Rennefarre: Dott's Wonderful Travels and Adventures

Rennefarre,translated by Malve von Hassell
ISBN: 9781938690389

Folk tales and myths have always had an irresistible draw for me and this book explores the folklore, myths and history of early Germany and Poland.  The tale begins with Dott, a disobedient young girl, who decides to slip out of the house to see a midsummer night bonfire instead of staying in to take care of her younger brother and sister.

First Dott decides she will be able to see it from the porch, then from the road, and then from the hill. Next she is drawn farther away from the house but she is feeling uneasy about her disobedience so instead of following the road, she sneaks through the woods, brush and fields.  She is drawn farther and farther along until finally she is right at the bonfire and sees her younger brother there with her infant sister in his arms.  She is worried about being punished and thinks that her parents and neighbors are ignoring her as a punishment.  She begins to cry and Father Gnilica hears her and talks with her about her plight.  Soon she realizes that she has a rennefarre in her shoe and it has made her invisible to everyone.

The first mythical creature Dott meets is the Red Boy, a full of mischief fire sprite.  He tries to entice her with power or riches.  She resists his enticements so he then speaks of the enchantment of the water, fire and air sprites and how they yearn for deliverance.

The next morning, Dott hides near her home and listens in but soon realizes that she cannot stay.  Dott will have to search for a cure for her situation and until she finds one, she must leave home in order not to frighten her family or the villagers.    She is still audible and she is able to understand the speech of the animals.

Dott  befriends some animals by rescuing a young stork and by helping to rescue an owl imprisoned by other humans.  Other animals (such as the magpies) either don’t trust Dott or would like to seek revenge for past harms humans have caused them.

Dott’s travels take her across the countryside in the company of various animals some caring and some hostile, where she meets magical creatures, and she slips back and forth in time to witness events at key places and times in history and in mythology.   She also meets another human, who has made a bargain with the fire sprite to trade his face for the ability to play music that others can’t hear.  He  regretted his bargain soon after when his family reacts to his new terrifyingly ugly appearance. 

This wondrous tale weaves history with mythology and creates an enchanting story.  I loved the historical details and the parallels drawn between the various clashes in history and man’s struggle to build a place for himself and his family in strange, beautiful and sometimes harsh places.  The relationships between man, nature and other tribes of men are explored in a tender way through the eyes of a young girl on the edge of adulthood.

The artwork is beautiful and this intriguing tale reminds me of the Oz books. 

Kathy Johnson

A BookPleasures reviewer

Fades the Light by Ron Foster

Fades the Light, by Ron Foster
ISBN 9781479344420

This is the third in The Prepper Trilogy and it is an interesting hybrid of fiction and non-fiction.  In the past, I have seen similar hybrids combining the fiction mystery genre with recipes.  In this instance, my previous reading may have colored my experience of this book by leading me to expect nefarious deeds.  There were several places in the narrative where it seemed that the author was setting the scene for future nefarious events but these events never appeared.   

The main character, David, seems to be the leader of a group of people who have survived the crash of civilization after a solar geomagnetic storm.  This sounded like an interesting read to me since this year (2013) is supposed to be a peak year for solar flare events.  I did enjoy the book as a light read but was disappointed in the unfulfilled hints of conflict to come.  The male characters are presented in somewhat stereotypical male drinking buddy bonding settings and in a couple of places they set out to gather information but are distracted by their need for alcohol so they never complete their chosen information gathering task. 

The events of the book in summary would be: David is suspicious of some new folk who have arrived at their lake.  David drinks. David plans to investigate them. David drinks. David is concerned that the younger members of the group may leave based on promises from the new folk of exciting technology in the FEMA camps. David drinks.  David is going to talk with his drinking buddies to plan some way to satisfy the younger generation without leaving the older folk with no way to survive. David drinks. David and a group set out to explore other possibilities for their group.  David drinks. I won’t say more because I don’t do spoilers for fiction reviews

Some of the characters have colorful names like ‘Dump Truck’, ‘Goat Man’ and ‘LowBuck’.  There is some flavor from the hills in this book. 

The prepper goods which are advertised with a heavy hand in the book do look interesting but could have been presented with a lighter hand.  Some of the dialogue in the book is forced with the obvious goal of presenting ordering information for the goods featured.  When the advertising is too obvious along with promises of a coupon, it reminds me of the paid infomercials rather than a good novel.

'Fades the Light' appears to be unedited.  It is printed/self published but could have benefited from an organizational edit, a grammatical edit, and a copy edit.  The author does have interesting ideas and information but hasn't fully developed the story.  There is definite improvement in the last few chapters so the author may be able to develop this book into something if he is willing to revise and have it edited.

This book did involve a lot of stereotypes about ‘hooch’, women and their roles, negative Christian stereotypes, and the elderly. In spite of its faults, the book was interesting and does have potential.  

A Bookpleasures.com reviewer