by Joanne M. Harris
For fantasy readers, I can’t imagine a better story than A Pocketful of Crows. I have read an extensive amount of fantasy, for both young people and adults, and this story is the closest thing to a genuine “fairy tale” I have ever read from a modern author. The brevity of the tale lends to that impression, as, like a fairy tale, lot of work is done in the story despite the relatively low number of pages. You follow the main character as she is adopted from Nameless unity with nature into a new world as the wife of a King, and watch as the fierce protection she feels for her new life leads inevitably to her downfall – and, impossibly, her triumph. A deeply profound story of humanity and nature, man and woman, gain and loss: gear up for laughter and for tears if you crack the spine on this novella. Lovers of fantasy will never forget this modern fairy tale about love, nature and society, and the inescapable connection humans have with one another.
review by Jamie Hasty
