Lisa Flanagan proves to be one the best narrators of fantasies especially after this novel as the narration is excellent. The narration even conveys the feelings of each character in the same way that the author wanted and Naomi Novik would not have been able to deliver the impact of the fairy world with such a voice in narration. The story starts in a simple manner, something that we don’t see in Uprooted and Unfettered as these books had action packed in them from the beginning.
The writer starts describing Miryem as an ordinary girl whose father and grandfather were moneylenders. Her father a bit kind hearted and timid in nature failed to regain the money that his father and he himself lend to the people. The family became bankrupt within no time and Miryem was left with no choice to deal with the matters with an iron fist. She soon gets all the things under her control and not only becomes successful in regaining the money but she also starts making more money.
Miryem gets an extraordinary fame in the land as she proves to be the land that can change ordinary silver to gold. Changing silver to gold means that she can do anything. Ironically her fame becomes a pain for her as the Staryk and the fey creatures come to her land and the story at once becomes a fantasy. The real world at once disappears and we see Miryem facing things she expected she would never see in her life.
The more she wants to get away from all this the more her fate takes her towards it. Thus a wonderful amalgam of natural and supernatural can be enjoyed in the novel.
