March’s End by Daniel Polansky

TL;DR: An ambitious mix of Narnia, The NeverEnding Story, and really any contemporary story.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much!

Plot: A family balances normal life and struggles with ruling a fantasy world.
Characters: There are SO many here, even for me there were probably too many.
Setting: I loved the idea of the March, but the contemporary setting was SO dull for me.
Fantasy: I do wish we’d had far more of this.

Summary:

The Harrows are a typical suburban family who, since time immemorial, have borne a sacred and terrible charge. In the daylight they are teachers, doctors, bartenders and vagrants, but at night they are the rulers and protectors of the March, a fantastical secondary world populated with animate antiquated toys and sentient lichen, a panorama of the impossible where cities are carried on the backs of giant snails, and thunderstorms can be subdued with song.

But beneath this dreamlike exterior lie dark secrets, and for generation after generation the Harrows have defended the March from the perils that wait outside its borders – when they are not consumed in their own bitter internecine quarrels.

In the modern day the Harrow clan are composed of Sophia, the High Queen of the March, a brilliant, calculating matriarch, and her three children – noble Constance, visionary, rebellious Mary Ann, and clever, amoral Will. Moving back and forth between their youth, adolescence, and adulthood, we watch as this family fractures, then reconciles in the face of a conflict endangering not only the existence of the March, but of the ‘real world’ itself.

Thoughts:

This had a lot of potential to be a hit for me. A big cast of characters with a incredibly creative secondary fantasy world, this on paper should have been a hit. Sadly however, this one went a little too heavy on the contemporary.

This one follows a set of siblings throughout time, with the main bulk of the story focusing on just after their mother’s death. These siblings, and their mother prior to her death, ruled a fantasy world called March while also existing in the modern world. This bit is where the story lost me.

I feel like we spent 70% of this book on the real life. School, relationships, etc and I was here for the snails with giant cities. I would have been happy with JUST the fantasy world. Add too that a very large cast of characters we barely got any time with and this one was a bit dull.

Not my favorite, but nothing entirely unpalatable. If you enjoy a hefty dose of contemporary with your fantasy you may like this one!