A Turn of the Wheel (Tales from Lyrassan), by Catherine Labadie
9 Oct 2024The Book
Synopsis:
It is known that many harvests grow in the king’s orchard, both magical and mundane. So too has Aubria grown in her village community tending to the trees, bringing in a multitude of harvests, and partaking in the wheel of the year with her community. But not every branch grows the same way, and a newly betrothed Aubria finds that her heart and her longings for her future will take paths as winding as those leading through the sacred grounds of the orchard itself. The kingdom outside stands on a precipice, and the arrival of a Potioner carrying the weight of his convoluted past promises to make her change as no one born from orchard soil ever has before.
My Review
A Turn of the Wheel is a romantasy novel, part of the Tales from Lyrassan series, written by Catherine Labadie, and that was recently released in a new edition with a new cover. A slow burn story that draws into the cottagecore aesthetic, a rich lore, a great villain and a cast full of interesting characters.
We will be following Aneira, a newly betrothed woman who finds her heart looking for different things, for freedom; desires that put an ending to that betrothal, and that will invite her to explore more of what this bucolic world has to show. The arrival of a Potioner with a bad reputation will just be the starting point of this story for Aneira, who will find herself drawn towards this mysterious man, taking her into new experiences that she wouldn't have dreamed of.
Labadie has a richly detailed prose, that helps the reader to gets immersed in this incredible world, reminiscent of pagan rituals and festivities, mostly focused on the harvesting cycles. Into this, she ties Fae mythology and a bit of a bucolic ambient, playing into that cottagecore aesthetic that defines this book.
The novel is relatively slow paced, preferring to play into the coziness and the coming-of-age story for Aneira, an inquisitive girl; similar to this, the romance evolves slowly, becoming more heated with the story advance.
If you want to read a novel perfect for the autumn afternoons, a story set in an Arcadia like world and that goes for the slowest of romances routes, I would definitely recommend picking A Turn of the Wheel.
