Reader Review: Niahm and the Hermit

Come away, oh mortals; come away from this world of dreary cares and dismal doings. Enter into a rich world of mystery, wonder, and danger, where the pageantry of the court and the stubborn day-to-day living of the common world sit comfortable together, and where the woods hold constant danger and the possibility of breathtaking beauty.

Niahm and the Hermit is a marvelous piece of high fantasy that flows like a deep, slow river toward a satisfying, if tear-jerking, conclusion. The plot never feels hurried, moving on at a steady pace to allow the reader to understand everything going on--and be aware, there is always a lot going on. The world of the Twelve Kingdoms is well-imagined and filled with its own mythologies, often referencing old tales and goings-on that happened well before the story takes place. The settings move from the pageantry of the court to the goings-on at a common inn in the town below the castle, from the eerie depths of the Dark Wood to the merriment of a Faerie's woodland hall, from the rough life on the road to the simple life of a peasant--flowing seamlessly from one setting to the other, and doing it so well it never feels jarring.
The book boasts several villains: the sophisticated Count, whose fall is detailed in the first few chapters until you are not surprised at the depth of his depravity, an ancient evil that roams the mountains, and a bitter, spiteful old witch with ambitions beyond her powers, in addition to numerous monsters roaming the Dark Wood and three demonic shadows serving the Count. And these villains are written so well that, despite the fact that the entire rest of the cast is, if not heroes, at least innocents, they never seem overmatched.
But the heroes are the real reason the book works so well. Despite the poetic, archaic prose they speak and act in, every one of them comes across as a real person, cheerfully shattering the myth that truly good people are boring to read about. The heroine, in particular--a princess who is so beautiful she blinds almost anyone who sees her without her veil, and is as good as she is beautiful--never comes across as cloying, silly, dull, or without humor. Even more impressively, her devoted, feisty cousin Elowen never reads as bitchy--though her role as uninterested heartbreaker of the court could easily degenerate into that. And the hero, Gethin, the mysterious Hermit, is completely believable as he seeks out his beloved, whom he knows only through a few letters and one conversation in the moonlight.
The book is not for everyone. Just for starters, the prose is rich, generously embellished with verbal equivalents of purple, lapis lazuli, and gold leaf. The language is also archaic, the characters addressing each other as 'Thee' and 'Thou' except in informal circumstances, and the descriptive scenes can take up to half a page to read. Admittedly, that's one of my favorite things about the book: I really like gorgeous description and lush prose.
The story has a tone of high morals without being preachy. Actions have consequences, and if your actions aren't the best, then you might find the consequences unpleasant--which is all it really has to say on the subject, aside from a mild sorrow indicated when certain characters fall. In one instance, the Count uses crude language--which is in keeping with the scene, where he is trying to drive his guard into madness--and there are a few mentions of premarital sex, all of which are mentioned so lightly, or so subtly, that a preteen probably wouldn't pick them up at all. (Three captives in the camp of the Wolf King are said to have been trysting when they were caught, and a sassy old lady telling a story makes a reference to a girl who would "give her all, and have worse for her pains in nine month's time.")
There are dozens of characters, all of whom have Welsh or Gaelic-styled names, and this makes the glossary and pronunciation guide in the back of the book vital. The good thing is, even the appendices are are so well-written that you don't mind going through them to look up different characters or backstories. In fact, I look forward to paging through and reading the legends of the Twelve Kingdoms.
So if you like deep stories where there's always another thing to discover, rich language, and vibrant characters, I would heartily recommend this book.