Amy Butler Greenfield’s Chantress is in the first book in the Chantress trilogy. While most of the story takes place in 1667 London, it begins on a mysterious, isolated island. When she was eight, Lucy’s mother died and she was left trapped on the island after a shipwreck. Lucy has lived with her caretaker Norrie on the island for seven years and wishes to return to her hometown of London. On All Hallow’s Eve, fifteen-year-old Lucy hears an irresistible song in the air. Despite being warned never to sing, Lucy sings this song and it transports her to a 17th century London. Immediately upon arriving, she becomes wrapped up in a mess of conflict, rebellion and magic.
Lucy’s character attracts your interest right away. Although curious, intelligent and rebellious, she is often forced to quell her rebellious impulses in order to help someone else. She proves herself to be honest, hardworking and kind, but occasionally falls under the influence of her magic. In many regards, this character is similar to Nick Gautier from the Chronicles of Nick series. Both hold immense, but feared power. Because of this, any step in the wrong direction can set people against them. Both are forced to be nearly perfect characters to avoid looking like demons. Thankfully, Lucy has some flaws like her impatience and insatiable curiosity. She is not a complex character, but she is extremely likable.
Chantress is a different book. It explores a new kind of magic and mythology that is rarely touched upon. The idea of a chantress is most similar to a siren because of their shared singing and music to do magic. Even the commonly known siren is rarely portrayed with a first person narrative. Its rarity give the Amy Butler Greenfield a lot of freedom with the magic system and she does an amazing job of making it interesting. We are given a basic understanding of it in this installment and the book promises to explore the magic system in future novels. The book falls short in its pacing and lack of dimensional characters. The pacing in the book seemed awkward to me. The plot seemed to speed up and slow almost randomly. Chantress’s exposition starts off rather faced paced before slowing down significantly during the middle. Many of the characters also seem to lack depth. They seemed focused on one goal and have one purpose. Hopefully the characters will continue to develop in future installments. The book is also unfortunately predictable and follows a similar structure as most YA books while lacking the infamous love triangle. One of Chantress’s saving graces was its setting. Amy Butler Greenfield paints a beautiful picture of London that is both intriguing and exciting. The author obviously put a decent amount of research into the setting and the plot. The research really shines with its captivating portrayal of 1660s London. I give this 324 page book 4 stars.
Chantress
Chantress takes place in 17th century London. In the past, the Chantresses were a race of magical gifted and powerful women. Sadly, due to unfortunate events in London, Lucy becomes the last Chantress able to preform magic.