It’s really amping up in this one, and the narrative is opening up to reveal threads grander than the Reckless brothers’ adventures. I’m repeating myself here, but I’d like to see a portrayal of a half-woman as actively monstrous, as much as the Man-Swans and the Man-Stags are, without them being objects of desire – and worse, being granted redemption by the power of a man’s desire for her. Because, of course, no woman can be truly monstrous – in her non-human features, she can only be more desirable to the men around her, and apparently particularly to the Reckless brothers.
The monstrousness of her existence is almost disregarded, even by the Bastard, who hates her, in favour of the sadness of her plight. Sixteen is cruel, but the true focus is on Seventeen – she is cruel as well, and her bark-growths are presented as deformity, but she is (apparently inevitably) attractive to Will, and therefore receives a great deal more attention. Glass people who steal faces, they appear to have very little free will, at least in the beginning. But we’ve been in her head before, and if they were so clear, and so consequential, it would have felt a more confident reveal if there had been hints in the earlier books.īook three introduces another ‘species’ of half-person, in the form of the Alder Elf’s minions, Sixteen and Seventeen.
It’s possible that this is a consequence of the greater share that the Dark Fairy’s perspective is given in the narrative.
It is a little odd that the Yarns – threads of love, of fate, of immortality – haven’t even been alluded to until now. We discover more about the origins of the Fairies, and the mirrors, and the threads of the world which bind our fates together. And the greater power behind the events of the series so far is finally revealed, with a power and a plan which will shake both worlds to their cores. We encounter Dad Reckless in a much more meaningful way, and at an interesting point in Jacob’s attitude to his missing father. In The Golden Yarn, the third book in the Reckless, or Mirrorworld, series, we spend more time with series characters who have so far spent more time in the background. Love pushes them all on and on, until they come face to face with the Spinner herself, the weaver of the threads of fate. Jacob must chase Will through Mirrorworld before his brother can catch up to the Dark Fairy on her fateful journey that leads deep through Cossack territory, with time-eating witches, legendary creatures made flesh and caged, and flying carpets fueled by memories. But the long-cast net of the Alder Elves is finally gathering in, and Jacob, Fox, Will and Clara will all get caught up in a plan that has stretched centuries. Jacob Reckless hoped his troubles might be over.
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