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Soulstring
Her power could ruin her family, the might de'Stains, whose magic has passed from firstborn son to firstborn son for thirteen generations.
Her power could defy her vicious father, who rules like a shadow over the land of Moravia...and whose only use for his daughter is that she produce a suitable heir.
Her power could defeat his evil enchantments, free her from his grasp and rock the walls of Moravia Castle itself...
If only she can learn how to use it.
Her power could defy her vicious father, who rules like a shadow over the land of Moravia...and whose only use for his daughter is that she produce a suitable heir.
Her power could defeat his evil enchantments, free her from his grasp and rock the walls of Moravia Castle itself...
If only she can learn how to use it.
182 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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About the author
Midori Snyder
47 books87 followersMidori Snyder is the author of eight books for children and adults, published in English, French, and Dutch. She won the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati, a novel inspired by early Roman myth and the Italian "Commedia dell'Arte" tradition. Other novels include The Flight of Michael McBride (a mythic western), Soulstring (a lyrical fairy tale), The Oran Trilogy: New Moon, Sadar's Keep, and Beldan's Fire (imaginary-world fantasy, recently re-published in Vikings's Firebird line), and Hannah's Garden (a contemporary faery novel for young adults). Except the Queen, a novel written in collaboration with Jane Yolen is forthcoming in 2010.
Her short stories have appeared in numerous venues including the The Armless Maiden; Black Thorn, White Rose; Xanadu III; Swan Sister; Borderland; and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Recent stories have appeared in Young Adult anthologies, The Greenman, Tales From the Mythic Forest and Troll's Eye View, A Book of Villianous Tales. Her nonfiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy and other magazines, and in essay collections including Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales.
In addition to writing, she co-directs The Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts with Terri Winding. She co-edited and designed the online Journal of Mythic Arts from 2003 - 2008; and she served as chairwoman on the judges' panel for the 2007 James Tiptree, Jr. Awards.
Midori currently lives in Arizona with her husband, Stephen Haessler.
Her short stories have appeared in numerous venues including the The Armless Maiden; Black Thorn, White Rose; Xanadu III; Swan Sister; Borderland; and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Recent stories have appeared in Young Adult anthologies, The Greenman, Tales From the Mythic Forest and Troll's Eye View, A Book of Villianous Tales. Her nonfiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy and other magazines, and in essay collections including Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales.
In addition to writing, she co-directs The Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts with Terri Winding. She co-edited and designed the online Journal of Mythic Arts from 2003 - 2008; and she served as chairwoman on the judges' panel for the 2007 James Tiptree, Jr. Awards.
Midori currently lives in Arizona with her husband, Stephen Haessler.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 16, 2012
An enjoyable, quick read. A tomboyish princess falls in love with a foreign suitor. Unfortunately for him, her father is a demented wizard who kills those seeking his daughter's hand.
July 15, 2011
Playing with various fairy tale and Greek mythos this story begins with the classic trope of evil sorcerer father killing the suitors for his daughter's hand. But our young heroine doesn't remain passive for long. We are, instead, taken on a courageous journey with a powerful female protagonist. Soulstring pulled on my heart strings with its sweet hidden love story and an utterly charming conclusion.
December 17, 2017
Soulstring is a fantasy novel about Magda de'Stain, a daughter of a sorceror and heir to his power, and her attempt to escape from her father and start a new life in the land of Thall.
What is pleasant about the book is that this is pretty much the plot of the story. No dark, ageless force is awakened, no worlds are saved from destruction, no timestreams are restored to their proper path; just a girl's struggle for her freedom and her life. The curse of the epic is everywhere in the fantasy genre, and the humblest drink in a tavern tends to start one on the road to saving the multiverse yet again, so it's nice to read a low-key story about magic and sorcery for once. Unfortunately this also means that not a great deal happens. The book is already short, but it nevertheless starts to drag on in the second half, which deals with a relatively uneventful flight through a forest for a month. And since the story is told in the first person, the reader is forced to follow along for that entire month; exciting things may be happening off camera, but we do not know about them until after the fact. Perhaps this could have been handled better by better spacing of flashbacks and backstory, as at present the first half seems a bit cluttered with the exposition, followed by a great deal of nothing happening. Kinda like the film Apocalypto.
I also felt that the main character came across a bit unstable with rapid mood shifts. I don't think this was an intentional characteristic of Magda (it's not developed into anything, at least), but rather a side effect of the author trying a bit too much to convey how she feels about any given thing.
What is pleasant about the book is that this is pretty much the plot of the story. No dark, ageless force is awakened, no worlds are saved from destruction, no timestreams are restored to their proper path; just a girl's struggle for her freedom and her life. The curse of the epic is everywhere in the fantasy genre, and the humblest drink in a tavern tends to start one on the road to saving the multiverse yet again, so it's nice to read a low-key story about magic and sorcery for once. Unfortunately this also means that not a great deal happens. The book is already short, but it nevertheless starts to drag on in the second half, which deals with a relatively uneventful flight through a forest for a month. And since the story is told in the first person, the reader is forced to follow along for that entire month; exciting things may be happening off camera, but we do not know about them until after the fact. Perhaps this could have been handled better by better spacing of flashbacks and backstory, as at present the first half seems a bit cluttered with the exposition, followed by a great deal of nothing happening. Kinda like the film Apocalypto.
I also felt that the main character came across a bit unstable with rapid mood shifts. I don't think this was an intentional characteristic of Magda (it's not developed into anything, at least), but rather a side effect of the author trying a bit too much to convey how she feels about any given thing.
November 19, 2013
In the first few pages of Soulstring, I was worried that I was reading another book about a spoiled princess who was going to do nothing but complain about how hard she suffered in her privileged life. But by page thirteen, I was deeply engrossed in the story of a young woman who is hated by her parents for the sin of being the firstborn and a girl. Soulstring is a high fantasy story about a young woman who has to discover a way to reclaim the magical power that has been taken from her by her father, wrapped inside a retelling of the Tam Lin myth.
Midori Snyder has the gift of being able to write deeply fascinating characters and show personalities through dialog that many authors lack. She builds a detailed world without a lot of excess prose. In a slender volume of 182 pages she creates two competing countries, and different cultural groups within those countries. The terrain plays an important role in the story, and Snyder paints a vivid picture of this setting. At places, her descriptions get repetitive, especially in contrasting the clothing of the de’Stain family with that of the other noble houses of Moravia, but this stops after the first few chapters. My other major criticism of the book is with the head of house de’Stain — the villain. It always bothers me when authors who manage to write multidimensional protagonists write antagonists who act like they have stocked up on evil at a warehouse store.
Read the rest: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Midori Snyder has the gift of being able to write deeply fascinating characters and show personalities through dialog that many authors lack. She builds a detailed world without a lot of excess prose. In a slender volume of 182 pages she creates two competing countries, and different cultural groups within those countries. The terrain plays an important role in the story, and Snyder paints a vivid picture of this setting. At places, her descriptions get repetitive, especially in contrasting the clothing of the de’Stain family with that of the other noble houses of Moravia, but this stops after the first few chapters. My other major criticism of the book is with the head of house de’Stain — the villain. It always bothers me when authors who manage to write multidimensional protagonists write antagonists who act like they have stocked up on evil at a warehouse store.
Read the rest: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
February 13, 2021
A nice, quick read to the point. I enjoyed the journey and look forward to it again. It got a little weird towards the end but not unbearably so. Easy to follow and you pick up on the characters quickly.
January 13, 2013
This was a really clever meld of a couple different classic fairy-tale elements (evil sorcerers, clever hero, shape-changing curse, dark forest, etc.) and I really, really enjoyed it. After reading Midori Snyder's short story, Tattercoats, I couldn't wait to read more of her work. In brief, a princess with immense (but uncontrollable) magical abilities is being held out as a prize to lure men to their death as they try to win her hand. A simple farmer finally passes all three of her evil father's quests, but the wicked sorcerer refuses to let them go and intends to kill them both. They escape the castle itself, but then have to deal with even more peril while being hunted in the forest. Along the way, the princess must learn to control her wild, bloodthirsty magic and confront her own cruel nature. I know that sounds simple, but I didn't want to give away to much of the story! Please read it -- it's a quick, easy read of maybe 150 pages. If you like retold fairy tales or fantasy, you will like this book.
December 30, 2019
3.5/5. I enjoyed the book, especially the first half. The romance moved startlingly fast, but it was fine. I think the author's skill really shined in writing siblings. There were two sets of siblings in the story and both had interesting and entertaining interactions. There were moments that were jarringly weird, and I'm not new to the Fantasy genre (like the time when *spoiler* I couldn't tell if she was going to heal a person, give birth and heal a person, or give birth to the person she was trying to heal). Overall the book was still entertaining and left me with a positive feeling.
TL;DR: a short, entertaining read. Some weird stuff. Some good sibling interactions.
TL;DR: a short, entertaining read. Some weird stuff. Some good sibling interactions.
May 26, 2025
One of my comfort reads
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews