Reviewed by John Sulyok

“A Family for Drakes” by Margaret Ronald

Netta and Bron are siblings, young, and without parents. They travel with a group of refugees, but take care of themselves…or at least, Netta takes care of her younger brother. She is twelve and carries a knife in a way that keeps people at a respectable distance. But what neither she nor her group have any control over are the drakes that continue to follow and attack them. After such an attack, Netta finds herself spending much time with Vigil, a man with a few tricks up his sleeve and not lacking a secret or two as well. Ultimately, “A Family for Drakes” is about family, how one is defined, how one fits in, and what it all means. Netta does come to a conclusion, but it’s not the one she expects.

If there is anything to criticize, it’s that “A Family for Drakes” feels like the second of a five-act play. There is little attention paid to why the refugees are in their predicament, and the ending feels like a tease for more to come, although it probably isn’t meant to. It’s a good read, but doesn’t try very hard in being different from other decent fantasy stories.

“Bakemono, or The Thing That Changes” by A.B. Treadwell

Katsuro is the son of a Japanese warrior who fights for the Empire against the Russians. He is the son of a mother enmeshed in tradition, yet with secrets that belie her place in the household. Katsuro is a student who is witness to the kidnapping of a wild girl, a girl in the process of being tamed. Eyes are of vital importance in this tale. Through a person’s eyes the world is tinted, made to fit their own version of what is and what should be. Katsuro learns that imagination—belief—taints the world, too. What he is (his name means victory), what he is perceived to be, and what he inevitably becomes, are not all the same, yet they are intrinsically bound together.

A.B. Treadwell tells a remarkable story. There is a weight and precision to word choice and turn of phrase that paints a picture for the mind’s eye that is beautiful and rich with emotion and thought. Katsuro and his world are both real and illusory in such a way as to make the unbelievable believable. This could be history or an ages-old piece of folklore. It is alive, and it should be read.