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A Promise Broken
It’s a rainy day when four-year-old Eiryn has to say goodbye to her mother. Scared, confused and unwilling to do so, Eiryn tries to summon water to stop the funeral from happening and her life falls apart. Her uncle is always sad and busy; she keeps hearing her mother’s voice asking her to follow; her best friend keeps getting into fights; and some of her classmates hate her for existing. Arèn never wanted children, but he’s desperate to protect his niece from his people’s extreme caution regarding magic and other races. Kerisaoina children aren’t capable of using it and his niece is no exception. Despite being only half-kerisaoina, Eiryn is already starting to show that she’ll be one of her generation’s most talented magic-singers and those who don’t approve of her existence are trying to take advantage of a young girl’s grief. Eiryn is determined to make her uncle happy, but it’s hard to make other people happy when you have to struggle through the day yourself. She’ll find a way, though. She’s promised. And even if her mother won’t keep her word Eiryn will keep hers . She’ll make everything right again.
You’ll see.
You’ll see.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2015
3 people are currently reading
351 people want to read
About the author
S.L. Dove Cooper
22 books73 followersS.L. Dove Cooper (she/they) is a queer author and editor. She spends much of her time exploring asexuality and aromanticism in literature, finally having found a good use for her MA in English literature and creative writing. She currently resides on the European continent and her idiom and spelling are, despite her best efforts, geographically confused, poor things. She has been chasing stories in some way or another since she was old enough to follow a narrative.
S.L. Dove also writes poetry under Dove Cooper.
S.L. Dove also writes poetry under Dove Cooper.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 27, 2017
Gosh, I love this story.
A PROMISE BROKEN is a deeply human tale of grief and love, and it is deep and soft and far-reaching in a way that reminds me of the ocean--tranquil strength, you know?
This is not a tale of wild adventure and actions. This is a sweet and anxious little girl, Eiryn, who is trying to cope with the death of her mother, and her uncle, Arén, who has to take care of her. And boy does not Arén NOT know how to handle a child, especially a grieving one, but he tries SO MUCH. and I love this--I love how flawed but caring he is, how helpless sometimes, but how he still manages to be there at others. It is also acknowledged several times in the story that Arén has no interest in romance. It feels so good to see this level of caring in an aromantic (and asexual) character, and I'm glad his lack of skills with children is never tied to his orientation. :)
This story also happens in an unique world, where one race uses song-as-spells, and it is rich with vocabulary and details, and it truly envelops the tale as a whole, seeping into everything in a way I've rarely experienced (and certainly not achieved). It also casually includes a third gender, with its own pronouns, giving complete space for nonbinary characters. I will note that if unexplained vocabulary in fantasy tends to drag you out of a story, you'll encounter it here (there is a glossary to help!)
A PROMISE BROKEN is touching and beautiful, and it will slip into your heart quietly, lodging itself there firmly and stay. It a small-stake story, focused on two characters you can only adore and their lives. Lynn E. O'Connacht is an author that shows great sensibility, and I wish more people found their way into her tales. I, for one, will certainly pick up others.
(tw for death, suicide ideation, depression)
A PROMISE BROKEN is a deeply human tale of grief and love, and it is deep and soft and far-reaching in a way that reminds me of the ocean--tranquil strength, you know?
This is not a tale of wild adventure and actions. This is a sweet and anxious little girl, Eiryn, who is trying to cope with the death of her mother, and her uncle, Arén, who has to take care of her. And boy does not Arén NOT know how to handle a child, especially a grieving one, but he tries SO MUCH. and I love this--I love how flawed but caring he is, how helpless sometimes, but how he still manages to be there at others. It is also acknowledged several times in the story that Arén has no interest in romance. It feels so good to see this level of caring in an aromantic (and asexual) character, and I'm glad his lack of skills with children is never tied to his orientation. :)
This story also happens in an unique world, where one race uses song-as-spells, and it is rich with vocabulary and details, and it truly envelops the tale as a whole, seeping into everything in a way I've rarely experienced (and certainly not achieved). It also casually includes a third gender, with its own pronouns, giving complete space for nonbinary characters. I will note that if unexplained vocabulary in fantasy tends to drag you out of a story, you'll encounter it here (there is a glossary to help!)
A PROMISE BROKEN is touching and beautiful, and it will slip into your heart quietly, lodging itself there firmly and stay. It a small-stake story, focused on two characters you can only adore and their lives. Lynn E. O'Connacht is an author that shows great sensibility, and I wish more people found their way into her tales. I, for one, will certainly pick up others.
(tw for death, suicide ideation, depression)
June 14, 2015
This book is sad and subtle and beautiful and adorable – how could it not be when the main protagonist is a four-year-old girl dealing with the death of her mother and struggling to understand the change in her life and the confusing emotions of the adults around her? Eiryn is a bright child, but she’s also very sensitive. Her moods are as changeable and capricious as any child her age, yet she also has a deeper streak of intelligence and understanding that make her compelling to read about.
The world Eiryn lives in is also detailed and cleverly wrought. If you have troubles understanding different languages or remembering difficult words, it might take you a while to adjust because there are a lot of new words introduced here, but they all have a real purpose and place, whether it’s personal honorifics, designations of gender or dealing with the strange and delicate magic of Eiryn’s people, they are there for a reason and add a beautiful layer of detail to the story.
Speaking of that story, this one might seem simply on the surface – a girl dealing with grief, an uncle navigating tricky political waters to keep her safe – but has so many hidden and depths and layers that lift it far above that. It can’t be easy to tell a story from a young child’s POV, but Lynn O’Connacht handles things well, maintaining Eiryn’s confusion and innocence while leaving enough information for the reader to pick up. Alongside grief and depression, this story also addresses bullying, racial prejudice and xenophobia, as well as transgender and non-binary gendered characters. It’s far from a simple tale about a little girl, and it’s all the richer for it.
Not everything is told from Eiryn’s POV either. I really enjoyed the scenes with her uncle Aren, not just because the adult viewpoint is more detailed and complex and capable of explaining things in a more accessible way, but because I love Aren’s character. He is troubled and grieving too, but his struggles to take care of Eiryn are touching and exasperating and wonderfully done – the scene at the mirror is just heartbreaking, and the scene with the doll is beyond adorable. This is a story full of flawed characters, from the bullies and political opponents, to the good guys. Nothing is perfect, shallow or straightforward and I enjoyed the depth. I also love old Anou – he’s wonderful.
Okay, if I’m honest, there are a few things I would have liked to be better explained – the magic in particular and the way Lir fits in with the rest of the world. These people are very rigid and complicated and I don’t always feel like this is explained as deeply as I might have liked, but Eiryn’s not exactly in a position to explain such things and there is a good glossary included at the end that goes a long way to filling in such gaps.
Overall, though, this is a lovely tale, sad and sweet in all the right places, with a good range of characters and an adorable little heroine. If you like a richly developed world and enjoy diversity in your reading, then you should enjoy this. It might even make you think – especially about dyscalculia and bullying – which is never a bad thing. I can’t wait to read more about Eiryn and Aren soon.
The world Eiryn lives in is also detailed and cleverly wrought. If you have troubles understanding different languages or remembering difficult words, it might take you a while to adjust because there are a lot of new words introduced here, but they all have a real purpose and place, whether it’s personal honorifics, designations of gender or dealing with the strange and delicate magic of Eiryn’s people, they are there for a reason and add a beautiful layer of detail to the story.
Speaking of that story, this one might seem simply on the surface – a girl dealing with grief, an uncle navigating tricky political waters to keep her safe – but has so many hidden and depths and layers that lift it far above that. It can’t be easy to tell a story from a young child’s POV, but Lynn O’Connacht handles things well, maintaining Eiryn’s confusion and innocence while leaving enough information for the reader to pick up. Alongside grief and depression, this story also addresses bullying, racial prejudice and xenophobia, as well as transgender and non-binary gendered characters. It’s far from a simple tale about a little girl, and it’s all the richer for it.
Not everything is told from Eiryn’s POV either. I really enjoyed the scenes with her uncle Aren, not just because the adult viewpoint is more detailed and complex and capable of explaining things in a more accessible way, but because I love Aren’s character. He is troubled and grieving too, but his struggles to take care of Eiryn are touching and exasperating and wonderfully done – the scene at the mirror is just heartbreaking, and the scene with the doll is beyond adorable. This is a story full of flawed characters, from the bullies and political opponents, to the good guys. Nothing is perfect, shallow or straightforward and I enjoyed the depth. I also love old Anou – he’s wonderful.
Okay, if I’m honest, there are a few things I would have liked to be better explained – the magic in particular and the way Lir fits in with the rest of the world. These people are very rigid and complicated and I don’t always feel like this is explained as deeply as I might have liked, but Eiryn’s not exactly in a position to explain such things and there is a good glossary included at the end that goes a long way to filling in such gaps.
Overall, though, this is a lovely tale, sad and sweet in all the right places, with a good range of characters and an adorable little heroine. If you like a richly developed world and enjoy diversity in your reading, then you should enjoy this. It might even make you think – especially about dyscalculia and bullying – which is never a bad thing. I can’t wait to read more about Eiryn and Aren soon.
October 12, 2018
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I decided to read A Promise Broken because Lynn O’Connacht is an amazing author. I’ve enjoyed her other books a lot.
It’s #ownvoices for asexual representation.
__
The characters are amazing. The story is told in two perspective. That of Eiryn, a little four-year-old girl, and that of Arén, her uncle. Eiryn’s voice was very appropriate for her age. Child narrators are so difficult to write well, but it was very well-done here.
Asexual and aromantic representation are always something that I enjoy reading about in books. Arén is an ace aro trans man, who has taken on his niece after his sister passes away. His identity is never the focus of the story.
I loved reading the interactions that Eiryn had with her uncle, and how Arén slowly started to learn how to look after a four-year-old child. In a lot of books, the person who looks after the child is often shown to do so alone or with their partner. This book shows a lot of times there is a community of people who are there to support the carer.
Sadly, something that kept stopping my enjoyment was that I never quite understood how the magic system worked in this world. I felt that the worldbuilding was lacking and I was very confused about what was happening, especially during the first half or so of the book. This was an issue because the possibility of imbalance was a major storyline in this book, and I just didn’t understand what and how the imbalance could be caused. It took me quite some time to figure out what a sifanou was, but even then it wasn’t fully explained. I can understand that the worldbuilding is not something that should have been described in Eiryn’s perspective, as she herself is just learning about her own world, but I wish that this had been explained in Arén’s perspective.
__
The dreamy, mesmerising writing that I associate with Lynn O’Connacht’s work can be found here yet again! I enjoyed the main storyline of Eiryn and her uncle growing closer, and them sorting out the problems that ensue because of Eiryn’s singing. However, I was very confused about the magic system and the worldbuilding – which was something that I think is essential to understand the imbalance storyline.
I decided to read A Promise Broken because Lynn O’Connacht is an amazing author. I’ve enjoyed her other books a lot.
It’s #ownvoices for asexual representation.
__
The characters are amazing. The story is told in two perspective. That of Eiryn, a little four-year-old girl, and that of Arén, her uncle. Eiryn’s voice was very appropriate for her age. Child narrators are so difficult to write well, but it was very well-done here.
Asexual and aromantic representation are always something that I enjoy reading about in books. Arén is an ace aro trans man, who has taken on his niece after his sister passes away. His identity is never the focus of the story.
I loved reading the interactions that Eiryn had with her uncle, and how Arén slowly started to learn how to look after a four-year-old child. In a lot of books, the person who looks after the child is often shown to do so alone or with their partner. This book shows a lot of times there is a community of people who are there to support the carer.
Sadly, something that kept stopping my enjoyment was that I never quite understood how the magic system worked in this world. I felt that the worldbuilding was lacking and I was very confused about what was happening, especially during the first half or so of the book. This was an issue because the possibility of imbalance was a major storyline in this book, and I just didn’t understand what and how the imbalance could be caused. It took me quite some time to figure out what a sifanou was, but even then it wasn’t fully explained. I can understand that the worldbuilding is not something that should have been described in Eiryn’s perspective, as she herself is just learning about her own world, but I wish that this had been explained in Arén’s perspective.
__
The dreamy, mesmerising writing that I associate with Lynn O’Connacht’s work can be found here yet again! I enjoyed the main storyline of Eiryn and her uncle growing closer, and them sorting out the problems that ensue because of Eiryn’s singing. However, I was very confused about the magic system and the worldbuilding – which was something that I think is essential to understand the imbalance storyline.
February 6, 2018
This is about a very young girl (four-five years old), Eiryn, who is grieving her mother's death and is bullied both because she is biracial and because of some of her reactions at her mother's funeral.
We spend most of the book in Eiryn's POV, and it's a small stakes story. There are larger stakes in the background, but we don't fully know most of them, even when we switch to an adult POV (that of Arèn, Eiryn's trans and aroace uncle who is now her guardian). We get glimpses of the larger stakes, but Arèn is trying so very hard to care well for Eiryn, and that concern dominates over the broader politics of Lir.
Eiryn reacts in ways that you can tell are sometimes unpredictable and even more often frustrating from an adult point of view (or even that of an older child like her best friend Radèn), but we can see how they make sense to her, how she is trying to understand and navigate this world, how she is feeling so much.
I was really fascinated by the world Lynn built for this book. It takes a while to understand all the addresses and magic and terms for things/groups in the society, but they keep occurring in context, and you figure them out. (There's no info dumping; as a reader you just enter the world of this four-year-old who takes some things for granted and asks lots of questions about other things.) There is a glossary that helps, though! (I did... not realize this until I finished the book.)
There's a cute #tmwyk scene in which Eiryn is very frustrated by the concept of number.
The society Eiryn lives in (and maybe the whole world she lives in?) has three sets of gender pronouns, and we see multiple characters who use each.
There are content warnings in the back of the book, and they're worth checking first.
We spend most of the book in Eiryn's POV, and it's a small stakes story. There are larger stakes in the background, but we don't fully know most of them, even when we switch to an adult POV (that of Arèn, Eiryn's trans and aroace uncle who is now her guardian). We get glimpses of the larger stakes, but Arèn is trying so very hard to care well for Eiryn, and that concern dominates over the broader politics of Lir.
Eiryn reacts in ways that you can tell are sometimes unpredictable and even more often frustrating from an adult point of view (or even that of an older child like her best friend Radèn), but we can see how they make sense to her, how she is trying to understand and navigate this world, how she is feeling so much.
I was really fascinated by the world Lynn built for this book. It takes a while to understand all the addresses and magic and terms for things/groups in the society, but they keep occurring in context, and you figure them out. (There's no info dumping; as a reader you just enter the world of this four-year-old who takes some things for granted and asks lots of questions about other things.) There is a glossary that helps, though! (I did... not realize this until I finished the book.)
There's a cute #tmwyk scene in which Eiryn is very frustrated by the concept of number.
The society Eiryn lives in (and maybe the whole world she lives in?) has three sets of gender pronouns, and we see multiple characters who use each.
There are content warnings in the back of the book, and they're worth checking first.
June 13, 2018
If there is a word for this book, it's "subtle".
Part of it because you could call the main narrator unreliable. She's 4, and grieving, and the plot and relationships and political posturing of the adults around her are hard for her to notice and understand. And when we read from her uncle's POV we are only getting glimpses of ongoing events.
So this was a lot more active read than I expecting, putting together clues about motivations and plot and histories based on a little detail here, a single line there. That type of reading is not for everyone, but I found it a nice change of pace from hard, fast, dramatic YA reads. Though, honestly, 1/2 my book club was comparing notes and realizing we hadn't all been on the same pages about things. But I found that fun, sorta like supporting your fandom headcanons before the new season comes out.
I wish there had been a touch more worldbuilding; while I had picked things up while reading I know others who only had things click after reading the glossary at the end. And the history and structure and culture I just want to understand/be clarified.
The uncle in this story is aromantic and his off-screen attempts at dealing with a crushing co-worker are interesting. His best friend is a married lesbian, so there's that rep too.
Part of it because you could call the main narrator unreliable. She's 4, and grieving, and the plot and relationships and political posturing of the adults around her are hard for her to notice and understand. And when we read from her uncle's POV we are only getting glimpses of ongoing events.
So this was a lot more active read than I expecting, putting together clues about motivations and plot and histories based on a little detail here, a single line there. That type of reading is not for everyone, but I found it a nice change of pace from hard, fast, dramatic YA reads. Though, honestly, 1/2 my book club was comparing notes and realizing we hadn't all been on the same pages about things. But I found that fun, sorta like supporting your fandom headcanons before the new season comes out.
I wish there had been a touch more worldbuilding; while I had picked things up while reading I know others who only had things click after reading the glossary at the end. And the history and structure and culture I just want to understand/be clarified.
The uncle in this story is aromantic and his off-screen attempts at dealing with a crushing co-worker are interesting. His best friend is a married lesbian, so there's that rep too.
August 26, 2020
I don't really know what I can say about this book without being hypocritical: it just wasn't for me. I'm into fast-paced books with lots of action and development (it doesn't have to be "action" action, it can be emotional action, but... something has to happen.)
This book is beautifully written. The descriptions of emotions are magnificent...
But to me, it was just sooo slow and boring.
The characters are great, I found that Eyrin really felt like a 5 year old girl, and I also totally understood how a uncle was at a loss. I also really appreciated that he was an aro ace trans man. It's a rare representation, and being aro ace myself, I found it well done.
I can't talk for trans people, but the worldbuilding doesn't really make sense to me on that point. It is said that the uncle had to go to trial for his gender to be acknowledged, so clearly it's not a society were being trans is considered usual. But on the other hand, it's a society with three genders.... Are they maybe genders assigned at birth ? I don't know.
(It could also be that english is not my first language and that I didn't understood everything)
Apart from that I really loved the universe and the magic relying on music.
This book is beautifully written. The descriptions of emotions are magnificent...
But to me, it was just sooo slow and boring.
The characters are great, I found that Eyrin really felt like a 5 year old girl, and I also totally understood how a uncle was at a loss. I also really appreciated that he was an aro ace trans man. It's a rare representation, and being aro ace myself, I found it well done.
I can't talk for trans people, but the worldbuilding doesn't really make sense to me on that point. It is said that the uncle had to go to trial for his gender to be acknowledged, so clearly it's not a society were being trans is considered usual. But on the other hand, it's a society with three genders.... Are they maybe genders assigned at birth ? I don't know.
(It could also be that english is not my first language and that I didn't understood everything)
Apart from that I really loved the universe and the magic relying on music.
August 14, 2017
Review to come
April 11, 2018
Amazing book on the idea of loss and family. Set in a land of magic it relates a lot to our world without being in the world as we know it.
February 27, 2020
It's so sweet and wholesome, and I really like the worldbuillding, wish I could know more about it!
July 6, 2023
A really touching story with fascinating worldbuilding. Also very satisfying to have a major character who is aroace. I’ve been feeling burned out by the amount of romance in media lately and remembered that I bought this a while ago, and it was a pleasure to read.
May 30, 2023
This is a story about grief, and childhood, and love, and prejudice, and the beauty to be found in a complicated world. S.L. Dove Cooper artfully and skillfully immerses the reader in Eiryn’s four-year-old perspective, seamlessly working in her uncle’s perspective as well to provide context that enriches the child-focused chapters. The magic, culture, and gender dynamics of this fantasy world is confidently and smoothly introduced to the reader through the minds of characters already familiar with it all – and while there is a glossary at the end to explain things, I didn’t feel like I needed to use it. This book is lovely, sad, adorable, and smart, and I know I’ll be revisiting it again in the future.
(Also, excellent aromantic representation – it’s a normalized, integral part of the way that the character interacts with the world, not condemned in any way, but impossible to ignore.)
(Also, excellent aromantic representation – it’s a normalized, integral part of the way that the character interacts with the world, not condemned in any way, but impossible to ignore.)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews