Review by Gman94 -- The Crystilleries of Echoland

[Gman94]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Crystilleries of Echoland" by Dew Pellucid.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In her latest book, Tal Boldo—under the pseudonym Dew Pellucid—has written a sprawling and atmospheric piece of fantasy titled The Crystilleries of Echoland published on March 11, 2018, by Nothing but the Story. The tale begins with the quiet, inquisitive Will Cleary in his Father's library. After a line of questions to his parents about his missing sister, he leaves for the nearby pond. There he makes a reckless plunge into the ponds' depths; the last place she was seen before her disappearance on Christmas Day. In the following chapter, he awakes to his faithful pets—a falcon and wolf—speaking to one another in English, albeit briefly before they've gone out the door; making sure not to spoil the fun early. Eventually, he learns that his companions are in truth otherworldly creatures called "Echoes" who both serve as his Virgil and Beatrice as the narrative unfolds. When interring their decade-long husks, or "Sounds", the two beings tell him of a subterranean world called "Echoland.” And thus one thread begins to weave this tale.

The narrative gathers steam as Will and company—hearing his mother's screams—race to the house. They discover Will's parents, still with horror locked in their faces and covered head to toe in ice. A "Fate Sealer", the Echoes reason, came looking for the boy. Once a solution is supplied (literally hosing them down), Damian, carrying a wounded Deà, leaves Will a message to look for a man by the name of "Mr. F" to uncover the secrets of the "Royal Shekel"—the thing that keeps Will alive. When he finds the man in question, he learns that he is the "Sound" of the Prince of Echoland. There, he becomes entangled in a plot to oust a false king and avenge the murder of its former ruler—the Prince's father (think Hamlet).

The Crystilleries of Echoland is a quick and playful read with much of its strength lying in its vivid descriptions of that world as well as great editing (after reading it twice, I still couldn’t find one error in regards to punctuation or grammar). My favorite pages in the book are when Will saves and tames an abused wolf as part of a ceremony for castaways. What follows is probably the most heartfelt exchange in the entire book: "I'll take care of you," he promised, "forever and always, always and forever. Trust me, trust me…" And slowly he untied the knot in the rope" (Page. 68). The author particularly shines whenever she details the local environs wherever the point of interest:

"Inside the sea-through trees, Will saw the rivers flowing and trails meandering. The snowy bushes looked like windows, the flowers like miniature worlds; all because fountains and topiaries of fawns and fairies showed through the petals and leaves" (Page. 70).

The author also includes some outside literary characters halfway through the book. For example, Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano Bergerac—host of a supposedly frog-faced Echo—who cryptically tells the fortunes of the children at the orphanage. On first blush, the story’s skeletal structure is reminiscent of Dante’s Hell or Lewis’ Narnia; indeed, similarly to the former, this story has the general outline of the idea for a “classic” comedy: beginning dishearteningly and ending in an upswing. Furthermore, the story is formatted like many tales where the adults are almost exclusively portrayed as greedy, amoral, deceitful, careless, and murderous or oddballs (or all of the above). Truly, the author actually makes an appearance herself as the entertainingly eccentric headmistress, curator, and a somewhat analogue of Albus Dumbledore; she doesn’t get many appearances, but when she does it’s with welcomed curiosity.

However, the abundance of actors is actually what I disliked most about the book. There are simply too many cardboard characters here; for every bland addition to the story overrides the developed and established actors. I caught myself many times while reading and re-reading the book thinking ‘why should the reader care about this character, again?' Or ‘is there any significance to this scene?' For instance, why have Will's sister—Emmy—in the book at all? She adds almost nothing besides serving as the initial reason for the journey to Echoland itself. A far simpler and more engaging tale would be of Will escaping from his already dejected reality to journey somewhere where he can develop himself further as the sympathetic, clever and determined person he is. We would get a far more rounded and interesting glimpse of his worldview and as a leader; from one mental posture "apparell’d in celestial light", as Wordsworth put it, to one of pragmatism and maturity. Or to put it another way: overabundance causes one to disassociate from the story which, in turn, stifles some of its effectiveness as a narrative.

In spite of this concern, if you have a child or know of one in middle school who reads science fiction or fantasy; they should try their hand at this story. The book is composed of short chapters with light comedy and an interesting atmosphere that makes for a pleasant reading experience. Dew Pellucid's Crystelleries of Echoland has its shortcomings, but not to a degree as to make it laborious or ruinous; a mostly enjoyable narrative that far outweighs its lesser parts. Indeed, if one had to describe this book in a single word using the parlance of that parallel world it would be the following: ‘fortunerific’.

Due to its editing, atmosphere, invention, and sentiment, I give this book 4 out of 4. The reasons I don’t give it anything less than the score above is because it has an easy and fun flow. Moreover, the author has a certain pull and mystery to her writing that simply keeps you reading till the very end (John Grisham’s Theodore Boone are similarly leveled novels that immediately come to mind).

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The Crystilleries of Echoland
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[Erin Painter Baker]

One of the hallmarks of young adult books is the fact that the "good" adults, for whatever reason, do not help the kids. The kids must solve the problem by themselves. While the problems presented in books tend to be problems you would want your kids to come to you for, it is meant to help with the idea of growing up and learning to problem solve for themselves.

[Gabriel Merêncio]

I found it interesting how you pointed out the novel's literary references and similarities. I also had issues with characters like Emmy and the prince, who mostly stay on the background despite how important they're supposed to be. Thanks for the review!

[Letora]

I agree that there were too many characters! I read this book as one of the first reviews and it was tough for me to make it through to the end. Great review!