Review: Daughter of the Pines:A Romantasy Inspired by the New Jersey Devil
A romantasy book inspired by an American folktale was a refreshing break from dragons and leathers in the genre.
Maria A. Eden has released her standalone novel, DAUGHTER OF THE PINES, a gothic atmospheric novel centered around a heavily guarded walled town of Galloway. Galloway has always been shrouded under a thick mist since the day that Harper Ledes was born. She has always looked up into thick mist, a blue sky only seen through the paintings at her manor. Harper is part of a noble family in Galloway, her father being one third of the legendary fire wielding triplets. According to town legend, the triplets were born into fire which saved the town from all of the demons that plagued them. Now the Ledes and the town members live protected and safe from the demons beyond the walls. That safety bubble immediately begins to crack when a small investigation into missing weapons begins to unravel what the mist has been hiding. And wow did it hide a lot.
DAUGHTER OF THE PINES is a unique story that definitely stands in its own category. If the names Galloway, Ledes, and demons seem to sound an awful lot like the Jersey Devil legend, then you are correct. The book is a very much a fan fiction of the Leeds family and definitely acts upon the 13th child and demonology lore. Just spun in a bite more positive way.
The only thing is, is that I was not familiar with the Jersey Devil legend. Reading this book completely blind to the folklore that inspired it, was very much like reading under a thick shroud of confusion. So much of the drive behind the store is deeply tied to the fantastistical lore of the legend. Before reading the book, highly recommend becoming somewhat familiar with the lore.
Thankfully a favorite podcast that covers all things creepy and supernatural gives a great start to learning about the legend of the Jersey Devil:
The legend of the Jersey Devil helps explain the atmosphere of the shrouded woods and the Barrens. It may explain the eventual ripping of reality later on but that feels more like folklore fan fiction.
For a story with only one central location and a house within walking distanced from the walled city, it surprisingly took a long time to visually imagine the setting. Everything spiraled around the Ledes manor and a cabin but there wasn’t enough substance to imagine what they looked like. After a few chapters, it just remained generic buildings. A major reason for the visual struggle was the consistant shroud of fog that lay over everything. It was just a gray background with some buildings. This did not leave much or anything for the imagination to build upon. There were some details of barred windows but not enough to get a sense of when and where or how these people were living.
Much of the difficulty in reading the book was differentiating the characters. The book is written in first person perspective so we are pretty much following Harper. Except who is Harper? We know she is a twin and part of the Ledes family. There is some hint that she is “rebellious” or has a bad temper. We are introduced to her using her mental powers to cheat at card games. With a father who wields fire, of course it should not come as a surprise that magic exists in this world. It just becomes a question of how. It seems like only certain people or groups have powers? But that’s not important.
What’s important is that Harper is “forced” to paint a mural as a pretense to her using her mental powers to figure out who is stealing the weapons. It turns out she is a really good painter but we only have the reactions of the towns people to go one. Although for a community whose lives are within a walled town, how much experience of “art” can they provide a solid opinion on? But that’s not important.
For Harper has begun to hear a voice. A voice from beyond the walls. A voice that seems to know her. Which is scary because no one, except for her twin brothers, knows about her power. But that’s not important neither.
It’s all about the hot Captain who is tasked guard Harper and he is just so annoying to her but also so hot.
So Harper is a young sheltered woman who has the hots for the Captain. How big is this town? Even though the town is walled, these two have never met? There also must be a shortage of eligible men for her to swoon because she swooned pretty darn fast. That snarky or short tempered character we started with just left early in the book and was replaced by a young women who is just agape at all the chaos and multigenerational trauma that was unleased. For secrets, no matter how long they are kept within the family, will eventually be exposed.
That was just the struggle with Harper, the main character. It became a mental journey of refreshing the images of what the other characters and demons really looked like. When the characters had similar names with almost the same number of letters, it was a constant brain skip to keep track of Jacob, James, and Logan and the relation to Harper.
With each unraveling of the past and the eventual outcome of clarity for the Ledes family, the reader is left with even more questions. Namely who was the voice in the mist? What was their connection to the Ledes family? Did this walled town receive visitors? How to do you carry off iron stealthy? Quietly?
It took a long time to read this book. After the first read, a huge part of the frustration is that after spending so much the book, it was difficult to hold on to what was read. The events seemed to have more substance which is generated so much question of why and how. There was just nothing connecting to the characters themselves. By the end of the book, it seemed like everything resolves itself with the most minimal of conflict. Some characters got hurt but it wasn’t that bad. It’s a fantasy around a sheltered woman who happened to have abilities and a hot captain. The romance is blip and then it happens. The spice level is also a blip but the loyalty meter is pretty solid.
The feelings toward the book changed however after reading the Authors note at the book. Finding out that the author wrote this book after losing a family member absolutely shifts the book from a fractured story to one that was a projection of the authors own personal journey. It may be a romantasy story but it became a tale of of the anxiety of facing the world after living so long within the confines of safety and comfort. My sincere condolences to the author for her loss.
DAUGHTER OF THE PINES is different and definitely a stand alone among romantasy novels. Just definitely read up on the Jersey Devil legend before cracking open the book. The references will make it more enjoyable. The book is available now for reading enjoyment.
For more information on Maria A. Eden, please go to https://mariaedenbooks.com/
(So if the people were always living in the mist, did they ever get sunburn?)
