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osprey_archerI finished Franny Billingsley's Chime, which I liked so much that I got her earlier book The Folk Keeper. They tell the same basic story: of a lonely, angry girl who is not what she seems, who only slowly realizes her true powers, with some help from a charming, wise-cracking lad who incidentally falls for her. If that story sounds like your sort of thing, they're both worth reading, but for my money Chime is by far the better book.
First, the setting: Chime’s Swampsea, a village ringed round in bogs inhabited by the Old Ones, is a better developed and more unusual setting than The Folk Keeper's island castle, and the Old Ones - which have their own voices and their own desires - are more interesting and more frightening than the faceless Folk.
Similarly, Chime’s characters are better developed than those in The Folk Keeper. The more space to develop the secondary characters and more apparent interest in doing so. I particularly liked Briony's unwanted suitor, Cecil, whose drippy mooncalf act is entertaining even as it irritates Briony. And I liked even more Briony’s twin sister Rose, who seems to have some form of autism, and is by turns exasperating and fascinating with her obsessions.
Most important, Briony herself is a much stronger character than The Folk Keeper’s Corinna - not in the sense that she faces down more adversity, but in the sense that she seems much more real. Her voice is far more individualized and interesting than Corinna's. She plays with language, and that playfulness permeates her character and leavens her anger and self-hatred. Neither character is always likable, but Briony is always interesting; she, far more than Corinna, is capable of the unexpected.
First, the setting: Chime’s Swampsea, a village ringed round in bogs inhabited by the Old Ones, is a better developed and more unusual setting than The Folk Keeper's island castle, and the Old Ones - which have their own voices and their own desires - are more interesting and more frightening than the faceless Folk.
Similarly, Chime’s characters are better developed than those in The Folk Keeper. The more space to develop the secondary characters and more apparent interest in doing so. I particularly liked Briony's unwanted suitor, Cecil, whose drippy mooncalf act is entertaining even as it irritates Briony. And I liked even more Briony’s twin sister Rose, who seems to have some form of autism, and is by turns exasperating and fascinating with her obsessions.
Most important, Briony herself is a much stronger character than The Folk Keeper’s Corinna - not in the sense that she faces down more adversity, but in the sense that she seems much more real. Her voice is far more individualized and interesting than Corinna's. She plays with language, and that playfulness permeates her character and leavens her anger and self-hatred. Neither character is always likable, but Briony is always interesting; she, far more than Corinna, is capable of the unexpected.
