Review: Quintana by Melina Marchetta

10 October, 2012 Reviews 8 comments

Quintana of Charyn is a masterful novel.  Hauntingly beautiful, powerfully written and the perfect end to this brilliant fantasy series.

But this is nothing different.  Marchetta’s novels only come in shades of amazing.  By far her strongest and most compelling ability as a writer, is the way in which she crafts her characters and their struggles in the context of the world they live in.

If you have read Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles than fear not.  Quintana of Charyn will not disappoint.

What sets the Lumatere series apart from many other fantasy novels is it’s focus on people and relationships.  It’s easy, when constructing fantasy worlds, foreign mythology and ensuring you’ve described the elves’ ears right, to forget the heart and soul of fantasy – and that is the people in it.  Who are they? what are their struggles? What do they hope for? What do they fear?  Often societies and races get boiled down to the language lexicon and dress code that the author painstakingly put aside for them.

There is a rich, imaginative fantasy mythos going on here, but world-building is like movie special-effects.  It’s usually doing it’s job best when you can’t tell it’s there.  When it’s so native and natural to the storytelling, that the audience is able to completely forget that it’s all made up.

But you guys don’t really want to read my wax poetic about how much I love and respect Marchetta. Wait, you do?  Okay.  Here goes.

Reading this book was like looking at a rainbow – beautiful, something for everyone, filling our hearts with joy, and you assume at least one Unicorn was involved in the making of it.

Reading this book is like being under a spell.  It doesn’t seem possible, there’s magic in the air, and Marchetta eats your heart with how lovely and sad it is.

Reading this book is like having all the fun of sex without pregnancy or STDs.  It’ll make you cry out, beg and pray to a deity – whether you believe in one or not.

The complaint I hear most often is that Marchetta’s books are expensive – especially for non Australians.  But look at it this way: Marchetta is like Hipster gold.  Brilliant, obscure and hard to get.  Do yourself a favour.  If you’ve not read her books before, get them.  See for yourself what all the raving is about.  Fall in love again, and again.  Grow up and learn, live, cry, make a bunch of life-long friends, and then do it all again with the next book.

I promise you, Marchetta’s books are worth it.

8 Responses to “Review: Quintana by Melina Marchetta”

  1. AnimeGirlAlex

    That’s a great review and you’re right, MM’s books only come in shades of amazing!
    I’m so excited for this book that I totally bought it from Fishpond, something I only do on very rare occasions when I really can’t wait for it to arrive. 
     
    Thanks so much for this review.

    • KatKennedy

      @AnimeGirlAlex I hope you love it!  It’s totally worth ordering from Fishpond.

  2. MyEclecticBooks

    Wow, I keep hearing about this author and how amazing she is! I need to pick up book 1!

  3. Annie J

    great review because that’s all the things this book is and you described it *much* better that I managed.  and she totally eats your heart with how lovely and sad it is!!