Child of Light
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4.0 • 127 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The electrifying first novel of an all-new fantasy series from the legendary author behind the Shannara saga, about a human girl struggling to find her place in a magical world she’s never known
“Enticing . . . Brooks’s fans will be thrilled to have a new series to savor.”—Publishers Weekly
At nineteen, Auris Afton Grieg has led an . . . unusual life. Since the age of fourteen, she has been trapped in a Goblin prison. Why? She does not know. She has no memories of her past beyond the vaguest of impressions. All she knows is that she is about to age out of the children’s prison, and rumors say that the adult version is far, far worse. So she and some friends stage a desperate escape into the surrounding wastelands. And it is here that Auris’s journey of discovery begins, for she is rescued by a handsome yet alien stranger.
Harrow claims to be Fae—a member of a magical race that Auris had thought to be no more than legend. Odder still, he seems to think that she is Fae as well, although the two look nothing alike. But strangest of all, when he brings her to his wondrous homeland, she begins to suspect that he is right. Yet how could a woman who looks entirely Human be a magical being herself?
Told with a fresh, energetic voice, this fantasy puzzle box is Terry Brooks as you have never seen him before, as one young woman slowly unlocks truths about herself and her world—and, in doing so, begins to heal both.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Brooks's first fantasy since retiring the long-running Shannara series offers an enticing new mystery while delivering enough familiar elements—in both tone and worldbuilding—to make his fans feel right at home. Nineteen-year-old Auris Grieg remembers nothing of her life before being imprisoned by goblins in the middle of a wasteland, though she catches snippets of memories in dreams. After four years, she and her fellow prisoners escape, but at great cost, as her comrades die wandering the wasteland. She believes she will be next—until she is rescued by Harrow, a Sylvan Fae. Harrow introduces Auris to his idyllic, magical world in the belief that she may be Fae herself, despite her human appearance. The more Auris learns of Harrow and his homeland, the more she is drawn to them both, but the truth of her connection with the Fae also ties her to a deeply held secret. Consumed with the need to understand her history, she embarks on a dangerous quest back into human lands with Harrow at her side. Auris is a tough but enchanting protagonist, and the page-turning mystery of her magical origins form the novel's heart. Brooks's fans will be thrilled to have a new series to savor.
Customer Reviews
A fun new world, some 2D characters
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for the ARC. This is my honest review.
Child of Light is a fast-paced YA fantasy adventure that winds its way through a number of interesting locals in a world that I'm excited to continue to learn more about. The Fey home of Viridian Deep is the kind of place you wish you could really visit, the villains and their mysterious alliances are endlessly intriguing. For me, the world and its lore are the strongest part of Child of Light, and that makes sense for an established fantasy author like Terry Brooks.
The story follows Auris, a 19-year-old girl who escapes a goblin prison and finds her way to the world of the Fey. The book has a central amnesia plot line, so to say much more would spoil a lot of deliberately paced reveals, but the narrative never flags and bounces pleasantly between daring escapes and daily (magical) life.
However, for all the strength of the world presented here, the characters that inhabit it are the weakest part of the book. The main character's motivation seems to be largely rooted in moving the plot of the novel forward, rather than the other way around. She's never content, even when it feels like she should be. At times, the book explains this away with her being led by her mysterious Inish.
Auris also begins to develop feelings for Harrow, the Fey boy who rescues her in her initial escape, so quickly that it at the beginning it feels very forced. The first internal comments about these feelings happen when she is still in the throws of surviving the horrible ordeal of her escape and at the same time being introduced to the fantastical world of the Fey people. I think the central romance would have played much better if it had happened more gradually.
In the end, Child of Light is an easy read that transports the reader into a magical and intriguing fantasy world. It's held back a bit by some two-dimensional character motivations and a romance that starts too soon, but it's still a fun, breezy adventure in a world that I want to know more about, and I will absolutely be back for the sequel.
3.5/5
Child of Light. Terry Brooks
An epic tale of fantasy about a human girl struggling to find her place in a magical world inhabited by the Fae In fact the young girl named Auris is actually half Fae and half human and a changling able to take the form of a Fae. A magical tale then unfolds pitted against their enemies the humans who wish to destroy them. An amazing read which I enjoyed immensely!! My highest recommendation!!
Honestly just terrible
I have a lot of respect for the longevity of Terry Brooks’ career, but this was unreadable. Bizarrely stilted writing, a narrative suffocating from the lack of anything remotely new, and worst of all, a completely and offensively unconvincing female lead. (Hot tip: Young women don’t refer to themselves as “a young woman” in their internal monologues, and no woman thinks or talks about rape the way Brooks’ protagonist does. I could go on.)