well I wasn't really, they don't let you climb mountains alone at that age. Fortunately, Jo Walton seems to get this, too, but that initial rush was the most vivid response to a book I've had in a long time. Which is fine, but is it any good?
It really is better than it has a right to be. A confection of whimsical fantasy, realism and nostalgia, the three worlds co-exist separately, much as the fairies do, so it's like an odd triangle balancing on one point at any given time.
Mori Markova has saved the world from her insane mother's magic, resulting in a dreadful sacrifice, and this is what happens in the aftermath. Sent away from her childhood home and extended family in the valleys and mountains of Wales to a boarding school in England, bringing with her a voracious appetite for reading. Lonely and isolated, she tries to find her way back to a life, but can't quite escape her mother's dark influence and her own propensity for magic.
Thus the three sides of her life: her books - a barrage of names and titles most of which I'm not too proud to say I am familiar with (but if you're not, there's a particularly lovely section where Mori describes her family and its history, another barrage of names and details, and like the books you really don't need to keep close track of everyone and everything to follow along); her new life and all its complexities and difficulties; and the fairies - which she sees everywhere - and the magic, and somehow it all works. Beautifully written, perceptive, quirky and evocative, Walton keeps them all balanced and poised with perfection.
This has won the Nebula and the Hugo, and it's easy to see why this has won the hearts of pros and fans alike, but it does more than just pander, which is not to say that it isn't a kind of wish fulfillment. The life, the books, the magic. Mori gets to have all three. But she earns it and she deserves it, and it's not a happy ending, but a happy beginning. After that, anything could happen. It's called growing up.
Just to note the coincidence: the last book I read and reviewed here was The Magus, which is one of the books Mori reads and talks about, which brought me up short a bit. I mean, you can read hundreds and hundreds of books, and none of them mention The Magus, but then you go and read The Magus, and in the very next book you read, the protagonist reads and talks about The Magus. Is that not peculiar? I found it peculiar. VERY peculiar. show less
I loved this epistolary novel about a teenage girl who confronts loss, loneliness, and fear, mostly through SF and Fantasy, but also some Faeries and some magic. This read to me like a Ghibli movie, the quiet parts were just as important and interesting as the adventure parts. I loved it.
Some books I intentionally read slowly, savoring them. Some I want to devour quickly. I'm a quarter of the way into Among Others, and I want nothing more than to settle on the sofa with some tea or cocoa and just stay there until I have finished this so-far-engrossing tale.
Later...
Okay, that sentiment pretty much stuck with me through the whole book. Having been a science fiction-loving teen-ager in 1980 (when this story is set), there are so many nostalgic moments when Morwenna mentions the books she's reading. But just as engrossing is her personal tale, told through her diary entries. But I have to say (without getting too spoilery) the climax feels under-written. It is abrupt and not described in the same detail as the rest of the show more book. So in that regard, I feel a little cheated. But I still do not hesitate for a second to recommend this book.
Update 20180822, Audiobook edition. The audiobook is bril. As it is a first-person narration, the reader performs in a heavy Welsh accent. This may put some people off, but I found it brought the whole thing to vivid life. Still highly recommended. show less
Later...
Okay, that sentiment pretty much stuck with me through the whole book. Having been a science fiction-loving teen-ager in 1980 (when this story is set), there are so many nostalgic moments when Morwenna mentions the books she's reading. But just as engrossing is her personal tale, told through her diary entries. But I have to say (without getting too spoilery) the climax feels under-written. It is abrupt and not described in the same detail as the rest of the show more book. So in that regard, I feel a little cheated. But I still do not hesitate for a second to recommend this book.
Update 20180822, Audiobook edition. The audiobook is bril. As it is a first-person narration, the reader performs in a heavy Welsh accent. This may put some people off, but I found it brought the whole thing to vivid life. Still highly recommended. show less
"Fantasy" is the perfect descriptor for this story as, for the bulk of the narrative, you simply cannot tell if it's real or if the whole thing is a coping mechanism dreamed up by the protagonist. Written as a series of diary entries by a 15-year old girl who is either a witch or delusional, the pages of 'Among Others' simply ooze atmosphere and tension as you wonder if it's all real or imagined. The book is a page-turner despite the fact that not much really happens. Walton did a superb job of drawing me into Mori's world-view and in reminding me of why I love sci-fi as a genre.
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ThingScore 84
As [Mori] tries to come to terms with her sister’s death through both books and fairy magic, the novel assumes true emotional resonance.
added by PhoenixFalls
There are really two points where the success of the novel as what it is make it fail to connect with me. The first has to do with the books. It's written in the form of a diary, and the form and voice are spot-on. But part of getting the diary form right is that it doesn't provide much in the way of information about the many books that Mori reads in the course of the novel-- you wouldn't show more expect a teenager with a lot on her mind to do a detailed plot summary of everything she read, after all.
This is no big deal as long as you recognize the references to authors and titles. But if you don't-- and there are a lot of books mentioned that I know about but either haven't read or do not recall fondly-- a lot of significance is lost. The titles sort of flash by as blank spots in the narrative, a kind of "This Cultural Reference Intentionally Left Blank" effect that ends up being a little off-putting. show less
This is no big deal as long as you recognize the references to authors and titles. But if you don't-- and there are a lot of books mentioned that I know about but either haven't read or do not recall fondly-- a lot of significance is lost. The titles sort of flash by as blank spots in the narrative, a kind of "This Cultural Reference Intentionally Left Blank" effect that ends up being a little off-putting. show less
added by Passer_Invenit
Among Others is many things – a fully realized boarding-school tale, a literary memoir, a touching yet unsentimental portrait of a troubled family – but there’s something particularly appealing about a fantasy which not only celebrates the joy of reading, but in which the heroine must face the forces of doom not in order to return yet another ring to some mountain, but to plan a trip to show more the 1980 Glasgow Eastercon. That’s the sort of book you can love. show less
added by Passer_Invenit — edited by Charon07
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Jo Walton's Among Others in Science Fiction Fans (August 2012)
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Author Information
61+ Works 14,627 Members
Jo Walton is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
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Awards
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Morwenna
- Original title
- Among Others
- Original publication date
- 2011-01-18
- People/Characters
- Morwenna Rachel Phelps Markova; Daniel Markova; Sam Markova; Wim; Glorfindel (pseudonym); Morganna Phelps
- Important places
- Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, UK; Oswestry, Shropshire, England, UK; London, England, UK
- Epigraph
- Er'perrhene.
—Ursula Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven
What one piece of advice would you give to yourself at what younger age?
Any time between 10 and 25:
It's going to improve. Hon... (show all)est. There really are people out there that you will like and who will like you.
—Farah Mendelsohn, LiveJournal, 23rd May 2008 - Dedication
- This is for all the libraries in the world, and all the librarians who sit there day after day lending books to people.
- First words
- The Phurnacite factory in Abercwmboi killed all the trees for two miles around. We'd measured it on the mileometer.
- Quotations
- It doesn't matter. I have books, new books, and I can bear anything as long as there are books.
Interlibrary loans are a wonder of the world and a glory of civilization.
Libraries really are wonderful. They're better than bookshops, even. I mean bookshops make a profit on selling you books, but libraries just sit there lending you books quietly out of the goodness of their hearts.
Tolkien understood about the things that happen after the end. Because this is after the end, this is all the Scouring of the Shire, this is figuring out how to live in the time that wasn’t supposed to happen after the glor... (show all)ious last stand. I saved the world, or I think I did, and look, the world is still here, with sunsets and interlibrary loans. And it doesn’t care about me any more than the Shire cared about Frodo.
You can almost always find chains of coincidence to disprove magic. That's because it doesn't happen the way it happens in books. It makes those chains of coincidence. That's what it is. It's like if you snapped your fingers ... (show all)and produced a rose but it was because someone on an aeroplane had dropped a rose at just the right time for it to land in your hand. There was a real person and a real aeroplane and a real rose, but that doesn't mean the reason you have the rose in your hand isn't because you did the magic.
What I mean is, when I look at other people, other girls in school, and see what they like and what they're happy with and what they want, I don't feel as if I'm part of their species. And sometimes--sometimes I don't care. I... (show all) care about so few people really. Sometimes it feels as if it's only books that make life worth living.
...everything is magic. Using things connects them to you, being in the world connects you to the world, the sun streams down magic and people and animals and plants grow from sunlight and the world turns and everything is ma... (show all)gic. Fairies are more in the magic than in the world, and people are more in the world than in the magic.
I'll belong to libraries wherever I go. Maybe eventually I'll belong to libraries on other planets.
There's a difference between being someone who knows they can really die at any time and someone who doesn't .... people think there are dangerous things that can kill you, and everything else is safe. That's just not the way... (show all) it works. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Gate of Ivrel turns out to be really brill.
- Publisher's editor
- Nielsen Hayden, Patrick
- Blurbers
- Hobb, Robin; Doctorow, Cory; Rothfuss, Patrick; Simner, Janni Lee; Bernobich, Beth; Hoffman, Nina Kirriki (show all 16); Lynn, Elizabeth; Kowal, Mary Robinette; Yolen, Jane; Goldstein, Lisa; Brust, Steven; Robins, Madeleine; Turtledove, Harry; Wilson, Robert Charles; Charnas, Suzy McKee; Kushner, Ellen
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.914
- Canonical LCC
- PR6073.A448
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 3,206
- Popularity
- 5,356
- Reviews
- 266
- Rating
- (3.96)
- Languages
- 7 — English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 29
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 15