Road of the Lost

Croi has spent her entire life living in the Wilde Forest with only her guardian, the Hag, for company. Despite the fact that the Hag has forbidden her from visiting the human city, Croi can't resist her forays to the bustling market and, most importantly, her stealthy visits to the castle where the stone maiden, her only friend, lives. But after one particularly eventful excursion to the human city, things start to go very, very wrong.

First, Croi discovers that she is not actually a brownie, as she has grown up believing, but has only been glamoured to look like one. Now the Glamour is beginning to break. But whoever placed the spell on her is summoning her back, and she is powerless to resist the magic. The Hag knows who she really is and who has done this to her, but she can't – or won't – say. And so begins Croi's journey to the Otherworld, the land of the Fae, a journey that is filled with misadventures and new friends, as well as foes, and help from unexpected sources along with numerous betrayals. She meets an ancient dryad who forces her to take on an important task, saves a pixie who becomes a good friend and travelling companion, and destroys the dreaded Redcaps who have been kidnapping fae kin for their own sinister purposes. And throughout the journey, she is regularly visited by, and forges a solid friendship with, the Robber Prince in her dreams. As she makes her way to her ultimate destination, she learns more and more about the history and the politics and the assorted intrigues of the Otherworld, and she slowly begins to piece together the clues about her own identity and how she fits into it all.

Road of the Lost, a magnificent high fantasy tale, is a breathtaking and action-packed quest that is filled with intriguing characters. It is an intricately crafted and tightly woven tale, with every single element proving to be significant by the story's end. The plot is fast-paced, compelling and complex as the author skillfully weaves a story of ancient faery magic and greed and family ties that binds the characters together in surprising ways. It features numerous characters whose motivations are oftentimes not what they initially seem but are credible when they are ultimately revealed. Croi, herself, is a highly sympathetic protagonist whose longing for answers about where she comes from and who she belongs to is sensitively and realistically depicted. Her gradual discovery of her own abilities as the story unfolds and more information about the machinations at work in the fae world are revealed is well-balanced and adeptly nuanced.

But perhaps Azad's most noteworthy achievement in this latest offering is her delightfully intricate worldbuilding. The Wilde Forest in which Croi spent the first seventeen years of her life is vividly depicted, but it is the Otherworld, the magic that holds it together and the politics at the heart of it all, that is most masterfully constructed. With prose that is lush and evocative, poetic descriptions and lyrical turns of phrase and a stunning attention to detail, Azad adeptly brings this world and its citizens to life. The pacing of Road of the Lost is perfect, Croi's growth is believable and hard-earned and she is a well-rounded and relatable protagonist