While hiking through the mountains—a path she’s taken many times, even—Kara Magari stumbles upon something new: a seemingly misplaced gazebo. While wandering through it, she discovers a secret portal to another world. Almost immediately, she’s shackled to this strange universe, Ourea, by the Vagabond. Although he’s a ghost now, the tasks of his lifetime were never completed and he’s chosen Kara to finish the work he started, with the help of a powerful and ancient book called the Grimoire. The Vagabond’s desire is simple: to bring peace to the five nations of Ourea. But with all the treachery and backstabbing that goes on among the royals, the task is harder than Kara could possibly understand. They’d much rather get their hands on Kara and her powerful Grimoire. Kara can’t trust anyone in this dark and mysterious universe, full of creatures that would rather see her dead than alive.
The first chapter had me skeptical, but after that, the plot and world building of Lichgates quickly had me hooked. Boyce introduces Kara (and the readers) to the world of Ourea—and is quick to let us know it is a place full of danger, despite its beauty. Each character had a unique personality, growth/character arc, and more importantly, distinct goals. With each individual fighting to meet their own ends, it made for a book full of conflict and plot twists. The world building was fantastic and well-done. Culture and creatures in Ourea are different enough to intrigue a reader, and Boyce kept to the rules she made. It functions well as the first installment in the four-book Grimoire Saga, and the rest of the series does not feel like tacked-on plots with no organic connection to the beginning—it’s clear the entire series was planned beforehand. I thoroughly enjoyed Lichgates and the rest of The Grimoire Saga, and I’d recommend it to lovers of fantasy with a dark edge, who can’t resist a book full of twists.
Creative Writing Analysis: POV and thinking ahead
Lichgates was told from a limited 3rd person POV, with multiple narrators. The main character, Kara, was the main narrator, although we often saw into the heads of friends and foes alike. The narrator we saw 2nd most often was Braeden, a man living undercover who wants Kara’s Grimoire more than her safety. He claims himself an ally as he escorts her around Ourea, always keeping his true goal hidden. Because we see into his head, we know early on that he’s not everything he claims to be. And at first, I didn’t like that. I felt the narration worked best if it stayed strictly in Kara’s head, since I would rather be left guessing about Braeden’s intentions. However, as the series progressed and Braeden’s role in the plot became increasingly more important, it became necessary to have him as a viewpoint character. In the later books, Kara can’t be everywhere at once. With so much going on, Braeden was necessary. We were already used to his frequent narration from book one, so it wasn’t disorienting to suddenly increase his frequency of narration and involvement in the second book. In this way, Boyce had been setting up for Braeden’s importance since Lichgates. In my opinion, this is better than The Divergent Series, which had Tris as its sole narrator until the final book, where suddenly Tobias was added as a second narrator. It was too disorienting to introduce a new viewpoint character so late in the series.
The lesson to writers: think ahead. Even if it’s not POV-related, if you’re writing a series, know where you’re going in future books so you can set it up early on. This applies to anything: plot, character, POV, theme. It makes for an easier transition, a more organic plot, and decreased reader frustration.
Boyce, S.M. Lichgates. Caffeinated Books Publishing LLC. 2011. 410 p. 978-1939997067
