Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

This is the cover I have

I will tell you a story of magic and love, of daring and death, and one to comfort your heart. It will be the truest story I have ever told. Now listen, and tell me if it is not so.

Keturah follows a legendary hart deep into the forest, where she becomes hopelessly lost. Her strength diminishes until, finally, she realizes that death is near--and learns then that death is a young lord, melancholy and stern. Renowned for her storytelling, Keturah is able to charm Lord Death with a story and gain a reprieve--but he grants her only a day, and within that day she must find true love. Martine Leavitt offers a spellbinding story, interweaving elements of classic fantasy and romance.

When two authors, renowned for their world-building and mad storytelling skills tell you over cocktails: "You have to read this book, it is gorgeous" you sort of have to listen.

I did.  The two authors in question who spoke eloquently and beautifully about the magic contained in Keturah and Lord Death are Kaz Mahoney and Tessa Gratton.  Now these are two writers whose work I enjoy reading, whose careers are built on solid storytelling and research.  So I trusted them when they told me these things about this book I've never heard anything of.  And I wasn't disappointed.

Buying in Keturah and Lord Death I was struck by the beautiful cover - a bit Goth, a bit fantasy, a bit...everything I like basically.  I was told it would read like a fairy tale, or a fable, and that it would seem like an older story, retold, but it's not. It is all the hand-crafted wordsmithing by Marine Leavitt.

And the girls were right.  The story held strains of something...I couldn't quite put my finger on.  There was a European-ness to the story that's not something I get to read very often, not unless I'm reading Cat Valente's books. And to be fair, the story does hold faint echoes of Scheherazade putting off her execution by telling cliff-hanger endings to each story which is what Keturah does too, to Lord Death to prevent him from taking her that first night.

As her own death grows eminent, Keturah looks around her small village and realises how much humanity and beauty there is contained within the hearts and souls of her friends and neighbours.  Not all of them are lovely, some are quite sharp and odd towards her as the story progresses but we know come to know why and it's told beautifully.  She does everything within her power to keep them safe, even if it means being seen as a peculiar young woman, a witch, an undesirable person.

In an attempt to stave off becoming Death's bride, Keturah desperately tries to find her one true love but in her quest, she becomes a catalyst for bigger things within the village which in turn has larger repercussions in the grander scheme of things. 

The story is told from Keturah's point of view and it is wonderfully written using beautiful haunting language that has echoes of melancholy fraying the edges of the story.

We know how the story ends, but it's how Keturah makes her decision ultimately, that is the story here, what drives her to do what she does and how her friends and villagers react and how she makes peace within herself - a genuinely strong piece of character driven development which had me in tears.

It's rare to find a novel aimed at the YA market that, when you look at it, is very self-contained, set within it's own world so completely, that you are only peripherally aware of the greater world outside of it that's alluded to.

The author's writing reminded me of Malinda Lo's in Huntress (also Ash, but more in Huntress) and Cat Valente's beautiful prose in her The Orphan's Tales novels and also Deathless.  This is a book you pick and read for the atmosphere and sadness and heartache and beauty - it took me a few days to pull away from it, and it haunts me still, several weeks after I've read it.  Like Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey,  Keturah and Lord Death will stay with you, for a long time after you've put it down.

This is another cover - still lovely but not as lovely as mine. 

As Ms. Leavitt doesn't have an active website at the moment, I'm instead linking to a great interview Cynthia Leitich Smith did with her over at her blog about her writing etc.

Tessa Gratton talks to MFB

In June I reviewed the wonderful Blood Magic and was lucky enough to be able to interview Tessa Gratton too. Here's what she had to say: -

Hi Tessa and welcome to My Favourite Books.

Tell us about where your research for Blood Magic took you. What sorts of things did you find yourself reading?

I read a lot of books about body-snatching in Scotland, England, and the US, about American folk magic, the Pennsylvania-Dutch, and European Medieval magic, alchemy, and early frontier medicine. Most of that was all to develop my system of magic and the history of its practitioners.

Silla and Nick are both struggling with damaged pasts and are essentially true of heart yet Josephine is a nasty piece of work but conscience free. Why do baddies get to have all the fun?

LOL. Well, bad guys want the bad consequences! Those of us we try to do good most of the time have to be aware of the consequences of our actions, and take responsibility for them. You can’t ignore repercussions of something like blood magic (or getting into a car drunk, for example). For the good guys, it isn’t just about selfish fun.

Following on from this, you've done some brilliant videos of Josephine's diary entries. She's such a glorious character, how much did you enjoy writing/acting her part?

She was the most fun to write, hands down! I can do just about anything with her because she’s so free and just evil enough to do anything she wants! Acting her role was frustrating because I don’t have any clothes that she would actually wear – so I stressed about it! But once it was taken care of, I loved it. She’s delicious.

There are a lot of parallels between blood magic and self harm. Although Silla isn't self-harming she has lost weight, altered her appearance and behaviour. Did you worry that people would take the act of blood magic the wrong way?

I hope that readers will see that the issue is complicated – and it’s important to bring up consequences again, as above. You can’t do something without consequences. Whether that’s self-harm, blood magic, not eating, etc. Everything you do changes you, and you need to be aware of that. I do think the vast majority of readers are smart and savvy and will see the complications (and the fantasy), so I’m not terribly worried.

People are always quick to criticise subject matter in young adult fiction but Shakespeare often covered equally dark subjects. How do you feel about this?

I think that readers self-censor. If a teen doesn’t want to read about something dark, he or she won’t. And if they do, then my not writing about it won’t stop them. They can find it in adult literature and things like, as you mention, Shakespeare. There’s nothing I’m going to write that can’t be found on basic television or video games, either.

Will we see more of Silla and Nick?

Maaaaaybe. :D

Tell us about how Merry Fates got started. How do the three of you find time to write your short stories?

The three of us were critique partners already, and we all met online. I’d been giving away free fiction (short stories and a serial novel) online for about 2 years, and Maggie did an art project one year where she painted a complete painting every day. She suggested we do a similar thing with stories – that’s how Merry Fates was born. As for finding time, some days it was harder than others, but usually it was only a matter of discipline. You sometimes have to give up time from writing other things or an hour of TV watching! You find time for the things you prioritize, and we all prioritize writing and Merry Fates.

Thank you for again for taking the time to talk to us!

Blood Magic Competition Winner

The winner of an advanced reader's copy of Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton is ……

Jemma

Congratulations and I've contacted you by email to get your address.

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton and Giveaway

Synopsis

For Nick Pardee and Silla Kennicot, the cemetery is the center of everything.

Nick is a city boy angry at being forced to move back to the nowhere town of Yaleylah, Missouri where he grew up. He can’t help remembering his mom and the blood magic she practiced – memories he’s tried for five years to escape. Silla, though, doesn’t want to forget; her parents’ apparent murder-suicide left her numb and needing answers. When a book of magic spells in her dad’s handwriting appears on her doorstep, she sees her chance to unravel the mystery of their deaths.

Together they plunge into the world of dark magic, but when a hundred-year-old blood witch comes hunting for the bones of Silla’s parents and the spell book, Nick and Silla will have to let go of everything they believe about who they are, the nature of life and death, and the deadly secrets that hide in blood.

This is yet another of my hotly-anticipated books for 2011. I've followed Tessa's Livejournal for a while and couldn't wait to get a copy. I hoped it would be dark and magical so dived in as soon as it arrived. I'm a bit worried I won't be able to do it justice in this review but I'm going to have a go. Firstly, there's Silla who before the suspected murder/suicide of her parents was a happy-go-lucky girl. Before, she was pretty, open and popular but now it's after and she has lost weight, cut her hair, has few friends and is barely recognisable as her former self. The result of this is that she's an outsider and the source of gossip in a pretty small town.

Nick's come from Chicago and isn't over the moon to find himself in Missouri in the middle of senior year. After taking a walk to get away from his awful (totally hateful!) stepmother he comes across Silla in a graveyard, cutting her thumb and rejuvenating a dried up leaf. This moment of blood magic causes Nick to remember his mother who always had plasters on her fingers and taught him the basics of her craft. The next day at school Nick gets a chance to introduce himself properly and I have to say, wow, he is seriously charming. He has a sort of casual way about him that enables him to make friends but be confident enough to stand apart from them and disagree if needs be. Silla and Nick together are a great, sexy couple. So often in young adult books I feel that the relationships are unnaturally chaste. I mean, I'm not suggesting that everyone should be getting in deep and heavy every five seconds but I appreciate it when two teens actually kiss and mean it and there's no heavy moralistic vibe behind the relationship.

Silla isn't totally alone though. She has a solid support in the form of Gram Judy, who stepped in after her parents died, and Reese - her brother. Whilst Silla won't believe that her dad murdered her mum Reese does and is struggling with his anger. Despite this his love for Silla is clear. Together, with the help of Nick, they try to unravel the secrets in their dad's magic book as they explore how far blood magic can take them. Interspersed through the book are excepts from the diary of Josephine Darly. Although her story starts in 1903 it becomes apparent that what she has to say has relevance to the present day. Josephine is a fantastic character; selfish, passionate, jealous and - to be frank- an out-and-out bitch. Tessa Gratton has done some brilliant videos of Josephine's chapters and I implore you to check them out.

Needless to say Silla, Nick and Reese get deeply involved before they realise how much danger they are in. I was totally surprised by the outcome and didn't see it coming at all. I sense I'm rambling even more than usual so I'll wrap this up by saying that Blood Magic is one of my favourite books of the year so far. It's bloody and at times bleak yet full of hope and self-discovery and I loved it.

GIVEAWAY

We have one advanced proof copy of Blood Magic to give away. This competition is open to UK people only and a winner will be chosen using random. org from the comments. Please leave your email in the comments and we'll contact you on or after the closing date (Monday 4th July) if you've won to get your address so we can send out your prize. One comment per entry only please!

Good luck!