In this book, there is a little village nestled in the middle of a forest called Greymist Fair. To an outsider, the village seems no different than any other, but those who live there know that the woods haunt them. While danger roams the woods, the stone path that runs through them, lit by pale blue lights, is the only protection against the witches and wargs that lurk in the darkness.
The book “Greymist Fair,” by Francesca Zappia is split into multiple stories. Each one is told by a different character from the book. Each story is connected to the others in some way, and all of them take place in Greymist Fair. The first story is, “The Girl Who Outran Death,” and it starts with Heike, a young lady who is determined to protect her village.
After finding what was left of fellow villager Tomas, Heike volunteers to go into the woods and speak to the witch like her mother once did. However, instead of meeting the witch, Heike comes face to face with something much more deadly than she was expecting. Heike does the only thing she can do, run.
Ten years before Heike finds Tomas, a magic prince visits the village and tries to seduce the tailor with a wish. The prince is one of many characters that readers get to know in the book. The prince’s story is titled “The Prince’s Riddle” and begins with the line, “The only thing the prince loved more than himself was magic.” This is a lovely insight by the author into what kind of person the prince is. While the prince is not the worst person in the book, he is certainly not the greatest.
The next story is “Wolf Children,” which takes place after the death of Tomas and is told by Tomas’s sister, Liesel. While still mourning her younger brother’s death, Liesel is visited by the ghost of Tomas. This leads Liesel to believe that there is more to her brother’s death than she first thought. Liesel lost her parents at a young age and was forced to raise her brother on her own. Liesel is a headstrong girl with questionable taste in men who is willing to die to find out what happened to her brother.
The following story, “Katrina,” goes back around four years before the death of Tomas. The narrator, Katrina, was the daughter of Lord and Lady Greymist. Katrina is described as the most beautiful girl in the village, and everyone stops just to look at her as she passes by. While one may assume she would be a spoiled brat, instead, she is lonely, so lonely that she befriends Hans, one of the antagonists. Hans, a textbook sociopath and manipulator, is the root of most of the chaos and problems in the village, while also being the source of multiple deaths in the book.
The story, “The Secret of Grey Lake,” takes place a few weeks before Tomas’s death. Fritz is the narrator and another child in the village. Fritz is a gullible boy with no backbone, so it’s no surprise that his only friend is Hans. One day Fritz catches a magical creature from the water, one that grants wishes and sasses as it does so. Fritz makes the mistake of telling Hans of the wishing fish. This leads to many problems for the village and Fritz.
In “Doctor Death” the author transports the reader to a time before Heike was born. The author gives the backstory of the character, Doctor Death, a friend of the villagers who travels through every so often. While not a permanent resident of the village, Doctor Death visits often, after falling in love with the magic of the village and its people. Unlike the other stories in the book, this one takes place over multiple years and is told through each of the doctor’s visits to the village.
The second to last story is titled, “The Wargs of Greymist,” in which Wenzel, Heike’s best friend, goes on a dangerous mission to collect the Yule presents at the edge of the woods. Wenzel was not born in the village, but he is still considered to be one of its people. Much like Fritz, he has no backbone. While retrieving the presents, Wenzel gets attacked and threatened by Hans. Wenzel pities Hans and allows him to come back with him. Now, he has to deal with this sociopathic bully, who berates him at every chance and almost gets him killed while traveling.
The book has an interesting writing style, and while each character has their own story which is connected to a bigger story, it isn’t confusing. These unique stories are hard to put down.
While the reader may assume that since the book is loosely based on the Grimm Fairytales and a murder mystery, it would be darker and the descriptions gorey, but they are not. This book is not recommended for little children, but it is a great choice for teens and young adults. It is perfect for anyone who is looking for a little magic sprinkled into their murder mystery.
by Haley Shepherd
