SYLVALIGHT By Taylen Carver

When I was young, my family moved fairly often. The most obvious effect on me and my siblings was that we changed schools a lot, at least compared to most people I’ve known. I attended elementary schools in a Utah coal camp and a small Wyoming town, junior high schools in two different small cities in New Mexico, and my last three years of high school were in a village in rural northern New York State. The worst way to make this change, as you might have guessed, is in the middle of the school year. Second worst? Arriving in town the night before school starts. I speak from personal experience. When you are the new kid, you are always “other” and “lesser,” and there is plenty you don’t know about where you just landed. By high school, it’s a minefield.

That’s a long way around the block to say that I easily identified with Perrin, the main character in Sylvalight. She feels awkward, is unsure what to say or not say, doesn’t feel as if she fits in, and is decidedly a fish out of water. Or, more to the point, an angel who can’t fly. In company with Perrin, the reader learns a good deal about this post-Magorian & Jones world, and the details of this world are fascinating. I am consistently in awe at the worldbuilding genius of this writer. The careful attention to detail and deep thought that have been invested in the continuing development of this world kept me immersed in the story and fully engaged in Perrin’s experiences. It is an exceptional story on many different levels. I have read this book three times (so far), and with each reading I have discovered something new. It is a gift from a truly masterful storyteller.