I was introduced to this book for the first time when I served as judge for the INSPY awards back in 2011. When it came in the mail with its image of wispy waif and description of finding true love, I admit I didn't expect much. This novel really taught me not to judge a book by its cover: I was pleasantly surprised to discover a world of wonder, beauty, joy, tragedy, and painful redemption that cut to the marrow.
In the kingdom of Parumvir bordering the dark and mysterious Goldstone Wood, Princess Uma dreams of a romantic prince while her brother aims to become a great adventurous hero. Their world is disturbed a distant kingdom's Prince Aethelbald, who challenges and perplexes the young royals. His looks and manners are rustic, but his words and command are both determined and alarming. The threat of a dragon's destruction and the hint at her wildest dreams made true tempt young Uma to a bargain that leads to unimagined consequences for both herself and all she cares about.
Anne Elisabeth Stengl must have cut her teeth on the same copies of Grimm and Anderson I did. Her style comes across as both traditional and fresh, emulating and yet expanding the fairy tale genre. The closest approximation I can give for her style is Robin McKinley's Beauty, or Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest (also books I devoured when younger), but she also develops elements and concepts all on her own. Nothing about her fantastical settings felt borrowed; instead, she dusted off archetypes and blew new life into them, with a light enchanting prose that draws the reader in before challenging all assumptions and revealing not only the roses but the thorns of this world.
This world is fully realized, yet Stengl never weighed down the story with a long complicated history or geography. Places, people, and their magical properties were allowed to simply exist without any painstaking theories, explanations, or justifications. The traditional tropes were actually traditional rather than deconstructed, and thus surprising.
Best of all, portions of this particular story were left unexplained without a lapse in the overall meaning of the central plot. It's rare for any author to resist the urge to reveal all her cleverness. Stengl does so in the most beguiling way, keeping her focus solidly on the main plot while simultaneously dropping tantalizing hints at what might lie just beyond the map.
But it is Stengl's commitment to the very core of fairy tales that will surprise readers the most. Nothing in the first airy chapters hints at the grim sense of loss and despair that characters experience later, especially when it is a tragedy of their own making. Good intentions and romantic ideals are shown to be the very things that may put nobility at risk. The dragon's seductive hunger bore down on Princess Una with the same determined long game many of us feel oppressed by here in the real world. Even the virtuous are plagued by doubts, the right way isn't always clear, and there's an ever-present feeling malevolent fate that seems inescapable.
Don't confuse Heartless with grimdark or contemporary dark fantasy, though! There is light in this world, even when the shadows seek to devour it, and heroes still walk this land. They're just not obvious or in the form we expect. Allegory, metaphor, and novelty all weave together in a spell of remarkable meaning, offering an unfettered vision of what it truly means to lose our hearts and have them given back to us.
In a rare feat for any series, this book ended its story conclusively while still leaving me hungry to know more about the world it resided in (I'd love to hear more about that remarkable cat, for example). Fortunately Stengl's happy to oblige: she's now on her eighth Goldstone Woods novel, a series of interconnected tales that don't necessarily follow a linear progression but instead peal back layer upon layer of this world. I'm so glad I was introduced to this book through the INSPY contest, and encourage all lovers of splendid tales to give it a try.
This review is also posted on Goodreads, Amazon, CBD, and Speculative Faith. I received a copy courtesy of the publisher as part of the INSPY book contest, which I later had signed by the author. The cover was designed by Paul Higdon. The book is currently available from Bethany House as a Paperback ($14.99) and eBook ($7.99).
