Caught in Crystal
Lyra, Book #4
Patricia C. Wrede

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Verushka

Caught in Crystal is part of Patricia Wrede’s acclaimed Lyra series of books, now published for the first time in ebook form. The series consists of five books that are loosely connected, but all are based on the same world – Lyra. An interesting side-note is that Wrede created a role-playing game about Lyra, and after reading this book, it’s one I would love to get my hands on.

I think the hidden gem of this novel is the introduction to the Lyra series by the author. Included in the introduction is a collection of posts Wrede shared on her blog of the the first chapter of Shadow Magic, and her reasons for the changes she made. It is such an intriguing look into her thought processes as a writer, and includes comments and points-of-view that as a reader I know I haven’t thought of before. When I found myself going back and re-reading parts of the excerpts and her comments, I realized I would have to leave this part of the book until the end, because I would have these comments at the back of mind while reading, wondering what she was thinking. Kind of like watching a behind-the-scenes featurette of a movie, seeing how all the SFX are done and not being able to forget that knowledge while watching the movie.

But, back to the book – the story of this novel revolves around Kayl, an innkeeper and former member of the Sisterhood of Stars, a powerful and respected coven of witches. But, within the Sisterhood, Kayl was considered a warrior, not a magic user. She left the Sisterhood years before the book begins, and after a mission that went horribly wrong. When the book opens, she is an innkeeper, a widower and a mother trying to keep her children in line and her head above water in her business – all in all, she is facing the typical issues any single mother would.

Soon enough, the Sisterhood comes calling, asking her to return to its fold and to return to the Twisted Tower, the very place that she went to years before on another mission for the Sisterhood.  The Sisterhood believes that whatever is currently interfering with its magic will be found there. Nothing is straightforward about that though, for Kayl can’t trust her memories of the prior mission, and Dara, her daughter is to her dismay intricately tied to the current mission despite Kayl’s best intentions of protecting her from her past.

So, it would seem straightforward enough right? The best stories often are, and with this Lyra title at least (the others are on my to-read list) Wrede shows off her world-building skills, something I find that pretty much makes or breaks a series for me. Lyra is a world with four races, in conflict over different issues and experiencing very familiar biases. The Sisterhood begins the book as a coven that is looked up to, but  Kayl notes their awful treatment of two beings she is close to – Glyndon (Varnan) and Bryn (Wyrd).  The book includes a prologue where Wrede provides a tale of the history of Lyra and its races, its wars and while reading such histories can be a chore in some titles, Wrede has crafted a prologue that makes her Lyra history something that is interesting to read.

Through the book, aside from the characters’ interactions, there are interludes, histories really, of the places where a large part of the book occurs. Again, they are a straightforward telling of the places’ histories. They bring weight to the chapters that follow, and these histories, like the prologue are relatable to any reader I think, which makes them a strength of the novel.

Character-wise, it is Kayl and her children will receive loving attention from Wrede. But Kayl, first – what I liked was years after being part of the Sisterhood, Kayl acknowledges she is older and out of shape compared to her younger, warrior self. It’s going to take time to get back to being fighting fit, practice even and I know it seems strange, but things like this are often glossed over in books and I can appreciate a writer treating a character realistically like this, and giving her the time to get back to being fighting fit. In this case, during Kayl’s journeys to different places in the book, she makes a point of mentioning the practice Kayl goes through with her sword, remembering old lessons she learned at the Sisterhood.

Another facet of Kayl’s character that I found interesting was that she was the only  female warrior in the group travelling to the Twisted Tower. It’s not that Glyndon or anyone else was incapable of physically defending themselves, but Kayl in her past was defined as being a warrior, and a strategist in the Sisterhood (remember this book was written in 1987) in the story. Wrede has flipped expectations when it comes to what readers might expect of a story featuring magic, I think.

This isn’t a story without romance, but it is done subtly. Glyndon, an old friend of her husband (a wizard too) returns and admits to having loved her for years. From the point I found this out, I did consider that perhaps their romance was too subtly done, shown in the briefest of touches or banter, but then it occurred to me this isn’t the tale of a romance between Glyndon and Kayl, this is Kayl’s tale – a mother who is trying to right her past, and whose children always come first. Glyndon is and should be secondary to that.

I do confess though, I would love to read a tale about what he went through in his years apart from Kayl or perhaps learn more about why he loved her for so long. Or, even a tale of their lives after this one.

Mark and Dara, Kayl’s kids are the other important part of this novel for me – they can be annoying, as kids their ages tend to be, but obedient of their mother when they should be. They are ultimately everything that drives Kayl, and for them to matter as much to readers as they do Kayl, they needed to be fully realized characters with quirks, and strong relationships with their mother.
The characters of the Sisterhood are secondary I felt to the above characters I mentioned, but they play their part if being aloof characters, caught only by their desire to regain their magic. They manipulate whoever they need to achieve those ends and Kayl struggles with seeing that truth about them compared to the high esteem in which she held them years previous. Despite the circumstances in which she left the coven, she has to admit that to herself and let go of the old image she had of them.

All in all, this is a wonderful read, filled with incredible world-building and characters that are easy to relate to.