What do You think about Solstice Wood (2007)?
The one where Sylvia's grandfather dies and her grandmother calls her home to a house that's a gate between two worlds.There's the germ of something wonderful here, and it all clusters around Iris, the grandmother, and her Fiber Guild. Everything in Iris' POV, everything about the Fiber Guild, I loved. The changeling was also wonderful, with a truly alien mind. But I can't recommend this one.Part of the problem was the plot's dependence on things I just didn't believe. The human antagonist was completely laughable; I never bought his threats for a moment. And the plot required that the obvious answer to Sylvia's parentage never occur to Iris, which I also didn't believe. Second, it was awfully tell-y -- people spent an awful lot of time telling each other about the things they felt, whether that was in character or not.And part of my problem was the Mary Sue Specialness of everything in the book. On page 1, Sylvia wakes up in bed with a guy with purple eyes, and it just gets worse from there; nobody has short hair, or eyes of a normal color, or an ordinary, demographically plausible name.
—Res
So, normally I don't like McKillip. Too much ungrounded metaphor, too much dream-confusion, too much over-writing, etc. But this book is different. It's written as a tale that takes place right now. There are lots of characters with dyed hair or piercings or both. And cell phones. There is some really good stuff about women making magic with the way they tend the world in normal, everyday tasks. But, what I really liked about this book was how it looked at ancient prejudice and how and why we do things the way we do. At the very end of the book, there was a bit that really struck me. I suppose it could be considered a spoiler, so don't read it if you would rather not get a paragraph. "It's very old, and could be very powerful, if we need it to be. And it creates, as well as binds. I won't disband it. But maybe, for a while, we could just sew. Concentrate on what we make instead of what we control. See what happens."I'll read this book again.One last note: This book is one where each chapter switches viewpoint. It's not very gracefully done, though it's not terrible either, and the voices sound so much the same that it was hard to remember who's voice I was reading. I did finally get used to it, but even down to the last two chapters, I still got confused as to who was speaking.
—Lia
Sylvia Lynn left her family years before, moving to a different coast to get away from the troubling aspects of her own past, and from the grandmother who raised her. Called home by the death of her beloved grandfather, she is drawn into the strange workings of the Fiber Guild, a group of magical women who literally stitch, knit, and crochet a web of protection around their little town. Sylvia must confront the dual nature of this protection, as well as her own duality, when she is forced to go up against the fae to rescue someone she loves.This is a contemporary fantasy about complicated love, complicated families, and the quixotic nature of the fae. A modern day sequel to Ms. McKillip's historic fantasy, Winter Rose, it's beautifully written, and full of humor, mystery, tension. Ms. McKillip's wonderful understanding of the human heart—which is, after all, just as quixotic as the fae—blends well with fantastical and near-hallucinatory passages. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
—Peejay Who Once Was Minsma
