Review: Follow the Shadows: The Tales of Moerden Book 1

Follow the Shadows: The Tales of Moerden Book 1 by Rosemary Drisdelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A strong YA novel with actual character growth that doesn't feature an overpowered or "perfect" protagonist.

In fact, Marise starts out looking unpromising as a protagonist. She comes across as self-absorbed, not very empathetic, ignorant, and a bit lazy, though no more of any of these things than a lot of teenagers. And she continues throughout to be slow on the uptake; I predicted most of the major plot points well before she figured them out, but because the author hasn't presented her as some kind of exceptional prodigy, this largely works. Through the book, she grows in courage, empathy, effectiveness and problem-solving ability in a believable way.

She needs all of those things, because after her biology tutor (a retired professor) mysteriously disappears, she surreptitiously takes something of his that he'd kind of promised to her - a sphere that she intends to use as a crystal ball in a Wiccan rite. It turns out to be from the tail of a dragon, and transports her to another world, where she gets caught up in trying to solve a dragon health crisis (caused by short-sighted, selfish humans, which means that some of the dragons want to kill her). She builds friendships, overcomes obstacles, takes risks, goes through considerable physical hardship without whining about it even once, and (eventually) figures out the solution.

The challenges are varied, but keep on coming at a good pace. Some of the worldbuilding is better than other parts; I wasn't convinced that the river acted much like a real river, and there's a cave with the river running through it that's inexplicably warm, for example. The pre-publication version I had from Netgalley needed a bit more polishing from a copy editor before release, though it's better than a lot I see. But the emotional heart of the story is sound, and it's a true coming-of-age story free from annoying tropes. There's no romance for Marise, for example (she doesn't seem to be particularly interested in that for herself, though she encourages it for her dragon friend). She doesn't have green eyes, or if she does the author doesn't mention them. And she's an ordinary hero, not a Chosen One, who chooses to stay and help the dragons at her own risk, even though she could walk away and return to her life in our world.

I like that kind of hero.

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