Review
“Now you're just being stupid. You're not a Bloodkin killer and you never will be.” - Solace On the day that she turns 17 Solace Morgan walks out of the orphan home she has been in since she was born and bravely ventures forth into a new world. Solace is convinced she is a vampire and no longer has any ties to her old life. She lucks out at the Downstairs Club meeting a group of like minded young people who are apparently only after a good time. Taking up residence in a warehouse squat, Solace begins to bond with her new friends who have some peculiar qualities about them. Think creature of faerie and you are on the right track. Things begin to get a whole lot darker when Solace and her new friends take part in a University survey and learn there is a darker side to their unique gifts. Solace starts finding out who her parents really were, becomes involved a war that has been raging below the surface of Sydney that is starting to bleed into the open, and is forced to question who she can and cannot trust. First up I am not the target demographic for this novel, which I would imagine would be teen girls with a bit more reading savvy than your typical Twitard. So if this review doesn't match your expected teen gushing then suck it up, on the review pile so I gave it a spin, and actually quite enjoyed it. Damn Foz Meadows and her enticing writing style! Like most novels that involve someone coming into their powers Solace & Grief starts off on the back burner and meanders somewhat before getting to the meat of the narrative. Though typically this is a more apt approach for fantasy than the dark genre. We are introduced to a bunch of characters and their quirks who disappear from the plot by the end of the first block of the book making you wonder why they were given the fleshing out they received. New Novelists and novice Film Makers for that matter, tend to make this mistake leading to Audience confusion as to what part minor incidental characters might play further in the narrative. Early days for Foz Meadows however so no issue but be aware that anyone introduced prior to Solace leaving her childhood home are of no consequence to the rest of the novel. What Meadows does extremely well is introduce the background and mythology of Solace's alternative reality without taking the reader out of the narrative flow, it's a remarkably solid effort from a new Writer. We learn, via a couple of vigilantes that Solace was born of parents who sought to keep her identity secret form unnamed dangers. Later via a journal Solace's mother had written, and by the wonderful addition of a ‘tripwalk’, a sort of prophetic trance, the details are fleshing out and we learn that Solace, her “rare” friends, and humanity, are in danger from the Bloodkin and their “roos loose in the top paddock” Queen, (for want of a better title). The Author manages to drag you kicking and screaming into her alternative reality without the danger of losing any Readers along the way, extremely well written and entertaining come to mind. I suppose a few people will be left somewhat confused by the large cast of characters introduced in the book, and to be honest a few should have been held back for the sequel to avoid that confusion. We have Electra, who sort of finds lost things, Manx who can turn into a large house cat the size of a panther, Glide who walks the path of dreams, Harper who can summon fire, and a whole bunch more. And that's just the guys in the white hats, there's also a number of villains, and a few characters who may be either good or evil depending on where Foz Meadow takes her saga in future volumes. I guess this is going to be a hard slog for Readers who prefer a handful of characters in their reading materials, but stick with it friends and neighbours. Sure I confused a couple of characters during the book but managed to sort them all out by book's end. Take it slow and easy to get full value for time spent in country would be the advice here. The novel is set firmly in a Sydney, Australia setting. You know the place with the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and stuff. About the only fictional additional to the cityscape that I can remember is a dungeon situated under Hyde Park. For foreign readers no this definitely doesn't exist, well unless the Government isn't telling us something. Pretty much the rest of the book unfolds around the actual City. Apart from the mythological elements of her novel Meadows doesn't spend much time in developing the alternative worlds that we are expecting to inhabit the final third of the novel. While this may be due to not a lot of time being spent outside the normal surrounds, it's definitely one aspect of the sequel we would expect a lot more work to be involved in creating. On the bright side we do get a cat with a fondness for Swans, insert your own Geelong v Sydney joke right here. Yes I know that last part is Aussie-centric, so shot me. Foz Meadows does do enough in Solace & Grief to have the reader looking forward to the sequel, and if you haven't read the first novel yet then I wouldn't muck around about doing so. Sure it's a Young Adult book, and that demographic will be the primary readership, but if you dig things like Underworld then get yourself between the covers here. Well recommend to younger readers and the young at heart, Fox Meadows looks like she might have just started the latest classic trilogy with this novel. The Author maintains a blog right here to keep everyone informed of news and releases, so Meadows fans should bookmark that site. The book is listed as $19.95, good value there considering the ludicrous amount of money books cost in this Country, and further details can be viewed on the Ford Street Publishing website. Seems Ford Street publish a bunch of Young Adult titles, check out the catalogue while on site.
ScaryMinds Rates this read as ... Solid Young Adult novel mixing the dark genre with fantasy.
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Disclaimer: Please note this review reflects the opinion of the team at ScaryMinds and should in no way be construed as
representing the views of the AHWA Shadows Award Judges. This review is for the edification of ScaryMinds readers and does not constitute a
“literary criticism” or any other criteria the Shadows Judging panel may take this year.