The Hum and the Shiver. Alex Bledsoe. 2011.
Contemporary fantasy. Appalachian fantasy. Magical realism.
When a fierce, pure-blood Tufa soldier is discharged back to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, she finds her toughest battle isn’t the war she left behind, but surviving ominous death tokens, a dangerous ex-boyfriend, and her own forgotten magic.
The author has chosen to tell this story as a polyphonic narrative, meaning there are multiple POV characters each telling part of the story through their eyes. From a structural standpoint—given the nature of this story—this was a clever strategic choice.
This polyphonic voice sets up an A-plot and a B-plot, both of which are stories of discovery in which nearly everyone is working to solve the central mystery in their portion of the storyline. And as readers follow these two storylines toward resolution, they unearth the truth about the nature of the Tufa community and the characters who live within it.
As genre fantasy fiction goes, this is a very low stakes story. But given the problems inherent in connecting European fantasy to a North American setting, setting the stakes low seems a clever way to start a new series.
AUTHORS – I write short book reviews that focus on voice and vibe. They are useful to querying authors searching for comp titles. There are more like this on my website.