BOOK REVIEW: QUITANA OF CHARYN BY MELINA MARCHETTA

There is a quote, I think, that perfectly encapsulates the way I feel about this series: "I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

In order to explain how, I have to delve into a matter I think readers and reviewers alike contemplate, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. That matter lies in a simple statement: The thing about reading is, you never know which book is going to be your next favourite. Maybe it's the book you're reading right now. Maybe it's the book you'll be reading a month from now. Regardless, you dive in and hope for the best. Personally, when marking a book as a favourite, I'll go through one of three scenarios. Sometimes I can tell a book is a favourite even if I'm still in the middle of it. Sometimes a book's conclusion is the perfect icing on the cake for me to assuredly deem it a favourite. In rare cases, a book becomes a favourite after I stew over it, or rather because I stew over it. Days, weeks, sometimes months after I finish a book, I'll still be thinking about it, and that lasting impression almost always counts for something in my book.

How are Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn relevant to this conversation, you ask? Well, let me start by saying that these books are, without a shadow of a doubt, two of my favourites. The question here is not if they are favourites, but rather how and when. When did they cross the boundary from "non-favourite" to "favourite"?  Somehow, these two books have managed to become favourites along every step of the way. I knew I loved them when I was in the middle of them, I knew I loved them after I finished them, and if that wasn't enough, I knew I loved them by how incessantly I thought about them once they were over. Despite that, I never consciously decided that, yes, these books are my favourites. They just were. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun. Somewhere along the way, Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn stopped being "books" and started being "favourite books" (I might even go so far as to say "all time favourite books"). I don't know when exactly I started loving these books, but at some point, I realized I was already knee-deep in love for them.

These two books have astounded me with the quality of their characters, dialogue, plot, everything. In four days, not only did I read two books I absolutely loved, but somehow managed to find a series that's going to be joining the likes of Six of Crows and the The Raven Cycle as one of my all time favourite series. The Lumatere Chronicles might just be my all time favourite series—no, it is my all time favourite series. That's how much I loved it.

I'm going to end this review/discussion simply: I implore you to read this series. It's absolutely sublime, if you haven't gathered already. c;