F/F Friday: A Duet for Invisible Strings
Jul. 31st, 2020 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI forget at this juncture who recommended Llinos Cathryn Thomas’s A Duet for Invisible Strings (possibly skygiants?), but whoever it was did me a great favor, because I liked the book so much that I already bought Thomas’s other book, Sparks Fly: An F/F Space Romance.
A Duet for Invisible Strings is a novella about Heledd, first chair for a professional orchestra, who for years had been in love with her conductor, Rosemary… but hasn’t told Rosemary about it, for reasons, it slowly comes clear, to do with Heledd’s own involvement with the fairy folk. Or, as Heledd calls them in her mind, Them, and the fact that she shies away from even thinking their name builds an effective sense of mystery and dread.
But the romance is just as well-done - as delicately conveyed - as that sense of impending doom, and really it’s the balance between the two of them that makes this novella so special. Heledd’s fear of the fairy folk wouldn’t hit so hard if the life and the not-yet-realized love that she stood to lose didn’t feel so precious and beautiful.
I don’t want to say anything more, as the story is quite short and part of its pleasure lies in the way that Thomas slowly expands the reader’s understanding of what is going on. But if any of this sounds appealing to you, then I highly recommend this one.
skygiants?), but whoever it was did me a great favor, because I liked the book so much that I already bought Thomas’s other book, Sparks Fly: An F/F Space Romance.A Duet for Invisible Strings is a novella about Heledd, first chair for a professional orchestra, who for years had been in love with her conductor, Rosemary… but hasn’t told Rosemary about it, for reasons, it slowly comes clear, to do with Heledd’s own involvement with the fairy folk. Or, as Heledd calls them in her mind, Them, and the fact that she shies away from even thinking their name builds an effective sense of mystery and dread.
But the romance is just as well-done - as delicately conveyed - as that sense of impending doom, and really it’s the balance between the two of them that makes this novella so special. Heledd’s fear of the fairy folk wouldn’t hit so hard if the life and the not-yet-realized love that she stood to lose didn’t feel so precious and beautiful.
I don’t want to say anything more, as the story is quite short and part of its pleasure lies in the way that Thomas slowly expands the reader’s understanding of what is going on. But if any of this sounds appealing to you, then I highly recommend this one.
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Date: 2020-07-31 10:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-31 11:54 pm (UTC)