The Red Mother

by

EPUB

English language

Published June 22, 2021 by Tom Doherty Associates.

ISBN:
978-1-250-82374-8
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ISFDB ID:
2997592

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4 stars (2 reviews)

Auga, a wandering sorcerer, follows his brother's fate-thread into the village of Ormsfjoll, where he expects to deliver good news and continue his travels. What he doesn't anticipate is that to meet his brother he must first contend with the truth at the heart of the volcano that wreaks havoc on Ormsfjoll.

1 edition

reviewed The Red Mother by Elizabeth Bear

Wonderful world building in a fractured fairytale

4 stars

Bear creates an interesting alternate world with strange customs and complicated family situations, and drops the reader in media res to figure it out. In this world dragons are powerful, but also intellectually curious and don't need to be fought to "win", for some definition of winning.

Tor has published the full text: www.tor.com/2021/06/23/the-red-mother-elizabeth-bear/ and the author is also on mastodon @matociquala@raggedfeathers.com

reviewed The Red Mother by Elizabeth Bear

When the way to finding your brother goes through a volcano...

3 stars

Set in Iceland, the story leads a male witch on a trail to find his brother to inform him that he has been pardoned for a crime which got him exiled. But he finds the trail leads to a farm which tells him he has to deal with a volcano and obtain an elixir from it before he can talk to his brother.

An interesting story that weaves together magic, compassion for a lame, potentially sacrificial horse and the telling of riddles.