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The Great November Book Release Re-Boot: The Weaver

Thursday, May 4, 2017 - 07:00
The Weaver - cover image

I read Emmi Itäranta's previous book A Memory of Water and found it intriguingly different in flavor than the typical run of dystopian fiction I encountered. Her latest novel looks to be similarly different (if that's an appropriate concept). Per the blurb:

The author of the critically acclaimed Memory of Water returns with this literary ecological tale in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin and Sheri S. Tepper, in which an innocent young woman becomes entangled in a web of ancient secrets and deadly lies that lie at the dark center of her prosperous island world.

Eliana is a model citizen of the island, a weaver in the prestigious House of Webs. She also harbors a dangerous secret—she can dream, an ability forbidden by the island’s elusive council of elders. No one talks about the dreamers, the undesirables ostracized from society.

But the web of protection Eliana has woven around herself begins to unravel when a young girl is found lying unconscious in a pool of blood on the stones outside the house. Robbed of speech by her attackers, the only clue to her identity is one word tattooed in invisible ink across her palm: Eliana. Why does this mysterious girl bear her name? What links her to the weaver—and could she hold Eliana’s fate in her hand?

As Eliana finds herself growing closer to this injured girl she is bound to in ways she doesn’t understand, the enchanting lies of the island begin to crumble, revealing a deep and ancient corruption. Joining a band of brave rebels determined to expose the island’s dark secrets, Eliana becomes a target of ruthless forces determined to destroy her. To save herself and those she loves, she must call on the power within her she thought was her greatest weakness: her dreams.

I've been trying to read some current Finnish SFF before traveling to Helsinki for this year's Worldcon, and I may try to fit this in as part of that project.


The Great November Book Release Re-Boot is intended to highlight books of potential interest to my readers that might have gotten lost in the shuffle during the angst after the USA presidential election last November. This is also a clever ruse to still my conscience about re-promoting my own November release, Mother of Souls, the third book in the Alpennia historic fantasy series.

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