kerravonsen | Yippee!

I've just heard that Merlin's Wood by Anne Hamilton is available to purchase! At last! The book has actually been in print since the end of last year, but I couldn't point anybody to it, because the distribution was lousy. But there's now an e-commerce site which has it, so I can point people there. Yahoo!

Oh, why am I so excited? I admit the chief part of my excitement is that it's the first novel published by one of my best friends -- but it isn't so much that I'm excited because a friend is published, but because this friend is published -- the very talented person who taught me everything I know about fanzine editing, for one. High time she was published.

Okay, the reason why you might be interested is that it's a really good kid's science-fantasy novel. She packs a heck of a lot of plot into a small space; with twists and turns and intriguing mysteries and interesting world-building and good characterisation (I love the way the two main protagonists complement each other in their weaknesses and strengths). Please ignore the hype on the site. Every man and his dog compares children's fantasy with Narnia and Harry Potter, so it's just meaningless. But it is a good book, anyway.