Silvana The Greening

Rating:



About the Author:
(Taken from Amazon)

Belinda Mellor is a wanderer, currently living in New Zealand (she arrived on holiday 8 years ago and forgot to leave). Before that the same thing happened to her in Ireland. She was actually born in England. She loves myths and legends and folklore, so all her stories touch on those things because she believes that's where truth is to be found.





Blurb:

Once heard, the song of a Silvana can never be forgotten.

Yet for every man who wins such a wife, there are three destroyed in the attempt.

Fabiom of Deepvale, dreams of winning the love of a Silvana, one of the mysterious and powerful tree spirits who haunt the deepest groves of the wildwood. But when he is suddenly thrown into the political arena and expected to keep the family silk business running, everything changes. Fabiom fears he will have to put aside his dream, for such a quest is perilous and Deepvale cannot afford to lose its young lord.
However, the piece of amber he finds beneath the huge ash tree could change his mind. If one of the Silvanii is upset enough to weep golden tears at the thought of losing him, then presenting himself on the eve of his seventeenth birth-anniversary might not be so dangerous after all.
What Fabiom does not know, is that the fiercely guarded secrets of silk-making have been sold abroad, putting more than the economic stability of his holding at risk; it was the Silvanii who first gifted Morene’s people with those secrets, and they do not take kindly to betrayal.


Review:

I really enjoyed this novel!  The characters and the dialogue were the best parts, and the author has created a fascinating world!

And while I'd enjoyed the novel, there were a couple of aspects that really affected the read for me.  The first issue was the frequent switch of scene with no warning to the reader.  I would be enthralled in a conversation, imagining it vividly, and then another sentence of dialogue would suddenly be shown as taking place at a later time and date.

The best example of this was when the main character and his father had an intense conversation about whether or not the father would leave home to go on a political voyage.  The interaction was fantastic and vivid to me, and then the time switch felt sudden and jarring.

Example:
"Thank you," Fabiom managed, realising the magnitude of his father's praise.  "Well?" Vida demanded, as Fabiom left the library and walked, distracted, towards his own room.


The switch from Fabiom speaking to his father to someone else speaking to Fabiom within the same paragraph and no transition pulled me violently from the text.  And in the thread of fairness, there were as many well transitioned scenes as there were jarring ones.


Another reason for the three stars is that the novel felt more episodic than a single, cohesive narrative.  Fabiom and his lovely wife go through a lot of different issues, from personal to political, from human to Silvanii.  While the switches allowed unique scenes and struggles throughout the novel, interest waned and rose with each new plotline.


And because I believe honest and well-balanced should go together, along with the interesting characters and worlds, I did find the writing smooth and easy to follow.  Beautiful sentences and images throughout the novel also pulled me through the read.

Example:
... he informed them in an accent almost as heavy as his clothing.



Overall, this was a wonderful reading experience, and I recommend this to anyone who enjoys beautiful settings and interesting characters!


To find out more about this novel, please visit Amazon.