Customer Reviews

Quondam: An Ancient Mirrors Tale

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Amidst death and destruction, Cwen of Aradan and her aunt Yávië, the Dragon Queen, fall from their home in Ædracmoræ through a mirror and into a new world called Quondam. It is a dangerous land, one full of death and shifting loyalties ruled by the harsh iron fist of Queen Karid, a corrupted wood nymph forced to wear the skin of humans as punishment for wrongly accepting a human's soul. Karid will stop at nothing to get what she wants, in this case, destruction of the House of Aradan because of a prophecy foretelling Karid's downfall at the hands of a half human dragon spawn, who can only be freed from his prison by an Aradan. There is both hope and despair in the promise of Cwen's placement in this prophecy, but while there are those who want to help Cwen and shelter her from Karid's wrath, Karid has quite a few allies of her own, and they, like their vicious queen, will do anything to ensure the failure of the prophecy.

This final installment in Gibson's fantastical Ancient Mirrors series is by far my favorite. Cwen is my favorite character because of her physical determination and emotional fragility. She is the key ingredient that breathes life into this novel. Gibson is a fantastic storyteller, able to weave a fast-paced story with elements of fantasy in a way that makes Quondam hard to put down as well as create realistic characters that readers can connect to instead of making them mere machines to carry out the tale. One of the reasons I enjoyed Quondam so much more than the other titles in the Ancient Mirrors series is because the outcome is so dependent on Cwen and her fear of loving. This helped make the story in Quondam so beautifully romantic and unforgettable. The multitude of names and new species are surprisingly easy to keep track of, though the shifting points of view are sometimes difficult to get used to. Quondam ends the Ancient Mirrors series with an epic bang that makes me wish the series would continue.

Fantasy fans, especially those who enjoyed The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Abhorsen Chronicles by Garth Nix, and Foundling by D.M. Cornish, will want to go back to the first installments in the Ancient Mirrors series, Dragon Queen, The Wreckening, and Damselflies, before delving into this fourth one.

By far my favorite book in the whole series. It finally depicts Cwen as a woman with needs, wants, desires and feelings. A child cursed from birth is who Cwen has been foreseen to be the savior of. She has no idea the extent of the curse of the Islander, but soon all will be revealed.

She is beaten and thought dead, tossed into the sea by the nomads; someone evil is out to rid the world of Aradanian blood. She is left a broken woman with fear of man, and no memories of her prior life. The Islander nurtures her and helps her regain her health for near a year, and then when she learns what the dragonspawn truly is she frees him from the prison he has been condemned to for the past 1000 years.

Along her journey Cwen meets a lifelong friend, the man who will shatter her heart for it is made of stone, and the evil Queen Kerid that has destroyed all of her family. She must learn to be the woman she once was, and she must learn to be the woman she needs to be to hold the dragon's heart.

As I said, by far this is my favorite book in all of the Ancient Mirrors series. The characters were so life like and expressed such emotion, it is difficult to not feel like you're part of the story. I hope there are more books to follow this one, and with Ms. Gibson being such a skilled storyteller, I am sure more is to come.

The fourth and final installment of the "Ancient Mirrors" fantasy series has arrived with "Quondam". The "Ancient Mirrors" series is a line of stories where women do not submit helplessly before men; "Quondam" is no different, following Cwen as she finds herself in another world whose problems will engulf her own world unless she does something to stop it. She must overthrow a Queen to save both worlds in this riveting fantasy. A must for community library collections dedicated to the genre.

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***

Cwen is a freedom-loving, passionate and fiery-haired maiden of Aaradan. After the assassination of most of her relatives and the destruction of the only place she called a home, her ultimate goal in life becomes revenge. Total, annihilating and bloody revenge. With ill-kept tears in her eyes, yet weaving cunning plans, the heroine decides to act, but a nameless, all-powerful nemesis of hers strikes with fire; a fire almost as destructive as Cwen's.

As she and her aunt, the Dragon Queen Yavie travel to an unknown world with the aid of a magic-fuelled looking-glass, Cwen is entangled into a story of grim premonitions, treachery and age-old blood oaths. Yavie and Cwen find themselves surrounded by a strange people, perilous in their well-kept secrets and engulfed in mysteries.

In fact, "Quondam" is the fourth and final book in the Ancient Mirrors series, and as such I didn't expect to comprehend the dynamics of the setting at first. However, Jayel Gibson seems to be extremely good at introductions and my expectations were virtually routed as soon as the plot started to unfold.

As every epic fantasy novel, Quondam is generously suffused with unfathomable magic, insidious monsters, suspenseful fights, some tearful drama and the mandatory prophecy. In my opinion, the strongest asset of Jayel Gibson's writing is the development of her main characters. The heroine, Cwen, and some of her companions are subject to satisfying progress throughout the novel and act in a believable and adequate way.

Another enjoyable aspect of the book is its plot. As mentioned, with Quondam the author does not test the ever-changing boundaries of fantasy fiction. The formulae of high fantasy are kept and fortunately, Jayel Gibson has succeeded in penning down a complex story.

Nevertheless, the storyline itself is sometimes flawed with little, but still baffling discrepancies, such as odd-acting secondary characters, insufficient description of the setting (though I haven't read the other three novels). The cities, the mountains, the nomads, the other people, races, etc, are all lacking enough "flesh" to sound right. Another annoying thing was the untimely demise of some minor characters.

I cannot say with honesty that Quondam is a disappointment. There are a few shortcomings, true, but still they do not ruin a good novel with likable characters, intricate plot and hack'n'slash adventures.