Don't Drink the Lake Water

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The initial confusion engendered by the first few chapters slowly dissolves as questions are asked and secret truths are revealed. Islanders and outsiders share a mutual distrust for each other. You have to wonder if this paranoia is deliberately fed by the humans or whether something more sinister is occurring.

The starcrossed lovers Leelo and Jaren are puzzled by many things as well. Why does Jaren not succumb to the siren song the islanders sing, the one that lures outsiders to their deaths? How did the ancestors of the islanders reach the island of Endla if the corrosive waters of the lake destroy all boats except those treated with a special sap? Why must the incantu—islanders born without the power of song—be exiled? Why does the Wandering Forest not…wander?

The author winds a slowly coiling spell around the reader, a sinuous and deadly enchantment that grips tightly and doesn’t let go. As awful secrets are revealed, we have to wonder which will win out—knowledge or superstition? Love or hatred? We understand that the islanders have a kind of rough comfort on the island, without war, disease and little internal strife. But we cringe inwardly at the cost of such protection. Like an arboreal mob boss, the Wandering Forest demands blood sacrifices and is never satisfied.

This novel may seem tough to hack through, at first. But its insidious magic does grow on you.