Reviewed by Hannah Mauck
Verve can trust no one—not when anyone she holds near and dear could easily be a cunning Fae masquerading behind a familiar smile to whisk her away to the land of the Faerie. Not when she is the sole witness to her father’s dead body yet declared insane when the scene of the murder is searched and found spotless and body-free. And surely not when it appears the Fae can lay a hand on Verve’s life as easily as they can touch the trunk of a tree.
Beth Overmyer’s Brittle is the first in a fantasy duology set in a world steeped in rich magic with historical Regency undertones. The interweaving of these characteristics creates an alluring setting that highlights Verve’s inner turmoil as she grapples with the existence of both magic and magical creatures and their intrusion into her life. Overmyer’s writing is strong and evocative, as is to be expected by an established author like herself; her short fiction can be found in various literary magazines and anthologies, while her novel-length works consists of Brittle’s duology—Blade and Bone—and a fantasy trilogy The Goblets Immortal. The novel Brittle promises to deliver tastes of romance, prophecy, action, and familial bonds that burst with a tender realness and question the lengths we are willing to go for love.
From the beginning of the story, Verve makes it clear where her priorities lie: her family’s safety. She takes care of her siblings and mother, providing for them and assuming the role of head of the house in the absence of her father. But it is her father’s surprise reappearance followed by his sudden—yet suspicious and seemingly nonexistent—death that spurs the plot. Verve is forced to question everything she has been taught to believe about her world—including the idea that her world is the only one out there—and she finds herself deeply intertwined with the Fae when mysterious strangers whisk her away to Letorheas, the Land of the Fae. What they desire is information she shouldn’t share lest she doom all of mankind, information about the prophesied and powerful Cunning Blade. But when her family is threatened, she must choose whose doom she is willing to risk. The delicate balance between the Fae and human world is something Verve will grapple with until the thrilling conclusion.
Like most fantasy novels on the market today, Brittle follows a once-naïve protagonist as she discovers a land beyond her own and unmasks the tangled web of connections between herself and the Fae. Overmyer adds depth, however, to this popular fantasy archetype by focusing on Verve’s tender care for her family and how her strong desire to protect them both helps and hinders her as she navigates Letorheas. It’s this love for her family that makes every decision complicated, especially when the choices she makes could simultaneously save one person and jeopardize another. If she follows the requests of her father in his last letter to her, it could endanger her mother and sisters. But if she chooses to flee home to protect her mother and sisters, she could bring the Fae right to their doorstep. So, maybe the best choice is to stay in Letorheas and accept the whims of the Fae, even if it makes her miserable. Every decision is layered with tension, adding complexity to Verve’s character and making her an intriguing voice through which to tell the story.
Another key concept in Brittle is trust. Overmyer tactfully addresses this nuanced idea by adding magic to the equation, giving her characters the additional challenge of determining each other’s true intentions when a flick of the finger could easily cast a memory spell or change one’s appearance. In this way, deception takes on a physical manifestation. Verve cannot trust the inward or outward appearances of those she encounters, which emphasizes the need for Verve to trust herself and her ability to decern the real from the illusionary. It is through this that Overmyer highlights the strength in knowing oneself and choosing to look inward when everything—and everyone—one sees is fickle.
Captivating in setting and unexpected in plot, this book is ideal for those seeking an action-packed story that is as tense as it is magical. The storyline is compelling and the characters are realistically flawed, making it easy to lose track of time amongst the pages of this book. Verve herself is such a complex protagonist that you can’t help but sit back and watch how everything unfolds around her. But through it all, Overmyer artfully addresses the ideas of love and trust and how they intertwine to create the rope we use to climb through life.