Among Others

Title: Among Others

Author: Jo Walton

Publisher: Tor Books (2010)

Genre(s): Fiction, Fantasy

Length: 302 pages

Synopsis:  Mor's life has been turned upside down.  Her twin is gone, her mother mad, and she's been sent away from the only family she's known, a close-knit web of extended family in South Wales, to live with a father she's never met in England.  The only constant in her life are the books, science fiction and fantasy that brings her closer to her father and to new friends she meets away at boarding school.  But Mor has a secret as well.  For her the fantasy is just a touch more real, for hidden in the hedgerows and the sidewalk cracks, Mor can see fairies.  As told through her diaries, Mor's story is one of pain, acceptance, and more than a little magic.

My Rating: 5 Stars

My Opinion:  This was a remarkable book.  It's not quite like anything I've ever read before, and yet it's all at once incredible familiar.  Of course, this might just be because I've read so many of Mor's favorite books!  It's a very real fantasy, with hints that a story worthy of its own book might have occurred in the background, but it's only ever hinted at.  This is very much about what happens after the evil witch is conquered and the dragons slain.  Not everyone goes home to live happily ever after.  At least, not right away.  Among Others is sharply honest and delightfully conversational, but the audience for that conversation may be rather narrow.  Anyone without a vested interest in science fiction and/or fantasy might find the book largely incomprehensible, as the characters are wont to ramble on about the merits of their latest literary conquest... rather like myself, I suppose.  Readers looking for strongly plot driven books will also likely find this one wanting, though I found Mor to be a compelling enough narrator that I was willing to sit and listen to whatever she had to say, whether it was about magic, books, boys, or philosophy.  The book is set in the late seventies and early eighties, but it's very easy to believe that if Mor lived in the internet age, you'd probably be reading her blog instead of mine.  Without that option, I suppose you'll have to check out her book instead.  Walton's done an amazing job, and even if her audience is narrow, I expect that audience will be as delighted as I was.