Book Review: A Merric's Tale by Margs Murray

A Merric’s Tale

by Margs Murray

I picked up this book because the author grew up in the area I now live in. I was quite amused to find that she had used place names from this area for both characters and places in the book. It’s a silly little thing but it made me smile, and they were well chosen, not forced into the story. You won’t notice if you don’t already know the names.

I did not have a sense of what it was about other than some sort of fantasy and I thought it was a YA book. I was right, and yet I was elated with the combination of elements that she brought to play in the story.

It is a really fascinating YA read. There’s an Alice in Wonderland surreal feeling but at the same time the main character, Waverly, is dealing with the very real and gritty, heartbreak of dementia. Her grandmother claims to be the “Princess and Royal Heiress to the Kingdom of America.” The diagnosis is Alzheimer’s, but Waverly thinks there is something more going on.

Great-uncle Bollard arrives and offers Waverly a position with his company. Waverly hopes that he might be able to offer some insight into her grandmother’s condition, or some special doctors. Just the same, she decides not to go. Her parents forbid it. And yet, in the course of a few minutes, everything changes and she is gone.

The ensuing setting calls to mind Alice in Wonderland for me. It is incredibly surreal. Darker elements take hold and we begin to get the sense that perhaps Great-uncle Bollard isn’t as altruistic as he would have Waverly believe. What does he really want from her?

Great-uncle Bollard’s mansion is full of the pageantry and excesses of the royalty in the 1600s. A sense of horror grows as Waverly finds out the truth and sets out to escape her Great-uncle’s clutches. The second half of the book is highly reminiscent of thrillers about evading Germans in France during World War II. However, Waverly is not alone and a romance begins, aided by circumstances and proximity. But is it one-sided?

There were some formatting issues, an extra line between paragraphs in some parts of the book, and a single tab indent on some paragraphs while others had a double tab. It was slightly distracting but not enough to pull from my enjoyment of the book. If you can ignore that, it's a captivating read. In fact, as the book went on, I felt myself trying to read faster and faster, willing to stay up late to get to the end.

Unfortunately, knowing some people who get very angry at cliffhangers, I do have to warn that there is one here. Something good happens, then something bad happens, and quite suddenly it’s the end of the book! I admit that I was slightly annoyed.

Here's hoping the second book is in production. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and can't wait for the next.