By Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Reviewed by Jubilee Anderson
GENRE: Fantasy fairytale
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Black Dogs are on the hunt, but who is their prey?
When a cursed dragon-witch kidnaps fairest Lady Gleamdren, the bard Eanrin sets boldly forth on a rescue mission…and a race against his rival for Gleamdren’s favor. Intent upon his quest, the last thing the immortal Faerie needs is to become mixed up with the troubles of an insignificant mortal.
But when he stumbles upon a maiden trapped in an enchanted sleep, he cannot leave her alone in the dangerous Wood Between. One waking kiss later, Eanrin suddenly finds his story entangled with that of young Starflower. A strange link exists between this mortal girl and the dragon-witch. Will Starflower prove the key to Lady Gleamdren’s rescue? Or will the dark power from which she flees destroy both her and her rescuer?
Writing
I have never read a book quite like Starflower! I came across Starflower while looking up books to read in the fantasy genre. Usually, I don’t try out new authors unless recommended to me by a friend, but I decided to give Stengl a chance.
So many things about this story blew me away! At the root of them all was the ablilty to tell a good fairytale, down to the last sentence. The prose was smooth as the petals of a starflower (See what I did there?). There are few authors whose styles imbue their entire work, and Stengl is one of them.
Of course, we can’t go any further without discussing the most important part of a fairytale: the fairy.
On Faeren…
It’s as though the fairies in this story were born from a drop of fresh dew off a leaf. It’s not the cliched Lord of the Rings prototype with wings. They’re a mix between fairies and elves, and yet they have a special ability, which I’m afraid I cannot describe in detail. This…special ability makes the story quite exciting. Stengl thought a lot about her race of faeren before writing this book, and it paid off!
On Balance…
Stengl balanced light and dark in a way that kept that fairytale-feel to the story while at the same time dealt with heavier issues. For a fairytale, some snippets in this book are a little darker. She has scenes of oppression and mentions of child sacrifice, but she balanced it out with her unique characters and fairytale style. Eanrin’s personality especially kept the story lighthearted. Which brings me to my next section:
On Characters…
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen characters more distinctive. (The only one who may come close is middle grade author Millie Florence with her book Honey Butter) Lady Gleamdren is quite witty and flirtatious. Eanrin is sly and flatterous. Glomar is grumpy. They’re all so fairy-like, yet so different.
We’ve discussed the fairytale style of Stengl which fills her whole work. Now let’s move on to the theme, because Stengl does some fascinating things that I think are worth noting.
Worldview
This is a Christian book, and it reflects a Christian worldview. Indeed, it is somewhat of an allegory. The main theme of the book is love. As I did with my review on Eragon, I’m going to share a couple of really good quotes from the book that I felt like pulled out the theme. But first, I’d like to mention how the character and the theme were so well connected.
You Must Have Love
Stengl explored all sides to the theme you must have Love, or you are no better than your enemy.
At the beginning of the story, Eanrin loves himself. He says, “But my heart must always dictate my tongue and my heart said–.” Of course, this is a funny and in-character line for Eanrin, but it reveals what he truly cares about. Similarly, Lady Gleamdren also seems to love herself.
According to the queen, Glomar “does not love at all,” and Starflower loves her sister. And lastly, the Hri Sora and the Beast are representations of hate.
I found it interesting how Stengl used these components to change Eanrin and Starflower’s perspectives throughout the story. Eanrin goes from trusting his own heart for his words and actions to trusting God (The One Who Names Them). Starflower, trying in her own power to protect her sister, learns to trust The One Who Names Them’s plans for her.
At the end of the story, we see the contrast between Eanrin, who has changed to love The One Who Names Them, and Lady Gleamdren, who continues to only love herself. We also see contrast between Starflower and Hri Sora, who both had similar childhood circumstances, but one moved toward love and the other, hate.
I believe the first quote I chose from the book describes the theme in a single sentence:
Love Your Enemies
“Without love, you are no better than the Beast itself.”
After reading the whole story and seeing how evil the Beast was, this one really got me. I was reminded of a verse in 1 Corinthians 13:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but have not love I am nothing.”
Another passage that Jesus spoke in Matthew 5 also came to mind:
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”
This brings up my second quote and my second point:
Only True Love
“Only one who truly loves will at last break through [Hri Sora’s] defenses and bring my cousin safely home.”
Since this is a study of theme, I will have to label this section as
SPOILER ALERT!!!
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You see, something else I appreciated is that Stengl didn’t stick with a worldy defenition of love. Not even a little bit. While there was romance in this book, she made it very clear by the middle of the story that “true love solves all your problems” was not going to be the message of her book.
The quote above is something that the queen of the faeries says when Eanrin and his rival Glomar (see the blurb at the top of this review) set out to rescue Lady Gleamdren. Ironically, neither man is able to rescue her, because neither man “truly loves.” Eanrin loves himself, and Glomar doesn’t love at all.
It is Starflower who rescues Lady Gleamdren, because she has true love. Not a fluttery feeling. Not an inner lust. She sees past Gleamdren’s selfishness and Hri Sora’s hate to the fact the The One Who Names Them did indeed name them. Both were created by Him, and that in itself is reason to love.
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SPOILERS OVER! WELCOME BACK, EVERYONE!
To sum it all up, Stengl handled the theme of love in a Biblical way and did not for an instant compromise or mix it with the threads of romance. She did both romance and theme very well.
To Watch For
- Sexual Content: Eanrin kisses a princess to wake her from an enchanted sleep, though not, it seems, for romantic purposes.
- Violence: Child sacrifice is attempted and mentioned in several scenes. The scenes with Starflower in her hometown are a little dark as Starflower is under a lot of oppression.
- Emotional/Verbal Abuse: One villain in the story has an abusive father. Starflower is emotionally and verbally abused by one of the villains as he continues to threaten her to give up her sister to him.
To sum it up, if you’re looking for a fairytale with threads of romance and fabric of Biblical love, please look into Starflower!
PAPERBACK PRICE: $10
DATE PUBLISHED: 2012