Thoraiya Dyer

I won the ARC in a GoodReads giveaway, which was very exciting, as it was a book I was looking forward to reading - a fellow Aussie (though not someone I know personally) writing something that looked different from the usual fantasy fare.

Different it is, and yet not-so-different at the same time: it's a magic-rich hero(ine)'s journey in a wondrous setting. The giant rainforest setting is beautifully realised, saturating and permeating the story. The magic is thick and intricate and important. And the plot possibly follows the Hero's Journey exactly, taking a truly epic sweep through both plot and personal development for our poor orphan of destiny. But everything's given a twist, and none of the answers are easy. In the end, the book takes an interesting and thoughtful look at actions and intentions, not just of people, but of society systems, and the need for self-awareness in both.

It wasn't quite seamlessly realised, however. I never quite grew comfortable with the book's pacing, and often I seemed to trip over the big events that happened when I wasn't expecting them, after a lot of mental dithering and option-turning, and often seemed over too quickly for the weight they had in the narrative. There was a lot going on in the first two-thirds, but I felt like most of the really interesting development happened comparatively quickly in the final third. So while I liked what was going on, I never quite managed to connect with it emotionally.

More three and a half stars, rounded up for an epic and interesting read. And one that comes to a very satisfying (if bittersweet) conclusion, so I'm curious about the series tag on it here.… (meer)

Crossroads of Canopy by Thoraiya Dyer is an epic fantasy novel set in a world built on trees in a mighty, magical forest. It’s her debut novel and the first of the Titan's Forest series. Until the release of this book last year, Dyer was primarily known as an award-winning short story writer and I have read several of her short stories in the past.

The setting and world building in this book were great, but it was the characterisation of the protagonist, Unar, that really sold it for me. Unar first comes to a goddess’s magical garden to avoid being sold as a slave by her parents. She quickly takes to learning magic and becomes convinced that she is destined for great things. And she is, that’s why she’s the protagonist, they’re just not quite the great things she was hoping for. Her arrogance leads her into a lot of trouble and a lot of things go wrong for her.

There were quite a few cringe-worthy occurrences — horrible things happening to not-horrible people — and occasionally I got annoyed at Unar doing something stupid, but for the most part this was a very enjoyable read. (And if Unar never did anything stupid, what room would there be for her to grow?)

Back to the world building, this isn’t a world living on a single giant tree, as I had first expected before I started reading. This is a whole forest made up of a wide variety of trees. A lot of them are distinctly Australian in flavour, which was a nice touch. The better-off people live in the canopy with the gods, while others eke out a less prosperous existence lower down, where there’s less sun and scary predators. There is also clearly a lot more to the god and magic stuff than has been revealed in this first book. I look forward to learning more about it in the sequel.

This was a very good read and I highly recommend it to all fans of fantasy. Readers looking for a different setting, that is very much not Medieval European, will find much to appreciate here. I am definitely planning to read the sequel very soon and I look forward to learning more about the world as we discover what comes next for the characters.

4.5 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog.… (meer)