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Hearth
Ivy goes home over the summer, back to Hearth, and the memory of her dead mother. Hearth is a claustrophobic English village that no one leaves, yet the houses stand empty. It’s here she starts dreaming. Dreaming of Beltane, a land dominated by strange forests, where the people have titles instead of names, and wear the familiar faces of her friends and family. Beltane offers Ivy an escape, a role, a title: the Dreamer.
As she becomes more and more entangled in this decaying world of tyrant queens and lost creatures, her family on the other side start unravelling mysteries of their own in an attempt to get her back. With the clock ticking down and the forest creeping in, Ivy has to fight to remember one very important thing: her own identity.
As she becomes more and more entangled in this decaying world of tyrant queens and lost creatures, her family on the other side start unravelling mysteries of their own in an attempt to get her back. With the clock ticking down and the forest creeping in, Ivy has to fight to remember one very important thing: her own identity.
433 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 4, 2015
1 person is currently reading
55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 19, 2015
Brief disclaimer: I do know White from Tumblr, and I'd call us friends - but that's no influence on my reaction to this book. In fact, I initially found them via another novel-length writing project, so we wouldn't be friends at all if they couldn't write like hell.
This doesn't read like a self-published novel, or a debut novel, and especially not a self-published debut novel. That may be because White has already done a massive amount of writing - starting with 45000 words of Paris Burning and building into an entire fictional universe with a significant following. That they've got a lot under their belt is beyond a doubt.
But honestly? Having read Paris Burning, having read everything in the Cityverse, I was still not prepared for Hearth.
This is a book with depth to it, layers upon layers of worldbuilding and machinations and tiny, intriguing hints. The world(s) within it at first seem comprehensible - there's the real world and the dream world of Beltane - but nothing quite fits perfectly within that binary. The real world is strained by hints of a recent war - borders are closed, cities possibly destroyed, nationalist lines drawn. Beltane, too, is more than simply a quest location or a metaphor for Ivy's grief: it exists in its own ancient cycle, and there are clearly schemes afoot that few people understand. Layers upon layers: laid down like sediment, they give the story a sense of scope and age that make it powerfully compelling.
While I'm on the subject of settings, the atmosphere was simply unbelievable. The town of Hearth has about it an air of creeping horror and unreality. It's amazing how effective this indirect approach to building fear becomes, particularly as more information is revealed and less is understood. It didn't take me long to want all of the characters out, for their own safety, but at the same time I longed for more information...
It's deeply disconcerting to have a story like this get under your skin: it's literally a tale about losing oneself in a fantastical realm, and I found my mind drifting back to it much like Ivy's drifts back to Beltane. I'm reasonably sure there were no supernatural factors involved on my end, but in that case it's a pure testament to the strength of the narrative and the writing.
Ivy Fairholm, the lead character, is a knotted ball of memory and insecurity and grief. She begins struggling to deal with her mother's death and its mundane aftermath, but as Beltane becomes a part of her life she seems to lose her grasp on her identity, slipping further and further away from her ordinary life. As the Dreamer, she's at times naive and unsure but often courageous: she carries with her a certain amount of genre savvy which later turns into a sense of duty as she becomes her role in Beltane to a greater degree. She's also confused, out of her depth, and at times impatient and impetuous, but even at her most flawed she remains compelling both as a subject and as a heroine.
Her supporting cast are fabulously diverse, both within Beltane and without. Like Ivy, many of them are mirrored across the paired settings, giving the reader a view not just into how they behave but into how Ivy perceives them. Many of them have barely begun to be explored, and after the explosive climax of this book, a lot of their positions have changed - I can't wait to see what more we learn about them.
One of the aspects of Beltane's setting which was fabulously well-employed was the idea of titles: every resident has no name, simply that of the role they occupy. As we see Ivy's identity and sense of her 'real' self swallowed more and more by her role as the Dreamer, the implications become clearer - that Beltane limits the self for everyone in it, and in order to exercise true freedom of will and make independent choices one must actively re-define that identity.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of the ending. It was certainly explosive, with a series of reveals and semi-reveals that changed my perception of the narrative. It also ended on a cliffhanger, so I finished the book with far more questions than I had anticipated. I can't quite say that I wished I'd waited until the sequel was finished to read this, though, because it really was a fantastic experience.
The one critique I have to offer is this: the book could have used another close-read copy-editing pass, because it had quite a few run-on sentences that I found distracting. However, in the grand scheme of things, I've seen worse in professionally published work.
I leave you with a quote I particularly liked, from a scene where Ivy first sees the squalor some of Beltane's residents live in:
...no wait. One last thing, but spoilery.
This doesn't read like a self-published novel, or a debut novel, and especially not a self-published debut novel. That may be because White has already done a massive amount of writing - starting with 45000 words of Paris Burning and building into an entire fictional universe with a significant following. That they've got a lot under their belt is beyond a doubt.
But honestly? Having read Paris Burning, having read everything in the Cityverse, I was still not prepared for Hearth.
This is a book with depth to it, layers upon layers of worldbuilding and machinations and tiny, intriguing hints. The world(s) within it at first seem comprehensible - there's the real world and the dream world of Beltane - but nothing quite fits perfectly within that binary. The real world is strained by hints of a recent war - borders are closed, cities possibly destroyed, nationalist lines drawn. Beltane, too, is more than simply a quest location or a metaphor for Ivy's grief: it exists in its own ancient cycle, and there are clearly schemes afoot that few people understand. Layers upon layers: laid down like sediment, they give the story a sense of scope and age that make it powerfully compelling.
While I'm on the subject of settings, the atmosphere was simply unbelievable. The town of Hearth has about it an air of creeping horror and unreality. It's amazing how effective this indirect approach to building fear becomes, particularly as more information is revealed and less is understood. It didn't take me long to want all of the characters out, for their own safety, but at the same time I longed for more information...
It's deeply disconcerting to have a story like this get under your skin: it's literally a tale about losing oneself in a fantastical realm, and I found my mind drifting back to it much like Ivy's drifts back to Beltane. I'm reasonably sure there were no supernatural factors involved on my end, but in that case it's a pure testament to the strength of the narrative and the writing.
Ivy Fairholm, the lead character, is a knotted ball of memory and insecurity and grief. She begins struggling to deal with her mother's death and its mundane aftermath, but as Beltane becomes a part of her life she seems to lose her grasp on her identity, slipping further and further away from her ordinary life. As the Dreamer, she's at times naive and unsure but often courageous: she carries with her a certain amount of genre savvy which later turns into a sense of duty as she becomes her role in Beltane to a greater degree. She's also confused, out of her depth, and at times impatient and impetuous, but even at her most flawed she remains compelling both as a subject and as a heroine.
Her supporting cast are fabulously diverse, both within Beltane and without. Like Ivy, many of them are mirrored across the paired settings, giving the reader a view not just into how they behave but into how Ivy perceives them. Many of them have barely begun to be explored, and after the explosive climax of this book, a lot of their positions have changed - I can't wait to see what more we learn about them.
One of the aspects of Beltane's setting which was fabulously well-employed was the idea of titles: every resident has no name, simply that of the role they occupy. As we see Ivy's identity and sense of her 'real' self swallowed more and more by her role as the Dreamer, the implications become clearer - that Beltane limits the self for everyone in it, and in order to exercise true freedom of will and make independent choices one must actively re-define that identity.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of the ending. It was certainly explosive, with a series of reveals and semi-reveals that changed my perception of the narrative. It also ended on a cliffhanger, so I finished the book with far more questions than I had anticipated. I can't quite say that I wished I'd waited until the sequel was finished to read this, though, because it really was a fantastic experience.
The one critique I have to offer is this: the book could have used another close-read copy-editing pass, because it had quite a few run-on sentences that I found distracting. However, in the grand scheme of things, I've seen worse in professionally published work.
I leave you with a quote I particularly liked, from a scene where Ivy first sees the squalor some of Beltane's residents live in:
"It's exactly what the Queen wants you to feel. If you're disgusted by those beneath you, you're less likely to want to help them, even if it was those like you who put them in that position in the first place."
...no wait. One last thing, but spoilery.
November 25, 2020
I read this years ago, so my memory isn't the best, but I remember getting swept up in this story completely. Sometimes, parts of it seemed a little clunky, and five years later I'm still waiting for the second book, but. hhh. it's Good
May 30, 2016
I'll tell the truth: I've been so, so slow with this book you wouldn't even believe it, I started it in March and I finished it like yesterday. Probably it was for the exams, but also because until some point, I found the book a bit slow, then it actually becomes interesting after some events.
I loved the long dream we swim through, I liked the eerie atmosphere that sometimes you could actually feel in some parts, especially the first encounter with the Lost Child.
I think the most interesting thing about this book were the characters, at least for me. The Crow King is actually seen for like... three chapters, I think? And yet, even though these ones are the last three chapters, I fell in love with him!! The Queen - that I should despise because of her deep cruelty - the Spy - that I think is one of my favourite character - the Doctor, the Mercenary are characters that are so, so perfect and not in an idealistic sense, but more like in human way. Each one of them has their own flaws, their own perks and yet there is perfection in this too.
The only thing that I found really irritating was the ending because now how can I wait with that??
I loved the long dream we swim through, I liked the eerie atmosphere that sometimes you could actually feel in some parts, especially the first encounter with the Lost Child.
I think the most interesting thing about this book were the characters, at least for me. The Crow King is actually seen for like... three chapters, I think? And yet, even though these ones are the last three chapters, I fell in love with him!! The Queen - that I should despise because of her deep cruelty - the Spy - that I think is one of my favourite character - the Doctor, the Mercenary are characters that are so, so perfect and not in an idealistic sense, but more like in human way. Each one of them has their own flaws, their own perks and yet there is perfection in this too.
The only thing that I found really irritating was the ending because now how can I wait with that??
October 12, 2016
This book is so interesting, so gripping. You really won't want to put it down. The setting is wonderful and confusing and creepy (some of the characters agree with me there XD) and the characters are incredible and intriguing. It ends on a rather large cliff hanger and I CANNOT WAIT for the sequel, I'm jumping up and down in excitement even though the author hasn't even started writing it yet.
Every time something was revealed I came up with more questions until I was just rocking back and forth thinking 'WHAT?!' over and over and over. The places are so dang creepy, layered in extra creepy and backed by even more creepy and unnerving. I can't for the life of me summarise what the heck is going on and I LOVE IT. This is seriously one of the best books I've read in a long time, it has adorable characters who are deep and SO important.
I was already a casual fan of the authors work before reading, but now it's set that I'm going to be a lifelong megafan, and am probably going to seriously take a look into reading the rest of their works properly.
Every time something was revealed I came up with more questions until I was just rocking back and forth thinking 'WHAT?!' over and over and over. The places are so dang creepy, layered in extra creepy and backed by even more creepy and unnerving. I can't for the life of me summarise what the heck is going on and I LOVE IT. This is seriously one of the best books I've read in a long time, it has adorable characters who are deep and SO important.
I was already a casual fan of the authors work before reading, but now it's set that I'm going to be a lifelong megafan, and am probably going to seriously take a look into reading the rest of their works properly.
May 19, 2015
An amazing, atmospheric debut!
Particularly strong points include the characterisation (or just the characters in general!), and the sections that take place in Hearth. At once very familiar, and yet incredibly unsettling; one truly becomes emotionally invested in the strange and disparate band of people, united by their residence in the small, abandoned village. My only possible critique is occasionally feeling like I had missed something, but I suspect that this is largely due to the writer's intent/my erratic style of reading. I would 100% wholeheartedly recommend this book to just about everyone I know, and I am eagerly awaiting the follow-up.
Particularly strong points include the characterisation (or just the characters in general!), and the sections that take place in Hearth. At once very familiar, and yet incredibly unsettling; one truly becomes emotionally invested in the strange and disparate band of people, united by their residence in the small, abandoned village. My only possible critique is occasionally feeling like I had missed something, but I suspect that this is largely due to the writer's intent/my erratic style of reading. I would 100% wholeheartedly recommend this book to just about everyone I know, and I am eagerly awaiting the follow-up.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews