Heartbroken over the
tragic death of her fiancé, seventeen-year-old Zora Stewart leaves Baltimore
for the frontier town of West Glory, Oklahoma, to help her young widowed aunt
keep her homestead going. There she discovers that she possesses the
astonishing ability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires
her out as a “springsweet” to advise other settlers where to dig their wells,
Zora feels the burden of holding the key to something so essential to survival
in this unforgiving land. Even more, she finds herself longing for love the way
the prairie thirsts for water.
Maybe, in the wildness
of the territories, Zora can finally move beyond simply surviving and start
living.
Saundra Mitchell is a
master of setting. All of her books have had a vivid and palpable feel to them,
and this book is no exception. I could taste the dust of the road, smell the
grass on the prairie, feel the water between my toes, etc. Whenever I want to
feel like I’m in another world, I pick up one of Saundra’s books.
Zora is a great
character. Her grief is tangible and drives her to do selfish things because
she can't see beyond it. That rang true to me. Desperation also drove her to
find her inner strengths, which also rang true. And the guilt she felt from her
attraction to Emerson was fantastic. I really liked Emerson, too. all his
actions made sense according to his personality, and I had a good feel for who
he is.
The shape of the story
wasn't as effective as I was hoping. It was pretty even throughout, and I kept
looking for more surprises. The foreshadowing of complications from the wells
was natural and needed, but I was hoping for something on top of that—completely
different, yet related. This story kind of seems a vessel to find the earth and
water elements, and then the next book will have the actual conflict. Which is
a bummer because I thought there were a few missed opportunities for conflict. For
example, I wasn't sure of the point of the stage robbing, especially since we don’t
see Ellis again and the conflict with Royal doesn’t really amount to anything.
I am hoping it's not setup for the next book.
The ending, however, is
superb. I loved how it ties the two books together while setting up for the
third, which I will most definitely be reading.
4 comments:
I don't think I've heard of this one before. Very nice review.
Nice review. The book sounds like one I would enjoy.
I don't see the link for the contest ... that being said, I really enjoyed Saundra's last novel and am looking forward to this one too. Thanks for reminding me about it.
The review is thoughtful and well-balanced, and left me really wanting to read the books -- I'd love to learn how to be a 'master of setting,' right?
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