Book #13 of 2025:
Balancing Stone by Victoria Goddard
Another interstitial novella in author Victoria Goddard’s Greenwing & Dart cozy fantasy series, this time focusing on Jemis Greenwing’s schoolmate Hope after the events of the sixth / latest novel Plum Duff. As introduced in the book before that one, she’s in love with his best friend Hal and also heir to a magical legacy from the birth parents she never knew, which she can only receive if she somehow learns her true name. This interlude suggests (but doesn’t confirm) a resolution to that thread, but as rewarding as that is for returning readers, it arrives fairly late in a pretty short text. Mostly we follow the new protagonist as she takes a walk through the woods near Ragnor Bella, where she has a mystical experience and a few fruitful conversations that ultimately get her to start thinking about the mystery from her family in a different way.
Still: the characters are fun to revisit, and it’s always nice to see Jemis from an outside perspective, not to mention spot the subtle connections to other entries in the writer’s broader Nine Worlds saga. Nobody should begin their read here, obviously, but it’s a pleasant check-in for anyone already familiar with the background.
★★★☆☆
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