By Jo Walton, Tor, $24.99, 302 pages
Morwenna Phelps’s life has fallen apart – her twin sister died and she was severely injured when they were forced to stop their mother from using magic for destructive and deadly purposes. Broken in body and in spirit, Mori is faced with living with her father, whom she has never met, and soon finds herself in boarding school. Feeling out of place and isolated, Mori takes refuge in books and slowly starts putting her life back together.
In this stunning novel, Jo Walton has created a wonderful story that is both heart-wrenching and delightful. Told from Mori’s perspective via journal entries, the story in Among Others is slowly unveiled as Mori gradually comes out of her protected world of books to make hesitant connections with people in her life and finds allies and friends in surprising places. Her internal world is woven with moments of magic in her life, so much so that at times there is a question of whether the magic is real or merely a vehicle for her to cope with her trauma and loss. Mori is very relatable for any reader who felt apart from the crowd or anyone who has found life in books.
Reviewed by Barbara Cothern