For me this was a bittersweet journey back to Mistmantle—I hadn’t been back there since my childhood, and it was strange to visit again during the pages of this book. This volume contains short stories (past and present), recipes (with warnings never to try them), threadings code, a longer story about Corr that comes after The Rage Tide, and more! It’s very cute and lovingly made, you can feel the author’s love for her characters (especially Fingal—ha ha) and that she enjoyed spending time visiting (and sometimes interviewing) them in her imagination. There were also a couple of sweet surprises to satisfy any lover of the original series. I won’t tell you, so read it!
Very sweet. It was a lovely trip down memory lane to Mistmantle. And I’d love to visit again one day…
Here’s a couple of my favorite selections:
"He was nicer after that," she said. "He'd always been a nice animal, but he became so lovely after his accident. Quieter, he was quieter. Like one of the pebbles that's been well-washed by the sea until it's got no sharp edges. There was more depth to him. Tell you something else, though, it struck me at the time and I never forgot it. That day when he rescued Nidd, Fir started running before anyone else. He was well out in front, and it wasn't just that he was fast. It seemed to me that he had a head start. He was running before Nidd even fell." She put her paw on Juniper's. "He was like you, Brother Juniper. He was in tune with what was happening. He knew."
And:
"I like talking about those days. There are times when you live in a golden age, and the sad thing is that you don't always know it's a golden age until it's over. It's a golden age now, if you ask me.”