Imaginative and Entertaining Historical Fantasy
As I was progressing through this nicely written historical fantasy, I kept thinking that the story would have been more suspenseful had the protagonists been of the author’s making, and not the real-life Mozart brother and sister. After all, the reader knows how things ended for both Woferl and Nannerl.* Eventually, however, I came to appreciate Lu’s vision, and relaxed into a good tale.
The Kingdom of Back is essentially two books in one. Each has a plot, its own set of antagonists, and its own setting with specific and different laws governing it. How the two twine together, and how our heroine manages the stress and strain that each lays on her, is what drives the story. But it has its beginnings in Nannerl’s wish to never be forgotten – a wish that for a pre-adolescent girl seems too precocious. Nevertheless, Lu convinces us in due time that the young lady, like her brother's musical ability, is older than her years. Several other characters’ motives are equally convincing, especially the children’s overbearing father, whose desperation to supplement his meager income and improve his lifestyle comes at the expense of his family’s happiness.
The most intriguing, and dangerous, character is Hyacinth, the enigmatic man (Is he a man?) from Back who takes a stalker-like interest in Nannerl. His purpose in aiding her and his true identity are hidden, and revealed only by degrees each time Nannerl satisfies his demands. In like manner, the veil shading the mysterious kingdom itself is lifted inch by inch with every trip the reader makes into it. All of which builds the suspense that I was afraid would be insufficient to hold the reader’s attention. Happily, I was wrong!
* I was twice surprised while reading the Author’s Note. When, as a teen, I first learned about Mozart, I read of his tours with his talented sister. But Lu says that despite her intense interest in his life, and the many “movies, articles, and books” she absorbed, it was a long while before she knew Wolfgang had a sister. What I accepted as being common knowledge must not have been. The other surprise was that, according to Lu, the kingdom of Back was in actuality imagined by the siblings, and was not a creation of the author’s.
The Kingdom of Back is essentially two books in one. Each has a plot, its own set of antagonists, and its own setting with specific and different laws governing it. How the two twine together, and how our heroine manages the stress and strain that each lays on her, is what drives the story. But it has its beginnings in Nannerl’s wish to never be forgotten – a wish that for a pre-adolescent girl seems too precocious. Nevertheless, Lu convinces us in due time that the young lady, like her brother's musical ability, is older than her years. Several other characters’ motives are equally convincing, especially the children’s overbearing father, whose desperation to supplement his meager income and improve his lifestyle comes at the expense of his family’s happiness.
The most intriguing, and dangerous, character is Hyacinth, the enigmatic man (Is he a man?) from Back who takes a stalker-like interest in Nannerl. His purpose in aiding her and his true identity are hidden, and revealed only by degrees each time Nannerl satisfies his demands. In like manner, the veil shading the mysterious kingdom itself is lifted inch by inch with every trip the reader makes into it. All of which builds the suspense that I was afraid would be insufficient to hold the reader’s attention. Happily, I was wrong!
* I was twice surprised while reading the Author’s Note. When, as a teen, I first learned about Mozart, I read of his tours with his talented sister. But Lu says that despite her intense interest in his life, and the many “movies, articles, and books” she absorbed, it was a long while before she knew Wolfgang had a sister. What I accepted as being common knowledge must not have been. The other surprise was that, according to Lu, the kingdom of Back was in actuality imagined by the siblings, and was not a creation of the author’s.