The Book of Love

A long novel length story from a writer known for writing fascinating, occasionally surreal short fiction, this one involves a group of people suddenly trust back into the world with magic and now have to live with the consequences, some of which are revealed as world changing near the end. This book is not for everyone, as it takes it time with the characters' interactions and situations. But probably a rewarding experience for those who are patient with the author's pacing and revelations.

At the start, three dead teenagers, presumed missing, suddenly reappear in the world and are given form by their music teacher, who turns out to have magic. They are then given the task of finding out how they died, and to eventually learn to control magic, which comes with their reappearance. Things get complicated when another 'spirit' joins them in reappearing in the world, and may have a role in their tasks.

Struggling to re-integrate themselves back into the lives of their families, the author now takes her time showing the interactions that occur, especially with the sister of one of the formerly dead teens. Things take a dark turn when yet another being with magical powers appears, apparently drawn by the reappearance of the teens. She is looking for a missing magical object, and the reappearance of the teens is a sign that it has been found.

Now things take a turn of the worst, as the teens struggle with their new lives, mastering their new magical powers, finding out how they died, and having to deal with a magical being to whom living things are just pawns to be sacrificed once she recovers her lost object.

If the reader pays attention, some of the revelations in the story may not come as a surprise. But the slow pace of the story and the amount of detail the author puts into the interactions between the characters may not sit well with some readers. But those who patiently go through the book may find the conclusion satisfying.

I wasn't sure whether Kelly Link's magic would work in long (or ultra) long form, but I found this wildly successful while being true to the genre that is unique to Link. Rather than read a Link book linearly or narratively, you have to pay attention to the puzzle of how you feel when characters talk about coins or doors or rabbits or wolves or structural racism and follow that feeling to figure out what's actually happening.

Perhaps as a necessary concession (although a move I found kind of disappointing), Link places three info-dump chapters roughly evenly throughout the book to literally catchup anyone for whom creepy vibes are insufficient explanation. Each of these follow an exposition that takes the narrative in an expansive dimension, opening up the story from the part that proceeded it. I found the first two thirds of the book wildly successful proceeding in this way, and the back third a little too conventional, while still quite good.

Overall, the book reminded me a lot of the best of Dianna Wynne Jones, where you start to believe that anyone could secretly be anyone else, while also being Loki and while you're unlikely to guess right, you're rewarded for being skeptical about fixed identity.

I also found the book thematically successful as well as tonally so. The major themes of the book: the structures that we take for granted even when they don't work for us, and the magically mundanity of love of all forms were deeply seeded throughout the book without being overpowering. A lot of the negative reviews weren't prepared for the balance between epic plot and quiet meditations on the power of relationships and identity and change, but that's what made the book so worth it for me.