Emily Lloyd-Jones

SO much fun! Yet, also shivery. This is yet another review that I have to begin with "I don't like zombie books, yet..." because really, I don't usually enjoy stories about the undead rising again and attacking people. But! But! This one was so much fun, it was a lighthearted comic fantasy with a dash of romance amid the horror. And anyway, they weren't really zombies so much as animated skeletons. Okay, with a little bit of flesh maybe. But they weren't nearly as horrific as say, the show more zombies in The Forest of Hands and Teeth for example. These were just...bone houses! And, there's an undead goat who just totally makes the book worth a read. He's hilarious. By the end I was really getting a "The Book of Three" or The Black Cauldron vibe from the book, because of the Welsh place names and legends, as well as the lightheartedness, and then I read in the author's note that she was heavily inspired by Lloyd Alexander's work. And that made total sense. Highly recommended for fans of dark medieval fantasy, but who don't really want it to be *too* dark. Also, a great strong heroine. show less

Actual Rating: 4.25 Stars

I really enjoyed this. I mean, it was zombies and folklore, which are some of my favorite subjects in life, so it was sort of a given that I was going to enjoy it. But there were flashes of humor that I didn’t expect to see. And there were moments that were incredibly deep and prompted a lot of thought for me personally - like if you had the option to hold onto your loved ones after their death, even if they couldn’t speak, would you do it?

My favorite character show more was the goat though. Sorry to the entire cast of fleshed out human characters. The only character that mattered was the goat. show less

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The whole x-Men meets Ocean’s Eleven thing totally caught my attention. Such comparison marketing is often a lie, though, and the cover didn’t especially make me fall in love. Then Dahlia (The Daily Dahlia) told me that Illusive is a Christina book and that the marketing was not lying. At that point, my desire for Illusive went from curiosity to MUST HAS. Once again, Dahlia was totally right. The comparison marketing did show more not lie: superpowers plus clever criminal shenanigans are what you’re going to get from Emily Lloyd-Jones’ debut.

I make no secret of my immense love of books about people with powers. I just love the idea of humanity evolving or getting irradiated or something and then having awesome powers. In Illusive, the powers are “adverse effects” from a cure to a plague that was potentially going to decimate the planet. The cure worked, but hadn’t gotten full testing because there was a bit of a rush on the saving humanity order. Turns out, a small percentage of people would develop a power after being given the cure. The powers, in this world, are: dauthos (super strength), eidos (perfect memory), levitas (ability to float), eludere (basically, elusive and good at escaping situations, as well as enhanced intuition), mentalist (reads minds), illusionist (that’s pretty much in the name), and dominus (I won’t tell you, since it’s a minor spoiler, but you might be able to guess from the name).

The world building in Illusive isn’t exhaustive, but it was solid enough to meet my needs. The powers seem a bit random to me, but that’s really not a big deal. The best thing, I think, is the way people make use of the powers. Levitas, for example, sounds like a pretty useless power, since it’s not ACTUAL flight, but Lloyd-Jones is clever and comes up with some great use cases. Similarly, I thought the dauthos, while having a very common superpower, had some neat elements that made it feel original. There is much power usage and you’ll definitely be happy if you are as into superpower stuff as I am.

Lloyd-Jones also really considers the social ramifications of these powers, which is awesome. These abilities have the ability to cause total chaos. The government and the criminal element both want the immune with powers for the strength they provide. For example, a lot of mentalists were claimed by the government to work for TSA. Those with these adverse effects are basically required to work for the government. Those that don’t want to end up criminals, like Ciere Giba and Daniel Burkhart, the two third person limited main characters of Illusive.

In case you’re side-eyeing the name Ciere, like I was, it’s an alias. Ciere’s a criminal. In fact, she takes pride in her work and feels no regret about her thefts. Illusive is the kind of book where you totally find yourself rooting for the criminal element over the so-called good guys. I like that Ciere’s crew (Kit, most especially) isn’t entirely criminals with hearts of gold. When Illusive opens, Ciere has robbed a bank for fun, just to give you an idea.

The characters are fantastic and varied. There’s not a whole lot of romance, but the banter’s so excellent, as is the plot, that I really didn’t mind the lack. Plus, Lloyd-Jones is setting the scene for some awesome ships later on. I’ve already got a couple that I’m really into View Spoiler ». I especially love the dynamics between Ciere, Kit and Devon. Ciere and Devon have a boy/girl friendship absolutely without sexual tension, which I love wholeheartedly. And the way that Kit picks on Devon amuses me no end.

Illusive is fabulous, action-packed and hilarious. Even though I’m annoyed to find out it’s part of a series only when I reached the end and there were plot threads dangling (though this book has a resolution of its own), I am also excited to get more of these characters and this world. show less

Emily Lloyd-Jones might be following a tried and true pattern of many fantasy epics (a magic user and their companions try to topple a kingdom), but she does it with a decent enough amount of world- and character-building that we are convinced of her story from page one to the finale. She begins with a mythical tone for the preamble, setting the stage for her protagonist, a water diviner named Mererid, to rail against the crown that took her captive as a child and raised her as a weapon of show more magical countenance. Mer has built a quiet life for herself as a serving maid in a bar, but when the spymaster who raised her offers her a chance at destroying the kingdom that turned her magic to nefarious purposes she chooses to take a stand rather than continue running from her past. Along their journey, Mer and Renfrew build a crew of interesting characters ranging from a fey-blessed iron fetch to the heir of the kingdom’s criminal guild and plan a complicated heist that draws on each person’s abilities, but when they reach their destination (a treasure trove on the centre of a hidden island) Lloyd-Jones pulls out a solid double-cross that brings to bear the deeper themes of the story. The careful balance between the fey and human worlds is precarious at best, with few seeing the larger magical and political picture that keeps their borders secure, and it is up to Mer and co. to choose a path forward that keeps the balance intact. Rife with magical lore that quietly suffuses the largely mundane heist narrative, the titular drowned woods becomes a symbol for the duality of Mer’s magic and her inevitable choice that saves the kingdom. Coming full circle as we reach the final pages, Lloyd-Jones wraps up the story with a happy ending for Mer and her iron fetch, but their existence on the border of the fey and human lands hints at a potential for conflict or cooperation between the two realms that remains unanswered. show less