Unraveller

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Meglio ancora, la Hardinge (non per nulla, pluripremiata) riesce a trasmettere con un linguaggio accessibile e fresco dei messaggi che possono definirsi universali. In short and without giving anything away, what takes place is a captivating tale, set deep within a beautifully crafted world that as a reader, we slowly get to explore. The many mysteries in need of untangling, and the numerous twists and turns, make the story all the more enjoyable. My only complaint would be that I found it a *bit* to long - however, there was no way I wasn't finishing! The book features a depth of themes including but not limited to: victims, survivors, anger and hatred, trauma, therapy, cults, betrayal, domestic abuse, all under the guise of a stunning fantasy world with curses and the riveting and mysterious Wilds.

Everything echoes down the webs. Even magical creatures have a thing or two to learn about human emotions. And even a carefully organized society can learn that it needs to change. After being imprisoned for mouthing off to some pompous idiot merchant, Kellen is rescued by a marsh horse and her rider on behest of their female patron - she has a job for the unraveller. It's not the fault of the setting. Hardinge is an audacious worldbuilder, and this one is set in a swampy world full of spiders that bestow the ability (or maybe inevitability) to curse upon people who have enough hatred in them, allowing even the poor and downtrodden to have power over those they hate. Main characters Nettle and Kellen have both been touched by curses: Nettle and her siblings were turned into birds by their stepmother's curse, and Nettle watched as her hawk-brother killed her dove-sister. Kellen was bitten by a spider and given the exceedingly rare gift of being able to unravel curses, including Nettle's. Unraveller is a story with so much plot that never lulls and yet never feels rushed. It’s rooted in the ideas of strong friendship and responsibility, the subtle but extremely important distinctions between anger and hate, and recognition that there are at least two sides to every story, and what you believe isn’t always true. It is about the importance of thinking for yourself and asking questions, even when painful and uncomfortable, and questioning assumptions, and thinking about the consequences. It’s a story about learning to deal with your pain, and not in the easy way. And it’s a story about the power of understanding and empathy, and the heavy weight of guilt.

Hardinge's writing is always good; it seems a bit less adorned in Unraveller but remains full of evocative similes ("her mind clenched like a fist, and her personality hissed out of its grip like grains of sand between tight fingers") and atmosphere: Così la trama prosegue su due filoni: le indagini dei ragazzi per sciogliere le maledizioni locali che incontrano, e la ricerca, più generale, per capire chi sono i veri nemici e i membri di Salvezza.

But I also loved the more visual parts of the worldbuilding. From bogs to marshes, from rivers to the metropolis; whether we were in lonely places or ones bursting from the seams with inhabitants - this world was beautiful in every way. For fans of Natalie Haynes, Kiran Millwood-Hargrave and Neil Gaiman comes Frances Hardinge's spectacular novel Unraveller. Called her 'best yet' by the Guardian, and 'sheer perfection' and 'a masterpiece' by reviewers, Hardinge expertly weaves together mythology and mystery in a meticulously-detailed world besieged by curses. The Wilds, which run along the coast of Raddith, are a place of mystery and magic and legend, home to beings like marsh horses and Dancing Stars and, most importantly, Little Brothers, which are kind of like spiders, except not really. They weave and they have many legs, but they can also give people the power to curse others. “The curse then nestles in the host’s soul like an unhatched egg, growing in power, until the curser is ready to unleash it upon an enemy.” It’s wonderful that in a story about unravelling - curses, yes, but also the tangled webs of resentment and hate and pain - Frances Hardinge instead weaves a very complex and deeply nuanced tale with a whole onion-worth of layers. With solid Discworld vibes, a complex, emotional friendship that doesn't become a romance and a series of chaotic events, I think this may be the best work Frances has ever produced. While most of her previous books felt more in the Middle Grade category, I think this story could easily appeal to adult fantasy readers.

My hosts started to realize that just because somebody *feels* wronged, that doesn’t mean they are.” Kellen is a young man with an uncanny gift: he can undo (unravel) curses. That's how he met Nettle. She and her siblings had been cursed by their stepmother and Kellen helped ... only Nettle didn't leave his side afterwards and now they are traveling this strange, hate-driven world together. Once upon a time, he lifted a curse from a family of children who’d been turned into birds. One of them refused, remaining a gull. One did something terrible and has not recovered. And one is Nettle, who spent three years as a heron and is now Kellan’s shadow. Her past haunts her, and being human is unfamiliar and uncomfortable, but she is dogged and patient and watchful, and Kellen would not be as good at his work without her.

You have of course heard that some people in Raddith are able to curse their enemies. It sounded so picturesque when you were reading about it at home, like a fairytale. Our main protagonist, Kellen, has a talent for unravelling curses. One day he meets Nettle and unravels her curse and they become close friends. But then Kellen discovers he’s become cursed. As Kellen and Nettle investigate his curse, they go on a journey where they discover secrets and lies and the truth about their friendship.

Moss hung in great, green-grey swathes from the branches. Everywhere there was the cold, lush smell of the woods with its undercurrent of rot, its fierce green freshness and the scent of a thousand marsh flowers gaping their fat silken petals in the summer dark.