The Unraveling Of Wentwater

“This child will be the undoing of Wentwater. Before she turns eighteen, the village will unravel and all will be lost.”

Book: The Unraveling Of Wentwater by C.S. Lakin, Living Ink Books, 2012

Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale

Target Audience: Boys and Girls 13+

Subjects: Love, Jealousy, Sacrifice, Power of words

Summary: At her birth it was prophesied she would be the unraveling of Wentwater and all knew the witch hoped it would be true. But when she was banished from the village they hoped they had prevented it somehow. After all it had been over seventeen years since that horrid morning and most thought she’d died in the fire. But when beautiful, full of life, Teralyn comes to the village to hear the music of the festival things start happening. Justyn, fed up with the superstitions of the villagers has been in the Heights to study and learn and rise above his beginnings. He is asked to escort Teralyn to the festival and finds himself attracted to her, but rather than be attracted to his puffed up knowledge, she falls in love with his musical brother who knows what Justyn does not: how to love – fully and richly. In his anger and jealousy Justyn seeks out the feared witch who has him stitch his brother’s name and give her a word in exchange for her help, a word which is now gone from the village. And thus begins the unraveling. Somehow Teralyn has to stitch them back together – one word at a time.

Notes: This, the 4^th in Lakin’s Gates of Heaven series is loosely based off the story of Sleeping Beauty with the idea that an uninvited powerful evil person shows up for a baby naming and makes a prophecy about a young girl and a spinning wheel. But it takes off as an original, unique, story from there. The theme of the story is the power of words. Only the witch seems to understand how much power words hold. Both the villagers and the Heights toss them about carelessly, but the witch gathers up words and stores them in jars. When Justyn trades a word for power over his brother, a word the story never gives, but implies is the essence of love, it keeps the village from being complete. The witch marvels at the essence of names, taking them apart, looking at the different words in them, the different meanings. For example, “She rolled the name Teralyn in her mouth. Yearn… learn… year… tear… The lass had no idea what her name portended…”.

As for spiritual elements, it is allegorical, not focused a lot on an ultimate being, more just on a concept – the power our words hold over others. Here’s an example “Words. How well she knew that truth! For nature and magic to exist, they relied on words. Everything came into existence through words. First the word in the mind of God, then the spoken word. The tree most potent words in the universe were ‘Let there be…’” There are other references to a powerful being, called “The Keeper” but not one of ultimate power or authority. And there isn’t a book or written source of ultimate authority. It’s all focused on the concept of words holding great power and how important it is to be careful and loving with them. The other interesting element of this book is the comparison between the two different people groups: the villagers – rooted in superstition and ignorance and the scholars in the Heights who have scorned everything that can’t be explained. Both groups are portrayed as lacking something: faith.

Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

James 3:7-9 – All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.

 This book releases in May 2012

Thank you to Living Ink Books for sending me a free copy to review!