Caught in Crystal by Patricia Wrede - OPTIONAL

Wrede. Patricia  Caught in Crystal.  Open Road, 2011/1989.  $7.99.   

 Violence: PG (lots of magic and danger).  

For years now, Kayl has been running her inn and raising her children alone.  When a sorceress comes to her village, Kayl and her children must run for their lives – as now their existence has been brought to the attention of exactly the wrong people.  The sorceress has come to convince Kayl to go back to her old life – as part of the Sisterhood of the Stars, a coven of magic wielders whom Kayl and her husband left after a disastrous mission more than 15 years earlier.  Now Kayl has been unwillingly sucked back into this life – because if she doesn’t, she and her children will be on the run forever.  

These earlier works by Wrede are much more sophisticated than the recent things she has written for YA, but you can also see how much her writing fluency has grown.  Open Road has made these available for Kindle – though I have to say I don’t like the loss of white space around the text – I had to fiddle with my settings quite a bit before I found something that made it comfortable to read.  I was more than happy to revisit the land of Lyra after all these years.  

HS – OPTIONAL.