{Review Redux} MORRIGHAN by Mary E. Pearson

O P E N I N G   H O O K:

    SHE ASKS FOR ANOTHER STORY, one to pass the time and fill her.
    I search for the truth, the details of a world so long past now, I'm not sure it ever was.
    Once upon a time, so very long ago,
    In an age before monsters and demons roamed the earth,
    A time when children ran free in meadows,
    And heavy fruit hung from trees,
    There were cities, large and beautiful with sparkling towers that touched the sky.
    Were they made of magic?
    I was only a child myself. I thought they could hold a whole world. To me they were made of--
    Yes, they were spun of magic and light and the dreams of gods.
    And there was a princess?
    I smile.
    Yes, my child, a precious princess just like you. She had a garden filled with trees that hung with fruit as big as a man's fist.
    The child looks at me, doubtful.
    She has never seen an apple but she has seen the fists of men.
    Are there really such gardens, Ama?
    Not anymore.
    Yes, my child, somewhere. And one day you will find them.

(Page 6, US e-book edition)

This review was first featured on A Backwards Story on August 3, 2016.
With VOW OF THIEVES, the second book in the companion series out this week, I want to introduce new readers to this fantastic series!

“We were strong. No one crossed us for fear of consequence. We had horses. We had weapons. We had earned the right to cut others down.” 

~Jafir, MORRIGHAN

With VOW OF THIEVES, the second book in the companion series to the initial debut trilogy set in the world of The Remnant Chronicles, out this week, I thought I'd celebrate by re-reading the entire series this month. This time, I began with the fantastic prequel e-novella, MORRIGHAN. It introduces how the world of the long-forgotten past may have fallen and been rebuilt to what it is today -- and really changes the way you think about the series! Beginning with MORRIGHAN this time around really opened my eyes more as I perused the rest of the series. It won't spoil THE KISS OF DECEPTION, but will certainly enhance the world and the inserted passages of the past.

You don't need to have read THE KISS OF DECEPTION or THE HEART OF BETRAYAL (or even THE BEAUTY OF DARKNESS, which I never reviewed because series ending spoilers!) in order to read MORRIGHAN. The novella takes place long, long before the trilogy begins. In fact, Morrighan is a legendary character to the "modern day" who honors her memory. She is a Christopher Columbus of her time. And yet...her story is NOT the story that is passed down through generations.

In fact, before reading MORRIGHAN, I had absolutely no idea that the world of the Remnant Chronicles was built on the back of OUR society. The series is very fantasy, with kingdoms, ruins, dangerous beasts, and political maneuvering/border wars. But those towers, those ruins? They were OUR buildings. WE are the Ancients of legend, the "gods" who could "fly through the air" and had buildings that "rose to the sky." After reading MORRIGHAN, I assume that there was some sort of nuclear fallout because of how rare clear skies were and the fact that it is said a "cloud of death rolled across the land" (pg. 25, nook edition) and "pantry stockpiles that hadn't yet spoiled or been raided" (page 30, nook edition).. There's a passage that talks about how "The maps and gadgets and inventions of man could not help us survive or find food" (page 30, nook edition).

Maybe the world isn't EXACTLY ours and wasn't destroyed in SUCH a way, but those were the implications in what I read. Morrighan is young, and wasn't alive when the Ancients existed. Her Ama was herself very young when the world fell, and remembers through a child's eyes. She had little understanding of the world, and most of her knowledge is second-hand. She's passing that second-hand knowledge down, and it will continue to pass down through generations, kind of like Whisper Down the Lane. By the time The Remnant Chronicles Trilogy begins, none of the knowledge exists. When we as readers hear about the Ancients, and the ruins, we don't visualize our own world. THE QUEEN OF THE TEARLING by Erika Johansen is also set in a fantasy world sprung from our own realm, but the knowledge isn't lost. What's funny is that some readers had issues with how "modern" that book blended with the more "historical" feel to the series that comes with most fantasy novels. Mary E. Pearson takes a different route, and blends the worlds so seamlessly, you don't even know anything else ever existed.

I really wish MORRIGHAN was a full-fledged novel. I'd love another novel continuing her story. I'd also love a story featuring the Great Fall to make sense over what was happening to cement the nation of the Remnants in my head. Maybe a tragic, star-crossed story with no happy ending? Maybe even one where young Ama makes an appearance, though she'd be much too little to be a big character in the tale at that point! Sometimes, I buy an e-book novella that is a series companion and I feel so let-down because the story is super short for the money and mostly just a sample for the next book they want you to buy. MORRIGHAN, however, is one of those precious few novellas that really has meat on its own. It has a full story. It makes you care about Morrighan and Jafir and the world they live in. It makes you want to know more about them. This novella is ABSOLUTELY worth the money and not to be missed!

If you read MORRIGHAN and then go back and re-read (or first time read!) The Remnant Chronicles, you'll find yourself looking for hints at the world of the Ancients and reading into the sacred texts scattered throughout the series to see how you missed something so obvious. (And it won't come to you, because this world is so far removed from ours that they don't even know these truths.) Then, you'll find yourself reading those same sacred texts and thinking, "But this isn't what Morrighan did. That person didn't do that. This doesn't make sense. This information is wrong." The world of the Remnants is built on lies and half-truths. Whisper Down the Lane has destroyed so much. Altering opinions on what happened to Morrighan from both Morrighan herself and her Ama, Gaudrel, differ, because they experienced a huge event very differently and don't have a way to match stories.

The level of world-building Pearson has used to craft The Remnant Chronicles is stunning, and this is such a favorite fantasy series of mine!!!

~*~

C O N T E N T R A T I N G S

Content Ratings: highlight between ( ) for details

Romance: PG13 ( kissing )

Language: G ( The Scavengers often have harsh words for one another, though nothing foul/inappropriate that I can recall)
Violence: PG13+ ( Non-graphic, but depictions murder and death and violence through maraudering. Being harassed for being female. This is a society built on survival. )

Other:  --

~*~

C O V E R   D E S I G N:

I don't have much of an opinion on this one. I love that they're still using that gorgeous series logo because it adds extra intrigue to every cover its on.

I like to think this cover provides a glimpse at the place where Morrighan and Jafir meet and, over time, fall in love. But if I didn't know what the cover was supposed to represent or that it was part of a series, it wouldn't really stand out to me.

  ~*~

O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title: MORRIGHAN

Author: Mary E. Pearson

Release Date: Jan. 12, 2016

Publisher: Henry Holt // Macmillan
Received: Purchased

SUMMARY:

Before borders were drawn, before treaties were signed, before wars were waged anew, before the great kingdoms of the Remnant were even born and the world of old was only a hazy slate of memory told in story and legend, a girl and her family fought to survive. 

And that girl’s name was Morrighan. 

In this prequel novella to the Remnant Chronicles, a girl and a boy from enemy camps meet, fall in love--and set history in motion.