Among Others – Jo Walton

I wish I’d read this book some other time. I thought I was starting something else when I first picked it up, and it wasn’t what I was expecting. But, I’m enough of a completest, I couldn’t put it back, and had to finish it. I think I’d have liked it better if I’d started it when it was what I thought I was getting myself into.

This isn’t straight fantasy. Morwenna and her twin Morganna can see fairies. And their mother is a witch. In trying to prevent her from doing some unnamed, terrible thing, Morganna is killed, and Morwenna’s leg is ruined. She runs away to the father they’ve never before met.

The story is Mori’s school journal, talking about all the scifi and fantasy she’s discovering (in 1979 and 1980), her getting a boyfriend, and magic. The magic piece is a bit weird. It’s definitely real, but I don’t feel like I really had enough background to fully appreciate how it worked in with our real world.

I definitely think this is a book you need to be in the right mood for.