Title: The Story Peddler
Author: Lindsay A. Franklin
- Date read: May 8, 2018
- Rating: 5 stars
- Genre: Fantasy
- Age: YA
- Year pub: 2018
- Pages: 330 (paperback)
- Series: The Weaver Trilogy, #1
- Fave character: Mor and Warmil, maybe?
- Source: The publisher
- Notes: With thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of the book. I was not required to write a positive review, and these opinions are entirely my own.
- Links: Goodreads • Amazon • Author’s Website
10 Thoughts on The Story Peddler by Lindsay A. Franklin
1. What an enjoyable tale! When I first heard about this book, I knew I needed to try it out. A fantasy novel about a story-weaver who sells stories? Um, yes, please! I think it could have been more of a top-favorite than it ended up being (for me), but on the whole I loved it! ^_^
2. Tanwen, our heroine, tells most of the story in her own charming village girl voice, though a few chapters are in third-person and follow Princess Braith, another very interesting character. There were a lot of characters, but I didn’t find it hard to keep track of them since they were all very unique. I did think that the amount of people in the story made it hard to have enough time for each of them, so I’d have liked if there was more time for a couple of them, like Mor and Aeron. Still, I ended up quite liking the band of weavers! And, as far as page-time, there’s always the sequel… which I need ASAP!
3. This tale of a fantasy land where the king has outlawed all stories except for the “crown-approved” ones, had some great things to say. I loved that. I don’t want to give anything away, but it was very thought-provoking how there are consequences to telling the false versions of stories. Tanwen needs to tell the truth in her stories, even if it’s not Crown Approved; especially if it’s not Crown Approved. As a writer myself, I loved the creative storyteller aspect of this book! It inspired me more than ever that it’s not good to “squish down” things—that storytellers must tell the truth and tell it like the story is supposed to be told, not how “rules” or the crown says. That’s so important, and I love when novels have compelling threads of truth like that woven through them, like The Story Peddler does.
4. The world was neat. I loved the idea of story weavers and… other such things, which I won’t give away. Who wouldn’t want to be able to make things appear from their told-aloud stories? I also thought the different names for animals were fun—fluffhoppers, painted-wings, grazers, etc.—which made it kind of fantasy-world-ish, but you could still tell what they were. 😀 Everything was well-written and vivid.
5. There were some great characters, too! Gentleman-pirate Mor (who has the snark aspect covered), tall and grim silver-haired Warmil (who surprised me by really working his way into my heart), fiercely loyal former-guardswoman Aeron, quietly dissenting Princess Braith with a heart of gold and somehow holding out beneath her father’s reign… I won’t go over all of the characters, due to time, but these are some of the literally revolutionary people Tanwen encounters, and I love them. 🙂
6. The banter was fantastic. There was a certain scene with romantic Tanwen and grouchy Warmil which had me positively in stitches. XD There were some great character dynamics and dialog which made things quite fun. And I do love a bit of fun. ^_^ Tanwen’s narration was often humorous too, and if a book’s going to be told in first-person, I’m all for that. 😀
7. It’s not too fast-paced at first, but on the whole, it was very exciting. There’s always some thread of tension or mystery or danger going on. It took me a little while to get into it; not sure why, because it was well-written and intriguing from the start. Part of it may have been the fact that I was busy and had to snatch reading time in bits and pieces. But after the first third, when Tanwen really got on her way on the adventure, it really picked up for me and pulled me in until the end. I couldn’t stop flipping those pages!
8. Also, the plot about “The One in the Dark” was so awesome and exciting! I guessed some things about it (yay!) but others were unexpected, and overall it was neat. 😀 Stakes got high, and the overall storyline was unique—I couldn’t usually guess where it was going! Tanwen definitely didn’t expect where things were going; I enjoyed following along with her from one surprising turn to the next.
9. As far as things I didn’t like as much… It’s totally unimportant, but all the characters said each other’s names all. the. time. which was kind of annoying. I don’t usually notice things like that, and I’m not real picky, but it got on my nerves. Just a little. XD There’s also a love-triangle-ish thing, which I’m not really a fan of in general, so I didn’t care for that. BUT I must say that there’s a twist or two which at least makes it different. XD And it wasn’t the main focus of the story, which was nice. There were some… er… interesting developments, so we’ll see where that goes in the sequels. 😛
10. Overall, The Story Peddler is a lovely adventuresome tale, full of heart. ^_^ I recommend it to anyone who loves a good fantasy yarn or has a spark of creativity in their soul. The book is a love-song to creativity and light and truth. Definitely check it out so that you can join me in anxiously awaiting The Story Raider, book 2! 🙂
The Page Dreamer (Deborah O'Carroll) 