Stories about surviving extraordinary hardship are always in demand, perhaps because of the hope inspired by those who manage to rise from the ashes of their former lives. In Cora Taylor’s latest fantasy for young adults, two adolescent heroines enact just such a feat as they struggle against tyranny and suffer deprivation.
Kour’el, the more interesting of the two heroines, is imprisoned in a stone tower as the novel begins. As she recovers from her injuries, she pieces together the memory of having been captured while on a mission with Api’Naga, the dragon who is both her master and protector. Meanwhile, the other heroine, 14-year-old Maigdhlin, is forced from her village along with all its other girls to serve in the palace, essentially a medieval death camp. The narrative alternates between the parallel stories of Kour’el and Maigdhlin until, in the last part of the novel, their paths intersect and their destinies converge. Much of the novel’s drama comes from its series of escapes and rescues, but there is at least as much interest in the way the characters survive their privations from day to day.
Taylor, who is based in Alberta, has deftly interwoven several genre influences into the narrative, including hints of myths, folk tales, dream archetypes, and modern war history. Her expression is precise and her eye for detail keen, qualities that combine to produce scenes so evocative as to bear several rereadings. The climax of the novel is slightly cluttered with minor characters and their skirmishes, but the conclusion, with all its contrivances, does justice to the novel’s folk tale influences and, of course, to the desire for a happy ending.