lizbee | REVIEW: "Spell Hunter" by R. J. Anderson (Reply)

Truth in advertising: rj_anderson is one of my dearest friends, and I beta'd this novel in one of its earlier incarnations. So I'm obviously biased -- on the other hand, if I had any problems with Spell Hunter (which I know better with its original title, Knife, under which it's published in the UK) I'd have said so back in 2003.

Spell Hunter is a middle-grade novel, aimed at an audience of approximately eight to twelve years. There's a lot of really fantastic fiction being published for that audience these days, but I often find that authors are prone to underestimating their audience -- telling rather than showing, not fully exploring the concepts and ideas behind the plots, generally creating a sloppy novel. Spell Hunter doesn't do that -- it benefits from having started its life as an adult novel, then being rewritten for progressively younger audiences -- but rj_anderson is such a careful and thoughtful author that I don't think she'd have made those mistakes anyway.

Reading at work, with masses of marketing material for one particular publishing phenomenon around me, I found myself doing a vague comparison. It's not really fair to compare the Faery Rebels series -- new, untested, younger audience -- against Twilight -- giant teen phenomenon -- but there you go. Here is a brief list of thoughts:

- No one in Spell Hunter sparkles.
- While Knife, the protagonist, is (occasionally) clumsy, a socially awkward outsider possessed of innate skills that set her apart from her peers, she spends more time doing her job, asking questions, learning, training...
- Not a single paragraph is dedicated to describing the perfection of the male lead.
- Actually, he's got a lot of problems.
- Like, proper problems, not, "Woe, I am surrounded by lesser beings and it's always raining" problems.
- Also his eyes stay the same colour throughout.
- The plot moves really nicely. When I read the 2003 draft, the plot was present, but the pacing was a bit off. Now, it's perfect. And even though I knew the secrets behind the central mystery, I still had trouble putting the book down.
- The supporting cast crackle. Especially Thorn, the cranky faery who became my favourite character in, like, her very first sentence of dialogue. Did I mention she's hilariously cranky? On this readthrough, she reminded me curiously of violetisblue, in terms of her complete unwillingness to be impressed by cheap emotion and dramatics. It takes a lot of confidence to have a character like Thorn, but she's wonderful. Simply wonderful.

ZOMG THE KITTEN IS PLAYING WITH ONE OF MY PLUSH SQUIDS THIS IS THE GREATEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!

Spell Hunter is a joy, and it deserves a vast audience of nerds. And, like, regular people. I had the privilege of reading a draft of the sequel the other weekend, and it's impossibly exciting to know how the characters' stories are going to continue.

Spell Hunter is out in the US in April '09, and is available now for pre-order. Under the title Knife, it will be out in the UK in January '09, and Australia and New Zealand in March; pre-order here.