In Other Lands

It's "YA fantasy gothic romance", apparently. I have no bloody clue where no less than two of the people writing blurbs found the 'gothic'. The romance does very much not play the narrative role you expect from something defined within the genre, and the fantasy is... somewhat the same, honestly. It is, however, written for teens, so... one out of four?

This isn't a problem with the novel as such, but with the way people are trying to sell it. You should definitely give it a try if the description below appeals to you, because I enjoyed it a lot. The "a lot" because of admittedly dumb spoilery reasons I'll detail under the cut. Overall, it is funny and occasionally touching and I liked all of the main cast.

The best summary I can give is probably this fine illustration, greeting you as you turn the page to the first chapter:



In more detail: Neglected British child goes to ~magical school~, keeps on being somewhat of an outsider there and spends his days with genius girl who is also somewhat of an outsider, and part of every summer holiday with the cheerful family of a boy who is very much a part of the establishment.

Or: Blaming the victim is always wrong but even slightly-shorter-than-average-for-his-age Elliot Schafer knows that he'd have an easier time if he wasn't compulsed to sass popular kids who taller and stronger than him. And at least he's not beat up in diplomacy classes in The Border Camp of The Otherlands, where he elected to stay because of the hot elf babe Serene-Heart-In-The-Chaos-Of-Battle. Unfortunately, Serene has attached herself to Luke Sunborn, who is tall and strong and popular and Elliot is most certainly not his friend, don't be disgusting.

Yes the core of the plot is inescapably Potter, but that's about as far as the similarities go. The standard fantasy plot of "ending a war and saving the world" is nominally there, but takes a definite backseat to Elliots social and romantic going-ons. Elliot, Serene and Luke are about as far removed from Harry, Hermione and Ron as you get. Elliot is bookish but otherwise unremarkable, Serene is a culturally out-of-sync warrior. Luke is... an inversion of Ron Weasly, mostly: the kind and polite and introverted and unconsciously popular kid who excells at everything concerning sports and martial arts, descending from one of the most revered families in the land. Also, there's this thing about Elliot worshipping the ground on which Serene walks so loudly and so out of character for him that no-one thinks he means it. There's his on-going, one-sided contempt of everything that is Luke Sunborn. The dynamics are so different that you'd be hard-pressed to get Hogwarts flashbacks except for the few reminders that Elliot's dad is a dick.

The illustration hints at the tone. In Other Lands follows Elliot through ages thirteen to seventeen, for his education in ~magical school~. Since Elliot is a precocious bookworm full of salt and vinegar, his narrative is a running line of snark about most everything - that is, when he's not lapsing exceedingly poetic about Serene's virtues. Four years are crammed into fourhundredandsome pages, and it's hardly a surprise that the fantasy keystones of "worldbuilding" and "political plot" take a definite backseat here. More than anything, this is a novel about growing up and becoming a better person, and I - at least - certainly think that shit is more entertaining if it comes through mermaid fanboying and casual elvish sexism ("A woman's experience of blood and pain is, naturally, what makes womenkind particularly suited for the battlefield. Whereas men are the softer sex, squeamish about blood in the main. I know it's the same for human men, Luke was extremely disinclined to discuss my first experience of a woman's menses.")

There's a plotline about a theatre club setting up the Romeo and Juliet of The Otherlands. For god's sake.

Yes, this is essentially a high school AU set in Narnia. It was not terribly surprising, when googled, that this started out as an "online novel". And wouldn't you know it: On the author's webpage, the commentaries she'd made to her work as she initially published it was links to good ole' eljay.

I have to talk about that, of course. Because I definitely suspect that part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much, was that there are elements of this book that definitely read like fanfic. Less so than The Captive Prince, for what it's worth.

SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT.

( i shipped it from like page two )