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Illyria
Madeleine and Rogan are first cousins, best friends, twinned souls, each other’s first love. Even within their large, disorderly family—all descendants of a famous actress—their intensity and passion for theater sets them apart. It makes them a little dangerous. When they are cast in their school’s production of Twelfth Night, they are forced to face their separate talents and futures, and their future together.This stunning short novel, winner of the World Fantasy Award, is the perfect introduction to Elizabeth Hand’s singular voice. Her many novels offer a window into what it means to create art, to experience it, to feel passionately about the world. Illyria throws her talent into high relief—it is magic on paper.
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First published January 1, 2007
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About the author
Elizabeth Hand
186 books1,312 followersA New York Times notable and multiple award– winning author, Elizabeth Hand has written seven novels, including the cult classic Waking the Moon, and short-story collections. She is a longtime contributor to numerous publications, including the Washington Post Book World and the Village Voice Literary Supplement. She and her two children divide their time between the coast of Maine and North London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 257 reviews
September 23, 2020
5 "enchanting, forbidden, heartbreaking" stars !!!
2016 Honorable Mention Read with High Distinction
Whoa Jaidee....catch your breath, still your heart and wipe your tears. This is what I told myself on the streetcar as I completed this novella on my way to work. A very sweet young South Asian woman was kind enough to give me tissues and quietly said "That must have been some book !"
Yes dear lady it was but I only smiled at her in gratitude.
This book was gifted to me by my first love and now best friend. She had given me
last year which I adored. She outdid herself this year though by sending me this one !
"Endless longing; a face you'd known since childhood, since birth almost: a body that moved as though it were your own. These were things you never spoke of, things you never hoped for: things you could never admit to. Things you'd die for, and die of.
"Rogan," I whispered.
"What?" He turned to me, and eyes gleamed peacock-blue in the footlights. "Maddy? Why are you crying?"
"Nothing. Rogan." He put his arms around me and I trembled. "Just you."
Whoa. First love. A large family. Forbidden Love. Kissing Cousins. Musicals. Rock. Trips to New York. Marijuana. Cigarettes. An eccentric aunt. An enclave. A glamorous girl. A beautiful boy. Twelfth Night. A sonorous tenor. A life gone by. Still in love. Wasted years. Mediocrity.
Disappointment. Reunion. A magical miniature theatre.
This adult fairy tale is an absolute dream and gem. Took my breath away just like my blonde Czech pixie girl did when I was sixteen.
"That night, lying with Rogan in the attic, I felt nearly delirious with arousal, and what I now know was pure, unchecked joy. I knew it then, too; knew that whatever happiness lay in store for me--vast continents of happiness, I was certain, of which this was only the first glimpse of shore--this would always be remembered. My cousin beside me, the toy theatre's radiance lapping our bodies in waves of gold and green while phantom lighting flickered in Rogan's eyes and phantom vapor roiled across the tiny stage, all those rustlings and whispers silenced by Rogan's voice singing softly beside me in the dark.
When that I was a little tiny boy
A foolish thing was but a toy
For the rain it raineth every day
He turned to me and stroked my cheek. "I love you, Maddy."
"I love you, too," I whispered.
It was the first time we had ever spoken it aloud. "
Thank you dear heart. A little novel to treasure.
2016 Honorable Mention Read with High Distinction
Whoa Jaidee....catch your breath, still your heart and wipe your tears. This is what I told myself on the streetcar as I completed this novella on my way to work. A very sweet young South Asian woman was kind enough to give me tissues and quietly said "That must have been some book !"
Yes dear lady it was but I only smiled at her in gratitude.
This book was gifted to me by my first love and now best friend. She had given me
last year which I adored. She outdid herself this year though by sending me this one !"Endless longing; a face you'd known since childhood, since birth almost: a body that moved as though it were your own. These were things you never spoke of, things you never hoped for: things you could never admit to. Things you'd die for, and die of.
"Rogan," I whispered.
"What?" He turned to me, and eyes gleamed peacock-blue in the footlights. "Maddy? Why are you crying?"
"Nothing. Rogan." He put his arms around me and I trembled. "Just you."
Whoa. First love. A large family. Forbidden Love. Kissing Cousins. Musicals. Rock. Trips to New York. Marijuana. Cigarettes. An eccentric aunt. An enclave. A glamorous girl. A beautiful boy. Twelfth Night. A sonorous tenor. A life gone by. Still in love. Wasted years. Mediocrity.
Disappointment. Reunion. A magical miniature theatre.
This adult fairy tale is an absolute dream and gem. Took my breath away just like my blonde Czech pixie girl did when I was sixteen.
"That night, lying with Rogan in the attic, I felt nearly delirious with arousal, and what I now know was pure, unchecked joy. I knew it then, too; knew that whatever happiness lay in store for me--vast continents of happiness, I was certain, of which this was only the first glimpse of shore--this would always be remembered. My cousin beside me, the toy theatre's radiance lapping our bodies in waves of gold and green while phantom lighting flickered in Rogan's eyes and phantom vapor roiled across the tiny stage, all those rustlings and whispers silenced by Rogan's voice singing softly beside me in the dark.
When that I was a little tiny boy
A foolish thing was but a toy
For the rain it raineth every day
He turned to me and stroked my cheek. "I love you, Maddy."
"I love you, too," I whispered.
It was the first time we had ever spoken it aloud. "
Thank you dear heart. A little novel to treasure.
July 7, 2010
I'm not really sure how to rate this. It *is* beautifully written, and it *did* remind me of Tam Lin, which Laurie said someone else told her it might. But it left me strangely dissatisfied.
There's also the weirdness of the romance between first cousins. Yes, first cousin marriage is legal in New York, but it's still treated as WEIRD in the book and it felt weird to me. Especially since the two fathers are twin brothers (I think identical, although I don't have the book next to me).
Explaining my dissatisfaction, however, requires a SPOILER ALERT.
********
I kept waiting for some kind of supernatural reveal, and it didn't happen. Unless the scene at the end with the toy theater is supposed to mean that Maddy and Rogan's future selves created the toy theater and that's what their past selves were seeing? I have no idea. The toy theater seemed to be somehow magical, but it was never really explained. Also, Maddy said that she didn't know how Aunt Kate was really related to her, or how old she was. She wasn't her actual aunt or great-aunt. And there was this weird scene where she and a lady in Harlem somehow knew each other, like they were in the same mystical club or something. But that was never explained. Aunt Kate grows old and dies like a normal person.
I was expecting to find that Maddy and/or Rogan was somehow supernaturally special and significant, and that Aunt Kate was some sort of guardian.
But nothing of the sort comes to light.
Oh, and the whole thing with the emerald ring? Made. No. Sense. To me.
So again, it really is beautifully written, and there's a lot of good stuff here -- but I was disappointed at the end. Maybe I just don't get it? I don't know.
There's also the weirdness of the romance between first cousins. Yes, first cousin marriage is legal in New York, but it's still treated as WEIRD in the book and it felt weird to me. Especially since the two fathers are twin brothers (I think identical, although I don't have the book next to me).
Explaining my dissatisfaction, however, requires a SPOILER ALERT.
********
I kept waiting for some kind of supernatural reveal, and it didn't happen. Unless the scene at the end with the toy theater is supposed to mean that Maddy and Rogan's future selves created the toy theater and that's what their past selves were seeing? I have no idea. The toy theater seemed to be somehow magical, but it was never really explained. Also, Maddy said that she didn't know how Aunt Kate was really related to her, or how old she was. She wasn't her actual aunt or great-aunt. And there was this weird scene where she and a lady in Harlem somehow knew each other, like they were in the same mystical club or something. But that was never explained. Aunt Kate grows old and dies like a normal person.
I was expecting to find that Maddy and/or Rogan was somehow supernaturally special and significant, and that Aunt Kate was some sort of guardian.
But nothing of the sort comes to light.
Oh, and the whole thing with the emerald ring? Made. No. Sense. To me.
So again, it really is beautifully written, and there's a lot of good stuff here -- but I was disappointed at the end. Maybe I just don't get it? I don't know.
March 27, 2011
Well. A lot of reviews are describing this book as "gorgeous," and while I concede that it is well-written, I wasn't swept up enough in the writing that I was transported by this very slight, strange book. Both style and subject are odd for YA literature, and regardless of where it's shelved, I have a hard time getting over the "what's the point" factor. It's weird that the first cousins thing doesn't bother me but the writing does, hmm?
Updated 5/15/11: Readers who are looking for a well-written YA book that tackles incest would do better to check out Tabitha Suzuma's sensitively written novel Forbidden, which offers much more depth and insight into this difficult subject.
Updated 5/15/11: Readers who are looking for a well-written YA book that tackles incest would do better to check out Tabitha Suzuma's sensitively written novel Forbidden, which offers much more depth and insight into this difficult subject.
February 24, 2013
It took me a while to realize I loved this book - a few years of being haunted by it.
It is not a young adult novel & shouldn't have been marketed as such - it's an adult novella (obviously not as desirable a marketing category).
Illyria deals with a deep love between two cousins, with the idea of artistic gifts vs. artistic skill, with the question of what is left when the enchanted theater of all your expectations for the future is destroyed by people who don't understand and don't care, or simply by the ordinary unfolding of life itself. And the idea of damage, as well as talent, being a family inheritance.
The book didn't go where I expected it to - there was no easy moral about hard work triumphing over genius, no triumphant theater performance by the narrator, no closure for Maddy and Rogan's relationship. The characters seemed very real to me at the end - threadbare and weary, but still standing. The last image (Hand's writing is always very visual) is so vivid to me, it's hard to believe I didn't see it in a movie. (It would make a great movie, with the right director.)
I loved the use of the Shakespeare song from Twelfth Night (A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain). I wasn't bothered by the cousin-love issue, although I was never sure what the point of it was, aside from the drama of thwarted romance. (A reread of Twelfth Night might make that theme clearer.) As with all Hand's novels, I loved the vivid sense of place - in this case, North Yonkers, NY circa 1960s/70s. I liked the descriptions of attics and half-attics packed with tinsely clutter and theater discards. Hand's old houses always have secrets.
The theater in the wall had that wonderful quality that is one of my favorite things about Hand's writing - her evocations of the places where the universe fractures and passages open into other worlds. Hand's inter-dimensional doors rarely open with much pomp - they appear suddenly in a kind of peripheral vision flash, and then the characters spend the rest of the stories trying to recapture this gift their lives can barely contain.
The miniature theater appeared so strangely, and threaded so delicately through Illyria story, it had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it quality that made it more believable for me, and the painstaking recreation of it at the end so moving. Can you rebuild lost, destroyed magic? Maybe you can - maybe that's the final message. Or the message is that things do not turn out the way you plan and what you're left with are the torn bits and what you make of them. Whether that is a hopeful or hopeless ending is between you and your life.
It is not a young adult novel & shouldn't have been marketed as such - it's an adult novella (obviously not as desirable a marketing category).
Illyria deals with a deep love between two cousins, with the idea of artistic gifts vs. artistic skill, with the question of what is left when the enchanted theater of all your expectations for the future is destroyed by people who don't understand and don't care, or simply by the ordinary unfolding of life itself. And the idea of damage, as well as talent, being a family inheritance.
The book didn't go where I expected it to - there was no easy moral about hard work triumphing over genius, no triumphant theater performance by the narrator, no closure for Maddy and Rogan's relationship. The characters seemed very real to me at the end - threadbare and weary, but still standing. The last image (Hand's writing is always very visual) is so vivid to me, it's hard to believe I didn't see it in a movie. (It would make a great movie, with the right director.)
I loved the use of the Shakespeare song from Twelfth Night (A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain). I wasn't bothered by the cousin-love issue, although I was never sure what the point of it was, aside from the drama of thwarted romance. (A reread of Twelfth Night might make that theme clearer.) As with all Hand's novels, I loved the vivid sense of place - in this case, North Yonkers, NY circa 1960s/70s. I liked the descriptions of attics and half-attics packed with tinsely clutter and theater discards. Hand's old houses always have secrets.
The theater in the wall had that wonderful quality that is one of my favorite things about Hand's writing - her evocations of the places where the universe fractures and passages open into other worlds. Hand's inter-dimensional doors rarely open with much pomp - they appear suddenly in a kind of peripheral vision flash, and then the characters spend the rest of the stories trying to recapture this gift their lives can barely contain.
The miniature theater appeared so strangely, and threaded so delicately through Illyria story, it had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it quality that made it more believable for me, and the painstaking recreation of it at the end so moving. Can you rebuild lost, destroyed magic? Maybe you can - maybe that's the final message. Or the message is that things do not turn out the way you plan and what you're left with are the torn bits and what you make of them. Whether that is a hopeful or hopeless ending is between you and your life.
November 27, 2009
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
A forbidden romance, you say? Shakespeare references galore, you say? Spooky old houses that might be enchanted, you say? Why, yes thank you I'll take one of those.
REVIEW:
A bittersweet story of a forbidden romance between first cousins and best friends Maddy and Rogan. The story follows them through a year of high school when they perform together in a school production of Twelfth Night, an experience which both intensifies and changes their feelings for one another.
Hand writes in a beautifully natural way - her prose has a smattering of vocabulary words but nothing about it feels pretentious. A few times the storytelling was drifting so seamlessly from a vivid to a vague memory - the way we tend to do when we recollect - that I caught myself wondering if this was actually a memoir. There is just enough of a hint of a fantasy to make that seem unlikely - a glimpse of world beyond our own in the story, but the characters never enter it fully.
There are a lot of fantasy tropes - the sense of a family destiny that has lain dormant, a secret passageway to a hidden room, an aunt who is mysterious - but Hand refuses to play them out into something explicitly supernatural. This means that unlike many fantasy novels, most of the emotional intensity is in the real world - it's the deep bond between Maddy and Rogan which seems vaguely dangerous and completely human and sensual that drives the story.
Another anomaly was the ending - when I finished the book I couldn't decide if things could have been different or if this was just the way they had to be. A balance between a sense of destiny and free will is always the sign of a masterful writer - one who can make you believe that this was what happened but wish it might have been different - or maybe not. In this case you can also read the ending as happy or sad, which I love.
Comes out in March 2010, mark your calendars. If I loan you my copy, you have to promise to give it back.
A forbidden romance, you say? Shakespeare references galore, you say? Spooky old houses that might be enchanted, you say? Why, yes thank you I'll take one of those.
REVIEW:
A bittersweet story of a forbidden romance between first cousins and best friends Maddy and Rogan. The story follows them through a year of high school when they perform together in a school production of Twelfth Night, an experience which both intensifies and changes their feelings for one another.
Hand writes in a beautifully natural way - her prose has a smattering of vocabulary words but nothing about it feels pretentious. A few times the storytelling was drifting so seamlessly from a vivid to a vague memory - the way we tend to do when we recollect - that I caught myself wondering if this was actually a memoir. There is just enough of a hint of a fantasy to make that seem unlikely - a glimpse of world beyond our own in the story, but the characters never enter it fully.
There are a lot of fantasy tropes - the sense of a family destiny that has lain dormant, a secret passageway to a hidden room, an aunt who is mysterious - but Hand refuses to play them out into something explicitly supernatural. This means that unlike many fantasy novels, most of the emotional intensity is in the real world - it's the deep bond between Maddy and Rogan which seems vaguely dangerous and completely human and sensual that drives the story.
Another anomaly was the ending - when I finished the book I couldn't decide if things could have been different or if this was just the way they had to be. A balance between a sense of destiny and free will is always the sign of a masterful writer - one who can make you believe that this was what happened but wish it might have been different - or maybe not. In this case you can also read the ending as happy or sad, which I love.
Comes out in March 2010, mark your calendars. If I loan you my copy, you have to promise to give it back.
February 26, 2021
Synopsis: Maddie and Rogan are "kissing cousins" (born on the same day) in a large family, descendants from a famous actress. Beautiful, wayward Rogan ("Rogan looked like he’d fallen from a painting."), gifted with a superb singing voice, is bullied by his older brothers, lest he becomes spoiled. Both cousins are secretly in love with each other, hiding away in a hidden chamber.
That chamber contains a magical replica theatre, which gets somehow snowed on. Both are blown away, and in that magic moment when they discover it, one thing leads to the other and they get real kissing cousins.
None of their parents really cares much what they're doing, only their Aunt Kate takes interest. She invites both to the theatre, first as a birthday present, and then week after week.
In their school, a Shakespeare romcom "Twelfth Night" is scheduled where Maddie gets to play main protagonist Viola, and Rogan gives the role of Feste the fool. Artistic gift battles artistic skill, and Rogan wins the audience's heart.
“A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.”
But Maddie wins a higher price, as her aunt finances an education at a London theatre school for her.
Review: There will be people who are triggered by the cousin romance. That's a cultural topic, as not every country stigmatizes first cousin marriages, other than currently 24 US states. I can understand, if someone feels offended and wouldn't read this story. I don't know if the author wanted to provoke that trigger in the U.S., but it's actually no issue for me, beside of the fact that I'm not a fan of romances at all.
There are a lot of literary references beside of Shakespeare which I didn't get at all - I have to admit that I'm not fluent in English literature at all, and found them annoying after a while.
The novella is quite long, at the verge of a novel in fact, but felt tight nonetheless. The story was never boring, always carried by Hand's typical beautiful prose creating a 1970s atmosphere where children could play in the wilds, rock'n'roll was still raw, and teenagers consumed hash in their breaks. Its setting could have led to any number of fantasy plots, but even that magical theatre in the hidden chamber didn't lead to a conclusive revelation.
I had some ideas about fairy tale allegories, like Aunt Kate being a fay (Rogan calls her Aunt Fate), Rogan's talent as a fairy gift, and the magical theatre resembling some fairy castle. But none of that produced a real outcome and it feels that I have to fiddle around more with those interpretations. In the end, I decided that all the magic lies in the story's narration, and I can't give Elizabeth Hand a greater compliment.
It will take me a while until I can fully digest this masterpiece, and I'm sorry that I'm not able to unfold it completely in this review.
“And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium.”
That chamber contains a magical replica theatre, which gets somehow snowed on. Both are blown away, and in that magic moment when they discover it, one thing leads to the other and they get real kissing cousins.
None of their parents really cares much what they're doing, only their Aunt Kate takes interest. She invites both to the theatre, first as a birthday present, and then week after week.
In their school, a Shakespeare romcom "Twelfth Night" is scheduled where Maddie gets to play main protagonist Viola, and Rogan gives the role of Feste the fool. Artistic gift battles artistic skill, and Rogan wins the audience's heart.
“A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.”
But Maddie wins a higher price, as her aunt finances an education at a London theatre school for her.
Review: There will be people who are triggered by the cousin romance. That's a cultural topic, as not every country stigmatizes first cousin marriages, other than currently 24 US states. I can understand, if someone feels offended and wouldn't read this story. I don't know if the author wanted to provoke that trigger in the U.S., but it's actually no issue for me, beside of the fact that I'm not a fan of romances at all.
There are a lot of literary references beside of Shakespeare which I didn't get at all - I have to admit that I'm not fluent in English literature at all, and found them annoying after a while.
The novella is quite long, at the verge of a novel in fact, but felt tight nonetheless. The story was never boring, always carried by Hand's typical beautiful prose creating a 1970s atmosphere where children could play in the wilds, rock'n'roll was still raw, and teenagers consumed hash in their breaks. Its setting could have led to any number of fantasy plots, but even that magical theatre in the hidden chamber didn't lead to a conclusive revelation.
I had some ideas about fairy tale allegories, like Aunt Kate being a fay (Rogan calls her Aunt Fate), Rogan's talent as a fairy gift, and the magical theatre resembling some fairy castle. But none of that produced a real outcome and it feels that I have to fiddle around more with those interpretations. In the end, I decided that all the magic lies in the story's narration, and I can't give Elizabeth Hand a greater compliment.
It will take me a while until I can fully digest this masterpiece, and I'm sorry that I'm not able to unfold it completely in this review.
“And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium.”
August 4, 2019
What a bizarre book. The writing was superb, but the subject matter unsavory for me. The idea of cousins having crushes on one another is something I can understand, something I experienced myself as a little girl. But to find out just how far their infatuation goes and the physical intimacy they share...noooo thank you, friends.
July 16, 2010
I tried, I really tried to love this book as it so richly deserved. Beautifully written prose: check. Two doomed teen lovers: check. Life changing moment: check. Flashback to "simpler" time: check. So what the heck happened with this book?
SPOILER ALERT!!!
For starters, this novella was marketed as a YA title. Other than there are two teenagers in an illicit love affair, that's where the YA connection ends. This reads like an adult book, semiautobiographical in nature, with tenuous appeal for teens who will have a difficult time wrapping their minds around this slim narrative. First, it's vaguely set in the seventies, with Yonkers as the backdrop for a by-gone era when siblings lived in the same town, on the same block, on the same street, with their homes clustered together. One big happy amalgamation of extended family - or so you think. But let's cut to the heart of the matter, the elephant in the room: we have two first cousins engaged in incest. And not just kissing cousins; they are born on the same day, and their dads are identical twins. Genetically, they are half-siblings. Maddy and Rogen have been inseparable ever since, but they take their love for each other to new heights by having sex on a regular basis in a hidden attic. The strange thing is, everyone in the Tierney clan know or have a sickening suspicion that these kids are intimately involved, yet no one is stepping in to stop this tragedy. Only during a showdown when Maddy is about to be shipped off to London do Rogen's parents decide to finally do an intervention, but it's violent and ends all ties between the damaged Rogen and Maddy.
You get to know this clan through Maddy, their 100+ year history that dates back to their great-grandmother, an ingenue of the theater, a gift that died with her. You think that Maddy and Rogen will break free from their suburban stranglehold, will be Broadway bound and will never return home, and be together, encouraging their artistic talents. Even though it's wrong, you want them to prevail as a couple. But it never happens. You get the feeling the wrong kid was sent to London to become a great actor, and the one with promise and skills was purposefully left behind to rot as punishment for his sins. They meet up 31 years later, both with varying degrees of a failed life in show business, with only the faint memories of their love that lives on in the attic.
I dunno. Like I said, I wanted to really like this book. If you are a fan of Elizabeth Hand, perhaps this is the story for you. Otherwise, I recommend this books for adults.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
For starters, this novella was marketed as a YA title. Other than there are two teenagers in an illicit love affair, that's where the YA connection ends. This reads like an adult book, semiautobiographical in nature, with tenuous appeal for teens who will have a difficult time wrapping their minds around this slim narrative. First, it's vaguely set in the seventies, with Yonkers as the backdrop for a by-gone era when siblings lived in the same town, on the same block, on the same street, with their homes clustered together. One big happy amalgamation of extended family - or so you think. But let's cut to the heart of the matter, the elephant in the room: we have two first cousins engaged in incest. And not just kissing cousins; they are born on the same day, and their dads are identical twins. Genetically, they are half-siblings. Maddy and Rogen have been inseparable ever since, but they take their love for each other to new heights by having sex on a regular basis in a hidden attic. The strange thing is, everyone in the Tierney clan know or have a sickening suspicion that these kids are intimately involved, yet no one is stepping in to stop this tragedy. Only during a showdown when Maddy is about to be shipped off to London do Rogen's parents decide to finally do an intervention, but it's violent and ends all ties between the damaged Rogen and Maddy.
You get to know this clan through Maddy, their 100+ year history that dates back to their great-grandmother, an ingenue of the theater, a gift that died with her. You think that Maddy and Rogen will break free from their suburban stranglehold, will be Broadway bound and will never return home, and be together, encouraging their artistic talents. Even though it's wrong, you want them to prevail as a couple. But it never happens. You get the feeling the wrong kid was sent to London to become a great actor, and the one with promise and skills was purposefully left behind to rot as punishment for his sins. They meet up 31 years later, both with varying degrees of a failed life in show business, with only the faint memories of their love that lives on in the attic.
I dunno. Like I said, I wanted to really like this book. If you are a fan of Elizabeth Hand, perhaps this is the story for you. Otherwise, I recommend this books for adults.
April 20, 2013
Okay, best to start with my confession. I am a major Elizabeth Hand fan. I met her at a Readercon a few years ago and am happy to report she’s nice to shy fans. Yeah, I mumbled something silly and almost bowed to her. I think I had used up my coherency at asking Peter Straub to sign a book.
Although I have interviewed David Bowie, Trent “Nine Inch Nails” Reznor, Tori Amos, and a horde of other musicians, meeting my favorite authors frazzles me. I’ll lay on the couch and figure out why later.
Ahem. Onward. If I keep this up, my review will be longer than the novella I’m reviewing.
After reading and enjoying Hand’s novels, I was a little confused at her writing a YA novel. Hand doesn’t seem to be a YA writer. The author of “Waking the Moon” writes for the YA crowd? I doooon’t think so!
After reading this, well, duh, this is not a YA novel. It’s an adult novella marketed as a YA novel, which seems like something her agent cooked up to try to drum up more notice for the wonderful Hand. “Hey, YA is hot, let’s get in the game!” Come on, the novel vapor trails into the character’s life long after the teenage years. What nonsense.
“Illyria” is a 135 page trifle, a little experiment that covers ground explored in previous novels like “Mortal Love”, (which is an absolutely fantastic novel; a must read) and “Generation Lost”. It’s a languid, sad tale of love and loss, blazing talent and self-destruction, rotting homes and dubious ancestors, themes Hand can toss off in her sleep. She's done it before in novels. Why in an adult novella marketed as a YA novel?
If I read this novella marketed in a Hand collection, yes, I would rank it a five. As a stand-alone YA novel, come on, no way. Hence my all too generous three.
Deception is not a pretty thing. This book seems like a ploy to market Hand to a new audience, an audience she does not need. Its a bit sad.
Although I have interviewed David Bowie, Trent “Nine Inch Nails” Reznor, Tori Amos, and a horde of other musicians, meeting my favorite authors frazzles me. I’ll lay on the couch and figure out why later.
Ahem. Onward. If I keep this up, my review will be longer than the novella I’m reviewing.
After reading and enjoying Hand’s novels, I was a little confused at her writing a YA novel. Hand doesn’t seem to be a YA writer. The author of “Waking the Moon” writes for the YA crowd? I doooon’t think so!
After reading this, well, duh, this is not a YA novel. It’s an adult novella marketed as a YA novel, which seems like something her agent cooked up to try to drum up more notice for the wonderful Hand. “Hey, YA is hot, let’s get in the game!” Come on, the novel vapor trails into the character’s life long after the teenage years. What nonsense.
“Illyria” is a 135 page trifle, a little experiment that covers ground explored in previous novels like “Mortal Love”, (which is an absolutely fantastic novel; a must read) and “Generation Lost”. It’s a languid, sad tale of love and loss, blazing talent and self-destruction, rotting homes and dubious ancestors, themes Hand can toss off in her sleep. She's done it before in novels. Why in an adult novella marketed as a YA novel?
If I read this novella marketed in a Hand collection, yes, I would rank it a five. As a stand-alone YA novel, come on, no way. Hence my all too generous three.
Deception is not a pretty thing. This book seems like a ploy to market Hand to a new audience, an audience she does not need. Its a bit sad.
October 28, 2011
ILLYRIA was far from what I expected. I wanted something slim yet fulfilling, with a magic that is solidly grounded in reality. Instead, I felt no connection to the characters, and felt like the author was trying to go for mood instead of engagement, with the end result that neither was accomplished.
Content aside (because there have been other books written about incest), how is ILLYRIA a YA book? It reads like the work of an adult author who chose to write about teenaged characters without any real consideration for the emotions that teenagers may feel. Madeleine and Rogan’s togetherness lacked actual affection, both in the way Rogan treated Madeleine and the way Madeleine narrated their relationship with an old-woman-at-her-confessional manner. Characters spoke to one another with no real purpose behind their conversations except—well, in my opinion, except to fill up the pages, to give off a “mysterious” vibe at their ambiguous feelings and statements. And I hate hate hate when things in stories only appear for the purpose of accomplishing something—in this case, the author’s unrealized intention of creating an eerie yet compelling atmosphere throughout the novella.
ILLYRIA could have been an interesting, subtly magical, and deeply unsettling story. I think, however, that it was definitely marketed to the wrong audience, and thus I can’t commend it as a work of YA literature.
Content aside (because there have been other books written about incest), how is ILLYRIA a YA book? It reads like the work of an adult author who chose to write about teenaged characters without any real consideration for the emotions that teenagers may feel. Madeleine and Rogan’s togetherness lacked actual affection, both in the way Rogan treated Madeleine and the way Madeleine narrated their relationship with an old-woman-at-her-confessional manner. Characters spoke to one another with no real purpose behind their conversations except—well, in my opinion, except to fill up the pages, to give off a “mysterious” vibe at their ambiguous feelings and statements. And I hate hate hate when things in stories only appear for the purpose of accomplishing something—in this case, the author’s unrealized intention of creating an eerie yet compelling atmosphere throughout the novella.
ILLYRIA could have been an interesting, subtly magical, and deeply unsettling story. I think, however, that it was definitely marketed to the wrong audience, and thus I can’t commend it as a work of YA literature.
October 12, 2010
After 31 pages, I am done.
When I started reading this book, despite the fact that it is a gross romance novel, filled with faerie incest ( or so I've come to believe after 31 pages) I had gone in with the intent of finishing it.
Yes, the writing is good, but the first six or so pages are all about the families history and it was extremely boring (though it probably doesn't help that I was reading it at 2:00 AM)
After that, it got a lot better, and like I said, I like the authors writing, but I just don't want to sit through another faerie romance novel, and the fact that I can not figure out what decade this is taking place in seriously annoyed me.
Not to mention the incest.
Sorry, but it was just creepy. It was sweet and actually rather innocently portrayed, but then when I found myself reading in on one of their intimate moments, I was just like, "Ew. No."
I sound very narrow minded, which is very unlike me, but it was just NOT a subject that (in this case? in general? Not really sure.) I enjoyed reading in any way.
Plus, I found myself zoning out whenever the author would launch into one of her descriptions about the scenery.
When I started reading this book, despite the fact that it is a gross romance novel, filled with faerie incest ( or so I've come to believe after 31 pages) I had gone in with the intent of finishing it.
Yes, the writing is good, but the first six or so pages are all about the families history and it was extremely boring (though it probably doesn't help that I was reading it at 2:00 AM)
After that, it got a lot better, and like I said, I like the authors writing, but I just don't want to sit through another faerie romance novel, and the fact that I can not figure out what decade this is taking place in seriously annoyed me.
Not to mention the incest.
Sorry, but it was just creepy. It was sweet and actually rather innocently portrayed, but then when I found myself reading in on one of their intimate moments, I was just like, "Ew. No."
I sound very narrow minded, which is very unlike me, but it was just NOT a subject that (in this case? in general? Not really sure.) I enjoyed reading in any way.
Plus, I found myself zoning out whenever the author would launch into one of her descriptions about the scenery.
November 10, 2010
If you can get past the ick factor, the story itself is captivating. With just a touch of fantasy (a really really slight touch), the author conveys so much with very little. She weaves words in such a way that you get what she is saying without her actually ever saying it. It makes for a fascinating read, but I did feel that something was lacking.
However, I liked that fact that it was slimmed down from your usual fantasy or romance. It only took about an hour and a half to read all the way through. I was in the mood for a novella, and this one really told a strong story in a short time.
I wouldn't recommend this for younger readers as the subject matter is somewhat disturbing. Don't expect a high fantasy setting with this one though. Like I said, the characters never actually confirm any sort of paranormal goings-on, they just hint at it.
I definitely would have liked more closure on the fantasy part of the story. I guess I would just like to know if my assumptions are correct. That's the difficult thing about how she chose to tell her tale, you are never really sure. I think maybe a prologue or an epilogue would have been just enough to tie it all together.
However, I liked that fact that it was slimmed down from your usual fantasy or romance. It only took about an hour and a half to read all the way through. I was in the mood for a novella, and this one really told a strong story in a short time.
I wouldn't recommend this for younger readers as the subject matter is somewhat disturbing. Don't expect a high fantasy setting with this one though. Like I said, the characters never actually confirm any sort of paranormal goings-on, they just hint at it.
I definitely would have liked more closure on the fantasy part of the story. I guess I would just like to know if my assumptions are correct. That's the difficult thing about how she chose to tell her tale, you are never really sure. I think maybe a prologue or an epilogue would have been just enough to tie it all together.
May 8, 2011
This book reminds me a lot of Francesca Lia Block. I wasn't surprised when I found a review by her on the front inside cover.
I'm going to split this review into two parts- the relationship between Madeline and Rogan, and the fantasy elements.
So Madeline and Rogan are related. Legally they're first cousins, genetically they're half-siblings. I know the reader is meant to respond with an ick factor, but given how Elizabeth Hand wrote their relationship, while it is meant to be confronting, I think it was also meant to be romantic. Parts of it were whimsical and magical (and reminded me of Francesca Lia Block), and parts of it were also... well, if they weren't related, I'd buy that they were in a true relationship. They loved each other very deeply (and I liked the sex scenes, although brought up, were never explicit), but they were also heading in different directions. In a way, Madeline realised that. She got away before she was dragged too deeply in. That romance is still there, years later, but both have started to settle down. I'm uncertain if Hand intended to imply that their relationship would be rekindled. I think it's left ambiguous and for the reader to decide.
Then there's the fantasy part. Did Hand intend for that to be a separate subplot? I couldn't figure it out. Here are some theories:
- Rogan is fey. Maybe genetically, with it being a dormant, recessive gene (look at how he enraptured the crowd).
- Aunt Kate is fey. She knows how being fey can ruin one's life- impulsiveness, unable to settle down. She knows Rogan, although talented, will go off the tracks and doesn't want Madeline to watch the process.
- Great-grandmother Madeline was also fey.
- The magical theatre in the attic is linked to a fey's moods somehow, and is representative of their life.
Just some ideas. I can't help but feel Hand wanted to walk along the magical reality/urban fantasy line but didn't want to push it. I did really enjoy this novella, though, despite its somewhat 'unfinished' feeling.
Although listed as young adult, and does have some of the markers of one, it's really for the latter teens/young twenties age range. Younger to mid-teens could definitely read and understand the implications if they were mature enough.
I'm going to split this review into two parts- the relationship between Madeline and Rogan, and the fantasy elements.
So Madeline and Rogan are related. Legally they're first cousins, genetically they're half-siblings. I know the reader is meant to respond with an ick factor, but given how Elizabeth Hand wrote their relationship, while it is meant to be confronting, I think it was also meant to be romantic. Parts of it were whimsical and magical (and reminded me of Francesca Lia Block), and parts of it were also... well, if they weren't related, I'd buy that they were in a true relationship. They loved each other very deeply (and I liked the sex scenes, although brought up, were never explicit), but they were also heading in different directions. In a way, Madeline realised that. She got away before she was dragged too deeply in. That romance is still there, years later, but both have started to settle down. I'm uncertain if Hand intended to imply that their relationship would be rekindled. I think it's left ambiguous and for the reader to decide.
Then there's the fantasy part. Did Hand intend for that to be a separate subplot? I couldn't figure it out. Here are some theories:
- Rogan is fey. Maybe genetically, with it being a dormant, recessive gene (look at how he enraptured the crowd).
- Aunt Kate is fey. She knows how being fey can ruin one's life- impulsiveness, unable to settle down. She knows Rogan, although talented, will go off the tracks and doesn't want Madeline to watch the process.
- Great-grandmother Madeline was also fey.
- The magical theatre in the attic is linked to a fey's moods somehow, and is representative of their life.
Just some ideas. I can't help but feel Hand wanted to walk along the magical reality/urban fantasy line but didn't want to push it. I did really enjoy this novella, though, despite its somewhat 'unfinished' feeling.
Although listed as young adult, and does have some of the markers of one, it's really for the latter teens/young twenties age range. Younger to mid-teens could definitely read and understand the implications if they were mature enough.
December 10, 2011
Reading YA novels only reminds me just how out of touch I am sometimes.
I read this because my friend had it and I recognized the author's name. Back in the early 90s I read a book by Elizabeth Hand called Waking the Moon; I might have read it more than once or twice. I might have really been into that book. Now as an adult I don't remember much about that book other than the impression it left behind, and it remains one of those books I wonder if I should re-read or if I should just let the happy memory rest.
This is the story of Madeline and Rogan, first cousins. That's not a spoiler because it's stated in the description of the book and on the back cover in an excerpt.
They are first cousins.
I don't think I really got past that from the beginning.
So these first cousins do things that seem wildly inappropriate to me, but maybe I really am a prude. It was a bit Flowers in the Attic-y, but without the captivity parts. For all intents and purposes these were pretty normal kids. So. Ew. Gross.
But it's a quick read, and whatever, they don't sparkle and there's no Team Edward or Team Jacob. If you're looking for a nice book to get your young adult reader for Christmas, be sure you read this book yourself first to see if you feel comfortable with the material. There is underage sex and open discussion of drug use. I'm not exactly judging the book for those things because personally I think you should be able to talk to young adults about those things, but... it was sort of jarring for me to read it in a book like this where I wasn't expecting it. However, it's a quick read (seriously quick - I read it in a little over an hour last night) and if you just want a bit of a sad love story, knock yourself out.
I would suggest not taking it along to read during a family reunion though. That could lead to some awkward discussions.
Cousins, man. WTH??
I read this because my friend had it and I recognized the author's name. Back in the early 90s I read a book by Elizabeth Hand called Waking the Moon; I might have read it more than once or twice. I might have really been into that book. Now as an adult I don't remember much about that book other than the impression it left behind, and it remains one of those books I wonder if I should re-read or if I should just let the happy memory rest.
This is the story of Madeline and Rogan, first cousins. That's not a spoiler because it's stated in the description of the book and on the back cover in an excerpt.
They are first cousins.
I don't think I really got past that from the beginning.
So these first cousins do things that seem wildly inappropriate to me, but maybe I really am a prude. It was a bit Flowers in the Attic-y, but without the captivity parts. For all intents and purposes these were pretty normal kids. So. Ew. Gross.
But it's a quick read, and whatever, they don't sparkle and there's no Team Edward or Team Jacob. If you're looking for a nice book to get your young adult reader for Christmas, be sure you read this book yourself first to see if you feel comfortable with the material. There is underage sex and open discussion of drug use. I'm not exactly judging the book for those things because personally I think you should be able to talk to young adults about those things, but... it was sort of jarring for me to read it in a book like this where I wasn't expecting it. However, it's a quick read (seriously quick - I read it in a little over an hour last night) and if you just want a bit of a sad love story, knock yourself out.
I would suggest not taking it along to read during a family reunion though. That could lead to some awkward discussions.
Cousins, man. WTH??
June 7, 2010
Maddy lives in a sprawling complex with her large extended family. Descendants of a famous actress, the family members are dramatic, eccentric and interesting. Maddy is wildly in love with her cousin Rogan. As children they stole kisses under the porch, but it becomes more serious and complicated as they become teens. During one of their secret trysts together in the attic, the two discover a tiny stage hidden behind the wallboards, complete with effects and lighting. When Rogan and Maddy are both cast in their school’s performance of Twelfth Night the magic that is the two of them together is threatened.
In a world of bloated, oversized teen novels, this short book is a powerful gem. Hand has created a book that really shines with its strong setting of the family home where so much of the action takes place. Hand’s descriptions bring the entire book to life as she paints a vivid picture for the reader. What is amazing is that she has created a story with such depth in so few pages.
The story is based strongly in reality, making the discovery of the tiny stage that much more special and strange. The book is a beautiful realistic story with a strong thread of magic running through it. This is helped by the romantic, beautiful writing that soars with detail.
Some readers will find the two cousins in a romantic relationship to be confusing and startling. Hand has woven this sort of deep feeling into the text in such a way that it feels very real, very honest. This is not there for effect, rather it is an important, inherent part of their relationship and roles with one another. Their closeness is deepened by their kinship.
A beautiful soaring novel in a tightly-written package, this book is sure to appeal to those who enjoy fantasy but also those readers looking for a great romance. Appropriate for ages 15-18.
In a world of bloated, oversized teen novels, this short book is a powerful gem. Hand has created a book that really shines with its strong setting of the family home where so much of the action takes place. Hand’s descriptions bring the entire book to life as she paints a vivid picture for the reader. What is amazing is that she has created a story with such depth in so few pages.
The story is based strongly in reality, making the discovery of the tiny stage that much more special and strange. The book is a beautiful realistic story with a strong thread of magic running through it. This is helped by the romantic, beautiful writing that soars with detail.
Some readers will find the two cousins in a romantic relationship to be confusing and startling. Hand has woven this sort of deep feeling into the text in such a way that it feels very real, very honest. This is not there for effect, rather it is an important, inherent part of their relationship and roles with one another. Their closeness is deepened by their kinship.
A beautiful soaring novel in a tightly-written package, this book is sure to appeal to those who enjoy fantasy but also those readers looking for a great romance. Appropriate for ages 15-18.
March 10, 2011
What did I learn from this book? I learned that parents and educators need to read more young adult literature because there's a lot of crap out there, and this book is the top of that list. After about 40 pages, I knew the book was awful, but I was hoping it would have something redeeming--it didn't. For the record, I am not an advocate for censorship, but I do believe that some stuff just shouldn't get published. The book's whole plot line revolves around two fourteen-year-old cousins and their illicit (and explicit) sexual relationship. The ties to Shakespeare and Twelfth Night (the whole reason I read the book) was minimal. Coming of age is already difficult for kids, and I'm grateful for the quality YA Lit that beautifully explores complex issues. Bottom line--make sure you're reading what your kids are reading--and share that information with others who need to know.
May 22, 2010
Illyria was a quite beautiful book, btw. It's a montage of different emotions, themes, rich, like a complex painting. Each reader will perceive different aspects of their lives invoked from the story. I hope it reaches a wide audience.
July 28, 2025
My copy of 'Illyria' has an inscription by the author that reads “this is my favorite story”, presumably of her own work (at least as of 2008 when she inscribed my book). I can see why.
It's the story of two cousins, Madeline (known as Maddy) and Rogan, who live near each other and are inseparable. Inseparable, as in they're in love and can't stand to be apart, although their families take an understandably wary view of their relationship.
Of the two, Rogan is the glamorous one, with flame-red hair and a startlingly clear singing voice. Maddy think she's mousy, but under the tutelage of her Aunt Kate she finds a place in the theater world, taking after her great-grandmother and namesake.
A magical toy theater they discover in the eaves of Rogan's house leads us towards the theater, as the two are cast in a school production of 'Twelfth Night'. That production, glorious as it is, leads to an ultimate split in their fates.
What I like about Elizabeth Hand's writing is that she's so good at creating mood and characters that fit. There's a light touch of fantasy element to make the world seem a bit ethereal, as the theater world already seems. As with many stories of artists, there may not be the ending that they hoped for, but there is a final coming together and resolution. It's a little heartbreaking, and a little celebratory of the theater world, and it's all Elizabeth Hand and her affection for those who can't help but make art.
I re-read the book because I picked up her novel 'Radiant Days' which is blurbed as a “follow-up” to 'Illyria'. Not a sequel, but possibly related in tone and artistic expression.
It's the story of two cousins, Madeline (known as Maddy) and Rogan, who live near each other and are inseparable. Inseparable, as in they're in love and can't stand to be apart, although their families take an understandably wary view of their relationship.
Of the two, Rogan is the glamorous one, with flame-red hair and a startlingly clear singing voice. Maddy think she's mousy, but under the tutelage of her Aunt Kate she finds a place in the theater world, taking after her great-grandmother and namesake.
A magical toy theater they discover in the eaves of Rogan's house leads us towards the theater, as the two are cast in a school production of 'Twelfth Night'. That production, glorious as it is, leads to an ultimate split in their fates.
What I like about Elizabeth Hand's writing is that she's so good at creating mood and characters that fit. There's a light touch of fantasy element to make the world seem a bit ethereal, as the theater world already seems. As with many stories of artists, there may not be the ending that they hoped for, but there is a final coming together and resolution. It's a little heartbreaking, and a little celebratory of the theater world, and it's all Elizabeth Hand and her affection for those who can't help but make art.
I re-read the book because I picked up her novel 'Radiant Days' which is blurbed as a “follow-up” to 'Illyria'. Not a sequel, but possibly related in tone and artistic expression.
May 24, 2014
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: This was not a book for me.
Opening Sentence: Rogan and I were cousins; our fathers were identical twins.
The Review:
Madeleine and Rogan have been best friends their whole lives. They were born on the same day and their dads were twin brothers. They grew up across the street from each other and eventually their friendship turned into love. They both have a love for theater that stems from a great grandmother who was a famous actress. When they are both cast in the school production of Twelfth Night something magical takes place that may forever change their future and their relationship. Will society keep them apart or will their love be strong enough to keep them together?
Maddy is a very insecure girl that has spent most of her life living in the shadows of others. She is the youngest in a family of six girls and there’s really nothing extraordinary about her, until she discovers acting. She knows that she’s not as glamorous as her great grandmother but maybe she can learn to be someday. I wouldn’t say I disliked Maddy, I just didn’t really feel a huge connection with her and she seemed to be a very forgettable character. She was ordinary, which is actually what I think the author was going for, but that also made her kind of boring.
Rogan seemed like he almost had a split personality. When he was with Maddy he was sweet and charming but when they were with other people he came across as more of a cocky jerk. He knew he was talented but it seemed like he was ok with squandering his talents instead of using them. I actually had a hard time seeing what Maddy liked about him so much because I didn’t think he was all that great of a guy. Sure he was good looking and had a magical voice but that doesn’t make up for all his problems and I thought Maddy deserved better.
I want to start off by saying that after reading the description of this story, I was really hesitant to start it because it really didn’t sound like something I would enjoy but it was a short little book that needed to be reviewed so I picked it up. Unfortunately, I was correct on it not being my kind of book. First off, the fact that this was a modern day love story between cousins was just gross to me. I mean their dads are identical twin brothers which made it even worse, and it wasn’t just a sweet innocent relationship, it was sexual as well. Even if I could have looked past that, I still wouldn’t have really liked this book. While reading it I kept waiting for something to happen that would make me understand why this story was written and it never did. The storyline was really weird and after I finished it I kept thinking what was I suppose to get out of that, because I either missed the whole point or there wasn’t one. I realize that the author was covering a sensitive and taboo subject but if that was what she was going for, I wish she would have focused on that more. Instead of focusing on how their circumstances affected them and their relationships with others she pretty much just focused on their romance. Also, the tone of this book felt like it was geared more towards adults, which I didn’t like since it is suppose to be a YA book. This was obviously not meant for me but if you think it sounds interesting go ahead and give it a try. It’s not very long so you can get it read quickly and hopefully you have a better experience with it than I did.
Notable Scene:
I recall almost nothing else of my performance, though I remembered all my lines, all my entrances. People applauded when I walked offstage. They laughed at the right places. I took my pratfalls during my duel with Sir Andrew and praised the countess so that the very babbling gossip of the air cried out “Olivia.”
But it was like being stone-cold drunk in a darkened room. Only when Rogan was on did the stage seem to shake and blaze, as though lightning struck it: his flaming hair, his white costume irradiated by the followspots, his bare feet kicking up a shinning haze of dust and rouge and face powder that followed him like a bright shadow. When he first opened his mouth and sang I heard a gasp go through the audience, as though everyone had at the same instant touched a burning wire.
FTC Advisory: Viking/Penguin provided me with a copy of Illyria. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: This was not a book for me.
Opening Sentence: Rogan and I were cousins; our fathers were identical twins.
The Review:
Madeleine and Rogan have been best friends their whole lives. They were born on the same day and their dads were twin brothers. They grew up across the street from each other and eventually their friendship turned into love. They both have a love for theater that stems from a great grandmother who was a famous actress. When they are both cast in the school production of Twelfth Night something magical takes place that may forever change their future and their relationship. Will society keep them apart or will their love be strong enough to keep them together?
Maddy is a very insecure girl that has spent most of her life living in the shadows of others. She is the youngest in a family of six girls and there’s really nothing extraordinary about her, until she discovers acting. She knows that she’s not as glamorous as her great grandmother but maybe she can learn to be someday. I wouldn’t say I disliked Maddy, I just didn’t really feel a huge connection with her and she seemed to be a very forgettable character. She was ordinary, which is actually what I think the author was going for, but that also made her kind of boring.
Rogan seemed like he almost had a split personality. When he was with Maddy he was sweet and charming but when they were with other people he came across as more of a cocky jerk. He knew he was talented but it seemed like he was ok with squandering his talents instead of using them. I actually had a hard time seeing what Maddy liked about him so much because I didn’t think he was all that great of a guy. Sure he was good looking and had a magical voice but that doesn’t make up for all his problems and I thought Maddy deserved better.
I want to start off by saying that after reading the description of this story, I was really hesitant to start it because it really didn’t sound like something I would enjoy but it was a short little book that needed to be reviewed so I picked it up. Unfortunately, I was correct on it not being my kind of book. First off, the fact that this was a modern day love story between cousins was just gross to me. I mean their dads are identical twin brothers which made it even worse, and it wasn’t just a sweet innocent relationship, it was sexual as well. Even if I could have looked past that, I still wouldn’t have really liked this book. While reading it I kept waiting for something to happen that would make me understand why this story was written and it never did. The storyline was really weird and after I finished it I kept thinking what was I suppose to get out of that, because I either missed the whole point or there wasn’t one. I realize that the author was covering a sensitive and taboo subject but if that was what she was going for, I wish she would have focused on that more. Instead of focusing on how their circumstances affected them and their relationships with others she pretty much just focused on their romance. Also, the tone of this book felt like it was geared more towards adults, which I didn’t like since it is suppose to be a YA book. This was obviously not meant for me but if you think it sounds interesting go ahead and give it a try. It’s not very long so you can get it read quickly and hopefully you have a better experience with it than I did.
Notable Scene:
I recall almost nothing else of my performance, though I remembered all my lines, all my entrances. People applauded when I walked offstage. They laughed at the right places. I took my pratfalls during my duel with Sir Andrew and praised the countess so that the very babbling gossip of the air cried out “Olivia.”
But it was like being stone-cold drunk in a darkened room. Only when Rogan was on did the stage seem to shake and blaze, as though lightning struck it: his flaming hair, his white costume irradiated by the followspots, his bare feet kicking up a shinning haze of dust and rouge and face powder that followed him like a bright shadow. When he first opened his mouth and sang I heard a gasp go through the audience, as though everyone had at the same instant touched a burning wire.
FTC Advisory: Viking/Penguin provided me with a copy of Illyria. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
August 11, 2010
I have nothing to do with the World Fantasy Award (which is a good thing, considered my general apathy towards fantasy as a genre), but looking at other winners, this one doesn't quite seem to fit. This isn't really a fantasy - it's more like what one of my college professors called magical realism (and generally associated with post-colonialism, but that's a story for another time). This is a rather straightforward story about two extraordinarily close cousins who must face the realities of their relationship and individual talents. The fantasy/magical element comes from an apparently enchanted miniature theatre they find embedded in the walls of the attic, where the lovers escape for their illicit trysts.
While published as a YA novel, the only resemblance this has to most YA is the ages of the protagonists - but in some ways I never felt like I was reading about teenagers because Madeline is telling this story as a middle aged adult. I had only a tenuous connection with her during the high school phase, but I totally lost it once she skipped ahead to briefly show her life as an adult, and how her and Rogan's decisions from back in their high school days had panned out as adults.
The romance between Madeline and Rogan is heady and impulsive - and yes, they are cousins, but really, we're still grossed out by that these days? Their familial relationship isn't fetishized - rather Madeline sees them as two halves of one whole, and it's the most natural thing in the world for them to come together. Maybe if someone in the extended family modeled a healthy relationship, or tried to speak to the kids frankly and without judgment, things would have turned out differently, but as-is, the romance was the least-problematic for me.
While published as a YA novel, the only resemblance this has to most YA is the ages of the protagonists - but in some ways I never felt like I was reading about teenagers because Madeline is telling this story as a middle aged adult. I had only a tenuous connection with her during the high school phase, but I totally lost it once she skipped ahead to briefly show her life as an adult, and how her and Rogan's decisions from back in their high school days had panned out as adults.
The romance between Madeline and Rogan is heady and impulsive - and yes, they are cousins, but really, we're still grossed out by that these days? Their familial relationship isn't fetishized - rather Madeline sees them as two halves of one whole, and it's the most natural thing in the world for them to come together. Maybe if someone in the extended family modeled a healthy relationship, or tried to speak to the kids frankly and without judgment, things would have turned out differently, but as-is, the romance was the least-problematic for me.
July 7, 2010
I'm not sure if I read somewhere that this is supposed to be Hand's first YA novel. I find it hard to figure out exactly what YA means anymore, but that's not particularly important.
This was, to me, a bit like some of her other novels. I ended up thinking, mostly, of Waking the Moon and Black Light, also some short story with a name that's escaping me at the moment. As I like both of those novels (oh, even perhaps a bit of Mortal Love, hmm), this wasn't bothersome to me. Hand often takes us through various arts (like Generation Loss with such a focus on photography and Waking the Moon which dealt with music, and Mortal Love so much fine art), so it was interesting to have theatre explored.
Really, as it's so short, I wish it would've been a bit longer. I still have questions that didn't get the answers I wanted. Or, at least not the detail to it. Perhaps because I'm so used to her more intricate pieces, even her short stories. I'm not sure. But, it was a nice, light read.
This was, to me, a bit like some of her other novels. I ended up thinking, mostly, of Waking the Moon and Black Light, also some short story with a name that's escaping me at the moment. As I like both of those novels (oh, even perhaps a bit of Mortal Love, hmm), this wasn't bothersome to me. Hand often takes us through various arts (like Generation Loss with such a focus on photography and Waking the Moon which dealt with music, and Mortal Love so much fine art), so it was interesting to have theatre explored.
Really, as it's so short, I wish it would've been a bit longer. I still have questions that didn't get the answers I wanted. Or, at least not the detail to it. Perhaps because I'm so used to her more intricate pieces, even her short stories. I'm not sure. But, it was a nice, light read.
June 16, 2010
I picked this up because of a recent review I read which got me on the Twelfth Night riff and the love story. The review described it as YA fiction and my library catalogued it as such. While the characters spend much of the story as 14-year-olds, they end in their 40s and to me it read much more like a recollection and understanding of time past -- more like adult fiction than teen. The mischaracterization affected my attitude toward the book. And then the characters themselves did it for me. What began as a sort of fairy tale turned into a dark story of regret? (I question because I don't know and can't feign caring.) What do I know? I didn't find any characters to like or attach to and while I love the play Twelfth Night, I found the misappropriation of the twins story to be misleading.
June 29, 2010
I agree with those reviewers who say that this didn't "feel" like a teen book; though the characters are teens to begin with (ok, and for much of this short book), it's actually being told at least 20-25 years afterward by an adult. I was getting into the whole "kissing cousins" thing, (though it was rather more graphic than I'd expected!! They clearly weren't just kissing, folks...) but the ending...well, lack of an ending...completely threw me. OK, maybe in real life, things work like that, and often in life, there isn't some clearly wrapped, dramatic end. But this is a BOOK, people. If I'd wanted real life, why am I reading a fiction book?
April 6, 2011
I really loved this. A friend of mine spoke so highly of this one that when it crossed my desk at work I had to grab it. I ended up loving it as much as she did, but we both agreed that we didn't really know what to say about it afterward. It's a quick read, but beautifully written. There's forbidden romance, grand old houses in 1970s Yonkers, Shakespeare, a secret attic, a mysterious Aunt and a bit of magic realism.
March 10, 2011
I started reading this book today because I was bored and I needed something to distract myself and got so caught up that I finished it couple hours ago.
Book is amazing. I like that author used one of my favorite Shakespeare´s plays - Twelfth Night - as light-motive. Love story is definitely something else - just a bit controversial because it emplies romantic and sexual relationship between cousins.
I recommend Illyria to those who want to read something different.
Book is amazing. I like that author used one of my favorite Shakespeare´s plays - Twelfth Night - as light-motive. Love story is definitely something else - just a bit controversial because it emplies romantic and sexual relationship between cousins.
I recommend Illyria to those who want to read something different.
September 9, 2016
A surfeit of lovely prose and deftly sketched characters. The main themes--the ways family shapes or destroys people, the nature of talent--is woven subtly throughout the piece. Those working in the arts will particularly enjoy Hand's thoughts on what it means to be talented, to cultivate talent, and how our lives can destroy talent. The romance here is as symbolic as the toy theater the lovers discover in the attic.
August 21, 2017
This was wonderful. The romance - a central feature of the plot - was admittedly a little uncomfortable, but the characters themselves admit to such, and the complexity of the central relationship ties directly to much of the plot, becoming an important feature of the story itself. Including but moving beyond the romance, this beautiful short novel that weaves together art, family, legacy, love, and magic.
Grounded in the real world, the story feels one step removed from reality - recognizable and fantastic all at once. Hand finds the inexplicable wonder that exists in art and life, while also embracing the interruptions of gritty reality into that magic. As the characters struggles with dreams, family legacy, dividing paths, and discovery of the fantastic, the story looks at the meeting of self-doubt, art, and fantasy - and how we can use or forsake the magic we are gifted with.
Hand has crafted a beautiful and engrossing novel that resonates on a fantastic - and simultaneously deeply intimate - note through its final pages. Blurring boundaries of genre and reality, Hand's lyrical, descriptive voice lends itself powerfully to this well-crafted story.
Grounded in the real world, the story feels one step removed from reality - recognizable and fantastic all at once. Hand finds the inexplicable wonder that exists in art and life, while also embracing the interruptions of gritty reality into that magic. As the characters struggles with dreams, family legacy, dividing paths, and discovery of the fantastic, the story looks at the meeting of self-doubt, art, and fantasy - and how we can use or forsake the magic we are gifted with.
Hand has crafted a beautiful and engrossing novel that resonates on a fantastic - and simultaneously deeply intimate - note through its final pages. Blurring boundaries of genre and reality, Hand's lyrical, descriptive voice lends itself powerfully to this well-crafted story.
February 21, 2024
If I'm being honest, I picked this book up because I was completely in shock when I read that the main character was a 14-year-old girl who was having an incestual relationship with her cousin/half-sibling. There was no plot. I don't know what the point of the story was but I'm sure some high school English teacher could dredge up a meaning from all the symbolism.
And to all of the people calling this book "magical" and "enchanting", you are gross.
And to all of the people calling this book "magical" and "enchanting", you are gross.
December 29, 2010
I just read another Hand book earlier this month called Generation Loss. I was intrigued to read Hand's take at a young adult novel. This book is nothing like Generation Loss (which was an adult thriller, but the writing style does have many similarities). Like with all of her books Hand weaves a beautiful and dark atmosphere and creates magic that is subtle and mesmorizing.
Maddy and Rogan are cousins born on the same day. They see themselves as twins, soulmates, and maybe, eventually, lovers. They struggle against their families' teasing and with how they are teased by those around them. Then one day in a secret room in an attic they find a miniature magical stage. The stage makes them want to create and Maddy and Rogan try out for the school play. Maddy with her determination and Rogan with his magical presence and angelic voice will definitely turn the heads of their audience. But, their passion and beauty make those around them uncomfortable and perhaps this star-crossed couple was never meant to be.
I love Hand's writing style. She makes the surroundings come alive, doesn't spell everything out for you, and fills her story with dark atmospheric magic. In many ways this book is similar to her others in that it does those same things. This book is more about magical realism than straight up magic. The story and magic are a bit ambiguous, but more beautiful because they let the reader make what they will out of some of the scenes.
All of the characters presented are delightfully complicated. Maddy with her devotion to Rogan, the way she works so hard, yet excels only at being a little better than the norm. Rogan with his wildness and feyness; the way he cares so much but hides behind a veneer of casualness. Even Aunt Kate, who wants Maddy and Rogan to become something exceptional, has many layers of secrets and mysteries to her character. This is a love story of star-crossed couple, but as is always the case with Hand's book, it talks about so much more.
The cover is very apt, in that most of the book seems shrouded in a bit of mysterious fog. As I mentioned the story is a bit vauge at points. Given what a slender read this is though, Hand sure packed a lot of story in here. We are subject to Maddy and Rogan's past, the events of their teenage years, the school play, and then finally the results of their lives.
It was a beautiful and bittersweet story. I would recommend for an older young adult audience. It touches a lot on sexuality, incest (they are cousins after all), there is some swearing, and there is a lot of casual drug use.
Overall I loved this story. It is beautifully and intelligently written. The reader is whisked off to a place with a magical atmosphere with darkly magical characters. I found it to be very engaging and just...well...darkly beautiful.
Maddy and Rogan are cousins born on the same day. They see themselves as twins, soulmates, and maybe, eventually, lovers. They struggle against their families' teasing and with how they are teased by those around them. Then one day in a secret room in an attic they find a miniature magical stage. The stage makes them want to create and Maddy and Rogan try out for the school play. Maddy with her determination and Rogan with his magical presence and angelic voice will definitely turn the heads of their audience. But, their passion and beauty make those around them uncomfortable and perhaps this star-crossed couple was never meant to be.
I love Hand's writing style. She makes the surroundings come alive, doesn't spell everything out for you, and fills her story with dark atmospheric magic. In many ways this book is similar to her others in that it does those same things. This book is more about magical realism than straight up magic. The story and magic are a bit ambiguous, but more beautiful because they let the reader make what they will out of some of the scenes.
All of the characters presented are delightfully complicated. Maddy with her devotion to Rogan, the way she works so hard, yet excels only at being a little better than the norm. Rogan with his wildness and feyness; the way he cares so much but hides behind a veneer of casualness. Even Aunt Kate, who wants Maddy and Rogan to become something exceptional, has many layers of secrets and mysteries to her character. This is a love story of star-crossed couple, but as is always the case with Hand's book, it talks about so much more.
The cover is very apt, in that most of the book seems shrouded in a bit of mysterious fog. As I mentioned the story is a bit vauge at points. Given what a slender read this is though, Hand sure packed a lot of story in here. We are subject to Maddy and Rogan's past, the events of their teenage years, the school play, and then finally the results of their lives.
It was a beautiful and bittersweet story. I would recommend for an older young adult audience. It touches a lot on sexuality, incest (they are cousins after all), there is some swearing, and there is a lot of casual drug use.
Overall I loved this story. It is beautifully and intelligently written. The reader is whisked off to a place with a magical atmosphere with darkly magical characters. I found it to be very engaging and just...well...darkly beautiful.
October 13, 2013
I have two issues with this very short book:
I read this because the inside flap said it won the World Fantasy Convention Best Novella award in 2008. Well, I have a huge bone to pick with those World Fantasy folks, because this is NOT a fantasy by any proper definition. There IS a magical element in the story -- a toy theater in the attic where the kids hide to Do It (and they Do It alot) which appears to put on its own shows, complete with little stage lights and the occasional real snow shower -- but the magic theater affects absolutely nothing in the story. Maddy and Rogan mostly view it as a convenience since it provides light for their trysts. But do they ever show any curiosity about it, ask any relatives about the history of the house, or try to figure out who made the model or why it exists and is so incredible? Heck no; that would distract them from having sex. If the little theater were completely removed from the book, it would make no difference at all. I had the feeling that someone told the author that if she inserted a magical device, she could enter the book in fantasy contests -- and annoyingly, she did so and fooled people who should have known better.
My second issue is that this isn't really a YA book at all. Sure, the two lead characters are 15, but the entire story is told from the looking-back viewpoint of an adult nearing 50, and it has a definite grown-up feel to it. The last quarter of the book fast-forwards through 30 years of life and closes with Maddy and Rogan meeting up when they're 45 or 46 years old, and I can't see myself as having really cared much about that when I was a teenager, especially as the story by that point has become one of loss, with only a hint of optimism at the very end. In addition, while the sex isn't particularly detailed, it manages to be a bit steamy, and there's quite a lot of smoking of tobacco and hashish throughout the story, all described in a matter-of-fact manner that again seemed more appropriate for an adult audience.
That said, if I had come across this as a story in an adult literary magazine or short story collection, I would have really admired it -- the writing is emotional and poignant, so that the feel of the tale has stuck with me quite strongly and hauntingly over the past two weeks since I read it. I would very happily recommend this to adults and older teens as a realistic tale of how life can sweep you away from the things you cared about most, and turn out completely differently from anything you expected. But I cannot recommend it as (a) a fantasy or (b) a YA novella. So, I recommend it -- but with the reservation that the marketing of this book is just not quite right.
I read this because the inside flap said it won the World Fantasy Convention Best Novella award in 2008. Well, I have a huge bone to pick with those World Fantasy folks, because this is NOT a fantasy by any proper definition. There IS a magical element in the story -- a toy theater in the attic where the kids hide to Do It (and they Do It alot) which appears to put on its own shows, complete with little stage lights and the occasional real snow shower -- but the magic theater affects absolutely nothing in the story. Maddy and Rogan mostly view it as a convenience since it provides light for their trysts. But do they ever show any curiosity about it, ask any relatives about the history of the house, or try to figure out who made the model or why it exists and is so incredible? Heck no; that would distract them from having sex. If the little theater were completely removed from the book, it would make no difference at all. I had the feeling that someone told the author that if she inserted a magical device, she could enter the book in fantasy contests -- and annoyingly, she did so and fooled people who should have known better.
My second issue is that this isn't really a YA book at all. Sure, the two lead characters are 15, but the entire story is told from the looking-back viewpoint of an adult nearing 50, and it has a definite grown-up feel to it. The last quarter of the book fast-forwards through 30 years of life and closes with Maddy and Rogan meeting up when they're 45 or 46 years old, and I can't see myself as having really cared much about that when I was a teenager, especially as the story by that point has become one of loss, with only a hint of optimism at the very end. In addition, while the sex isn't particularly detailed, it manages to be a bit steamy, and there's quite a lot of smoking of tobacco and hashish throughout the story, all described in a matter-of-fact manner that again seemed more appropriate for an adult audience.
That said, if I had come across this as a story in an adult literary magazine or short story collection, I would have really admired it -- the writing is emotional and poignant, so that the feel of the tale has stuck with me quite strongly and hauntingly over the past two weeks since I read it. I would very happily recommend this to adults and older teens as a realistic tale of how life can sweep you away from the things you cared about most, and turn out completely differently from anything you expected. But I cannot recommend it as (a) a fantasy or (b) a YA novella. So, I recommend it -- but with the reservation that the marketing of this book is just not quite right.
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