A mysterious theft, a hidden heir, and an unbreakable bond.
A full-moon night always leads to mischief, yet one night changes everything—the fateful night the Raven Queen invades the elvish kingdom of Treelock, leaving none alive. Only Ildri, the secret heir born of an elvish king and a human mother, survives.
Saved by her mother's ingenuity, Ildri is hidden among her mother's kin in her home village. Her mother's parting gift: a shroud of secrecy, concealing her true identity, even from herself.
In the quaint village of Kel-green, Ildri struggles to find her place, even with her best friend, Matthew Merrick, and her supposed twin, Kirana, at her side. But a monstrous raven emerging from the forest's depth causes Ildri's world to spiral into chaos, opening questions that can only be answered by forsaking the home and family she thought she knew.
In a world of elves, humans, and elemental magic, Ildri must unravel the secrets of her past and find a way to reclaim her home.
A mysterious theft, a hidden heir, and an unbreakable bond.
A full-moon night always leads to mischief, yet one night changes everything—the fateful night the Raven Queen invades the elvish kingdom of Treelock, leaving none alive. Only Ildri, the secret heir born of an elvish king and a human mother, survives.
Saved by her mother's ingenuity, Ildri is hidden among her mother's kin in her home village. Her mother's parting gift: a shroud of secrecy, concealing her true identity, even from herself.
In the quaint village of Kel-green, Ildri struggles to find her place, even with her best friend, Matthew Merrick, and her supposed twin, Kirana, at her side. But a monstrous raven emerging from the forest's depth causes Ildri's world to spiral into chaos, opening questions that can only be answered by forsaking the home and family she thought she knew.
In a world of elves, humans, and elemental magic, Ildri must unravel the secrets of her past and find a way to reclaim her home.
At the peak of summer, in the middle of the night, a distant cry woke Matthew Merrick. When the strange cry turned into a chorus, he rubbed his bleary eyes and scrambled up from his pallet to peek out the narrow cottage window.
A full moon lorded over the sleepy village of Kel-green. Matthew’s gaze passed over the nearby cottages, but nothing seemed out of place. He peered farther into the distance, past the edge of the village into the open meadow. There, two figures raced toward the village. Matthew's eyes widened. No one ever came to or went from that forest, which formed the unknown edge of the Timberton realm.
The hooded forms blended into the few shadows not dominated by moonlight, but Matthew didn’t lose sight of them. They didn’t glance backward at the forest once, despite the mad screeches of crows that followed them.
Overtaken by curiosity, Matthew climbed out the window. Thankfully, he was gangly enough to fit neatly without making any noise. He had no desire to disturb his older brother, Thomas, who would strongly disapprove of Matthew’s investigation.
Like the rest of the Kel-green villagers, Thomas assiduously ignored that the northwest forest even existed. But Matthew couldn’t ignore the fascinating giant trees, which strangely never stayed in the same place for long. In fact, the trees were so lively that their loud groans and cracks sounded like amicable conversation between neighbors rather than insignificant, random noise. But Matthew never voiced this to Thomas, who would give his mouth a sharp slap if he dared.
Matthew lost his balance and landed on the ground outside the cottage window with a quiet grunt. He paused, waiting to hear if Thomas stirred. But no sound came from inside. Matthew let out a sigh of relief. No slaps tonight, then.
He inhaled deeply, smelling the cool wind coming from the northwest. That wind usually came with the autumn, but it was only midsummer. Still, there had been a curious shift in the air. Others sensed it, too, since the village gossips related in titters how the mayor’s wife wore a wool wrap while covering her petunias from frost before remembering the season. And Matthew himself had seen how Birdie Bell jumped when a strangled howl sounded earlier, causing her to drop her whittling knife and block of wood. She muttered something about arthritis and refused to look northward. She whittled more furiously afterward, her face as white as the sheet hanging from the laundry line.
The chill in the wind sharpened as it grazed Matthew’s skin, bringing him back to the present. Another wail of distress came from somewhere in the woods. The pale hair on Matthew’s arm stood straight up as his skin prickled like gooseflesh.
He lifted his gaze, and after a moment, his eyes locked on the strangers again. They were difficult to spot, and it was even harder to keep them in his sight. His eyes were tempted to drift over them, like they were part of the surrounding flora and fauna. But Matthew refused to lose sight of them.
They sped toward the village forge and the smith’s cottage, which marked the edge of Kel-green. In a crouch, Matthew ran to the next cottage over, then the next, to get a better view. He found a place behind a woodpile where he could watch through the gaps in the logs.
It was much too late for smoke to be rising from the smith’s chimney, but a fire burned there all the same. Matthew stilled when the taller figure paused to survey their surroundings before reaching the smith’s door. His heart lurched when the unknown figure turned their head to reveal the full cowl of their hood, but it was too dark to see the face it hid.
The figure drew a hand from their cloak, and its shadow began to grow. Matthew squinted and rubbed his eyes, certain that the moon’s light was playing tricks on him. He barely opened his eyes in time again to see the figure thrust their hand outward, sending a whip hurtling in his direction. He dove face-first into the dirt. There was a strange whistle just as the woodpile exploded around him. Matthew kept his face buried so that only the earth heard his muffled grunts as small logs landed sharply on his back. But he stayed still, willing himself to look like one of the fallen pieces of wood.
He didn’t dare move again until there was a curt knock, followed by the sound of the smith’s door opening. Quickly, he brushed the dirt from his eyes in time to see the two figures step into the smith’s cottage before the door closed. He glanced down at the demolished woodpile, which looked like someone had bowled right into it. But no one had come near enough to do so.
His brows furrowed at the sight of a lone green leaf next to his hand. The wooden logs were dried and cured from the previous season, so any remaining leaves would have long dried or been swept away by the wind. But this leaf was fresh, like it had just fallen from its vine. He reached for it and yelped at the sharp sting. He wiped his fingertips on his tunic, but the throbbing sensation only spread to his entire hand.
Wincing, Matthew abandoned the leaf and instead focused on the smith’s cottage. No one was shouting for help. Either these visitors were skilled enough to silently attack their victims, or they were invited guests. Matthew had to know which.
He set his mouth in grim determination, then scurried across the short distance between the disordered woodpile and the smith’s cottage. Dim light slipped out through one of the shuttered windows. Carefully, Matthew stood and peered through a narrow gap between the shutter’s planks. He barely made out a whispered conversation between the four adults inside.
Krystal Bailey is a good writer. I know that from having read her previous book A Clearer Sky, which I also had the pleasure to review. She is, in all senses of the description, a great storyteller.
In this Ildri and the Echoes of the Trees, we follow a handful of characters who are key to the story. The chapters switch focus from one to the other, with their names stated at the beginning of each one for clarity. Firstly, Ildri who is the heir to the Treelock kingdom, currently under attack from a dark threat. When she is taken outside of her world and placed with relatives to keep her safe, she becomes aware of her otherness in the village of Kel-green and this becomes more pronounced as she gets older and her features become more defined.
The first half of the book establishes Ildri's life in Kel-green and her interaction with other members of her family like Kirana, her "twin sister" and her father, Gavin but also, outside of this, Matthew Merrick to whom she becomes inextricably linked by his discovery of Ildri's arrival.
The second half becomes more focused on Ildri when something happens that means that she has to leave Kel-green and the book also expands in terms of its world-building and people.
However, it is Ildri and Matthew on whom the action is centred, the other characters being important but more peripheral. As with most fantasy books which include characters who are coming-of-age, both Ildri and Matthew grow as they discover of what they are capable. Bailey is great at describing the environments in which they find themselves and the other beings they encounter, achieving this with realistic dialogue and an economical knowledge of just how much we need to know in order to envision places but not too much so that we come bogged down in purple prose.
This is a great start to a fantasy saga. It opens with drama and then concentrates on building the adventure as Ildri becomes older and more aware and more developed. This book was not overly dramatic but as the foundation for more, it provides the perfect startpoint.
I will look forward to the next book as there was much left unanswered at the end of this and as a reader, you will be left wanting more.