Naondel

Written by Maria Turtschaninoff

Narrated by Michi Barall, Ali Ahn, Celeste Ciulla and 3 more

This thrilling prequel to the award-winning Maresi explores the founding of the Red Abbey Booklist called Maresi "utterly satisfying and completely different from standard YA fantasy." Now, Naondel goes back to establish the world of the trilogy and tells the story of the First Sisters-the founders of the female utopia the Red Abbey. Imprisoned in a harem by a dangerous man with a dark magic that grants him power over life and death, the First Sisters must overcome their mistrust of one another in order to escape. But they can only do so at a great cost, both for those who leave and for those left behind. Told in alternating points of view, this novel is a vivid, riveting look at a world of oppression and exploitation, the mirror opposite of the idyllic Red Abbey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 9, 2018
• ISBN: 9781501967580

Maria Turtschaninoff

Maria Turtschaninoff was born in 1977 and has been writing fairy tales since she was five. She is the author of many books about magical worlds, has been awarded the Swedish YLE Literature Prize and has twice won the Society of Swedish Literature Prize. She has also been nominated for the 2017 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal. Naondel is part of the Red Abbey Chronicles which began with Maresi.

[Ana · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I truly loved this book. It masterfully weaves the stories of many different characters, each with their own voice and background. Be warned, though, that many things happen that are hard to stomach; the content is much darker and more graphic than the previous book.

[maowangvater · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

On a visit to the capital, Kabira ak Malik-cho and her younger sister Lehan are charmed by Iskan, who offers to guide them around the city and palace, and at the end of the tour, reveals himself to be the son of the Vizier, the chief counsel to the Sovereign. He appears to take particular interest in Lehan. After the sisters have returned to their estate with their family, Iskan begins to make periodic visits to their home. The family speculates that he may be planning to court Lehan, although he never directly declares his intentions.

On one of these visits, Kabira takes him on a tour of the grounds and leads him to the sacred spring of Anji. Kabira knows about the powers of the waters flowing from the spring, to give strength and healing or to take away vitality and vigor depending of the phases of the moon. It also has the ability to foretell the future. Anxious to convince the skeptical and proud Iskan, she gives him a drink of its waters. He is more than convinced. In the next few months, he begins to make secretive nocturnal visits to the spring to rendezvous with Kabira, seduce her and gain the powers of the spring for himself.

This is a powerfully tale of deceit, betrayal, oppression, and an intoxicating quest for absolute power by a man without scruples who is quite willing to eliminate or cruelly subjugate anyone who stands in the way of his ambition. Turtschaninoff conveys the despair, the emotional and physical oppression of his many victims over decades so realistically and so well that the reader feels the tension and the sudden sharp relief at the end when a group of them make their escape.