Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Published: 2016
Reviewer Rating: 
Book Review by SJ Higbee
Have you read this book?
(1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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I saw this offering on Netgalley and was attracted by the intriguing title and blurb–although I hadn’t appreciated it was a novella when I requested it.
Stisele of Imlen knows she’s in trouble, but not how much. The young adopted daughter of Beltresa’s sovereign longs to be a weapon in her mother’s service–even against her birth family, should Utroneth ask it. If only Stisele could master the temper that drives her to pepper the royal heir with petty kin-curses. But Stisele’s dreams are bigger than the balance of intrigues that keeps her alive and captive in this perilous royal court. She can be more than a speaker of kin-curses. She deserves a life beyond the palace islet she’s never left. Her two imaginary friends, if indeed that’s what they are, tell her so.
If Stisele is to make her own life in a world that’s not ready for her, she must regain the trust of wary allies. She must begin to control the power of the kin-curse–her imaginary friends are as much hindrance as help. And she will have to give up her place in the only home she’s ever known.
Stisele is a hot-tempered, impetuous child who comes across as just that, which is very refreshing. It is very difficult to write convincingly as a child without appearing to be just that bit too wise and self-aware — and Stisele isn’t either. She is also in a very difficult place and I enjoyed the fact that we appreciated her precariousness well before she did. Her two imaginary friends also produce a nice plot twist near the end of this story.
The cast of characters — from her spoiled step-sister who is to be the future ruler, to her loving and very concerned step-mother — all jump off the page, giving us an opportunity to view them both through Stisele’s eyes and gauge our own opinions about them. This is far harder to accomplish than Avery makes it look and for me, this was a large part of the joy of this novella, also providing some welcome shafts of humor, even while I was wincing.
Overall, this novella is a delight. But the moment I completed it, I went looking for more from this talented writer and found nothing else, which was quite frustrating as this clearly reads as an opening salvo to a longer adventure in a politically complicated, well depicted world with clear magical rules. I hope that Avery has plans to release a full-length novel in this world soon — I for one, will be only too pleased to scoop it up and become engrossed once more in Stisele’s adventures.
My copy of The Imlen Brat was provided by the publisher via Netgalley, which has not affected my unbiased review of the novella in any way.
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