Even so, big as we were, as soon as we got off the bus and started looking at it we started holding hands. My sister and I called it Mordor, and we’d never been there on our own before. There was sulphur in that smell, which was a hell chemical as everyone knew, and other, worse things, hot unnameable metals and rotten eggs. We always wound up the car windows as tight as tight when we had to pass it, and tried to hold our breath, but Grampar said nobody could hold their breath that long, and he was right. It looked like something from the depths of hell, black and looming with chimneys of flame, reflected in a dark pool that killed any bird or animal that drank from it. The Phurnacite factory in Abercwmboi killed all the trees for two miles around. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. One of School Library Journal’s Best Adult Books 4 Teens titles of 2011 One of io9's best Science Fiction & Fantasy books of the year 2011 But her magic also drew the attention of her mother, bringing about a reckoning that could no longer be put off.Ĭombining elements of autobiography with flights of imagination in the manner of novels like Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude, this is potentially a breakout book for an author whose genius has already been hailed by peers like Kelly Link, Sarah Weinman, and Ursula K. There, outcast and alone, she tempted fate by doing magic herself, in an attempt to find a circle of like-minded friends.

Then her mother tried to bend the spirits to dark ends, and Mori was forced to confront her in a magical battle that left her crippled-and her twin sister dead.įleeing to her father whom she barely knew, Mori was sent to boarding school in England–a place all but devoid of true magic. But her mind found freedom and promise in the science fiction novels that were her closest companions. As a child growing up in Wales, she played among the spirits who made their homes in industrial ruins.

Raised by a half-mad mother who dabbled in magic, Morwenna Phelps found refuge in two worlds. Startling, unusual, and yet irresistably readable, Among Others is at once the compelling story of a young woman struggling to escape a troubled childhood, a brilliant diary of first encounters with the great novels of modern fantasy and SF, and a spellbinding tale of escape from ancient enchantment. Winner of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel Winner of the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Novel

Among Others by Jo Walton