All right, almost a month later, I'm finally getting around to a book review! Because it is best to begin at the beginning, let's start with The Healer's Apprentice:
So in my last blog post, I waffled on about the differences in genre, the different expectations, etc., etc. but upon further reflection, I realized that that was all unnecessary for this book review, because this one is obviously supposed to be a fairy tale. The only aspects that throw this off are the extremely specific time and place locations in the beginning of the first chapter - Spring, 1386. Hagenheim. The Harz Mountains, Lower Saxony. I wish she hadn't done that, because for me, that immediately puts me in the mindset of historical details (who's the emperor, where is this place, was it real, are these real people), which makes me start wanting to evaluate it as historical fiction with all those expectations.
In that vein, I put all the locations into Google Maps. The Harz Mountains and Lower Saxony are in the north of Germany, but the only Hagenheim I found was in the south of Germany, near Munich:
Anyway, to the story: Rose is a woodcutter's daughter who has been apprenticed to the town healer (hence the name of the book, The Healer's Apprentice). For those who don't know, apprenticeships were part of life in a guild in a medieval town. The guild was basically a group of craftsmen and craftswomen who worked together in a town to set prices, set quality, and train new artisans. Apprentice was the first step in working in a guild, and once you finished apprenticeship you became a journeyman, and then after journeyman you became a master. Apprentices learned the ins and outs of their trade by living with a master and working for them for free until they became journeymen. (Do I need a source for that? I've heard that in so many places that it feels like common knowledge.) Anyway, Rose, the main character, starts off working as an apprentice to Frau Geruscha, who is never called journeyman or master throughout the book, which sounds like it might be a mistake, but there's a side to this character that makes me think it was intentional (to be mysterious). I think, if we're being pedantic about history, that it might have made more sense for her to be called an apothecary's apprentice, but "healer" is definitely a more fairy-tale-sounding name than apothecary. So, fine.
Almost immediately in the story, Rose meets Wilhelm, Earl of Hamlin and son (and heir) of the Duke of Hagenheim. Wilhelm has just returned from studying for two years at a university with his brother, and is engaged in a search to locate the evil sorcerer Moncore. According to the story, Moncore was raised in a monastery and became the advisor to another duke, the Duke of Marienburg--but then that Duke of Marienburg died, and his son became the new Duke of Marienburg and expelled Moncore for his use of demon magic. (Spicy!) Moncore swore revenge on the new Duke of Marienburg by vowing to kill the duke's daughter, Salomea. Wilhelm is in the mix because he had an arranged betrothal to Salomea, so it is his duty to protect her, which means hunting down and stopping Moncore. As for Salomea, she is hidden away somewhere until Moncore can be found and killed.
This is a story based on a fairy tale, but honestly, the story itself was so engrossing that I completely forgot which fairy tale it was when I was reading it. So I'm not going to share it here--that made the twist ending... actually a twist.
Anyway, Rose ends up befriending Wilhelm and his two siblings, Lady Osanna and Lord Rupert, the latter of whom promptly starts romancing her. He has a bad reputation, but it seems as though he is willing to improve his life for her. Wilhelm - despite already being betrothed (admittedly to a woman he has never met) - also starts falling in love with Rose. The conflict is obvious.
A couple of things I really enjoyed about this story:
First, the characters are a lot of fun. Rose goes through a bit of teenage angst, but only a bit, and it's balanced out by her determination to do well at her job and do the right thing. Wilhelm is sweet and chivalrous, but also business-like and task-oriented, which is a charming contrast. Frau Geruscha, the healer to whom Rose is apprenticed, also has an intriguing character, and I appreciated that there was emphasis on her relationship with Rose. That was actually something I appreciated very much - it's a romance novel that has more elements than just the romance. But the best character, easily, was the villain. Towards the end of the book, we get a glimpse into Moncore's head, and it's deliciously frightening. There's a darkness to his perspective that I'm not used to encountering in Christian fiction - not that I'm complaining. A villain should be dark.
Which segues nicely into the next part I enjoyed - the structure of the plot. I must admit I'm surprised that I'm typing that, because there really is no external plot outside of Rose and Wilhelm, and I generally prefer there to be an external plot. But in this case, it's still enjoyable. Basically, in addition to Moncore, there is a secondary villain (I won't spoil it, although it's probably obvious), and a secondary conflict that sort of takes up the reader's attention for most of the middle of the book. He's all about things like social rules, reputation, and all these other... not harmless, but not exactly threatening, concerns. The main villain, Moncore, is kind of there, but he isn't front and center. The reader is thinking about society and human rules. Then, towards the end, we're suddenly thrust into Moncore's point of view with absolutely no warning. All of a sudden, all the environment goes from worrying about society to demonic threats and death and out-of-control violence. It's no longer playing by rules, but rather by what the villain wants. The story goes from being about a human society to being about otherworldly, supernatural, terrifying threats. It's like being doused with a bucket of cold water, and it's awesome. I absolutely love this sort of thing. I love it when readers/viewers have been caught up in one conflict and then have a moment where you remember suddenly that this conflict is trivial compared to the one you've forgotten.
Something else I liked, which I thought was super clever, was replacing fairy-tale magic with demons and witchcraft. I thought this was clever because the idea of literal spiritual warfare, with demons and angels physically impacting the world, was a significant part of medieval life. Think of Joan of Arc, who believed that she was hearing the voices of angels, or the famous play Dr. Faustus, which was the story of how demons and angels influenced a famous scholar. This was a small adaptation, but it was very clever and useful for connecting different genres.
One more element I thought was clever relates to music. It seems to be a think in all Disney fairy tales that the princesses sing and have little animal friends. Rose has an animal friend - a dog named Wolfie - but the nice singer in this story is Wilhelm, not Rose. I thought that was clever and made it feel more like a fairy tale.
Another review I read said that this story was very immersive. I... sort of agree. I think some of the settings were immersive, like the description of the Hagenheim Castle's main hall. Other ones, though, were less so. One that stood out to me was the description of Rose going to her family's home:
...Rose trudged along the path outside the town wall, delving a short way into the forest to her father's wattle-and-daub cottage. She opened the front door to the smell of peas and pork fat cooking over the fire. (26)
This is the first time we've seen Rose's house - the first time we've been outside the town, even. That was the entire description. I was not immersed in that. I have no idea what it's supposed to look like just from this. I know what it smells like, but not what it looks like.
Having said that, what I did find immersive were the characters. I was genuinely engaged with their concerns, with their pain, and with what they wanted. That was where I was immersed. I think that's fine, as long as you are immersed in something.
Now, a word about the historical elements, because there were a few. I'm going to keep this short, because I don't think they matter for the story, but I'm going to mention them anyway because... well, because I teach history, frankly.
The one that really stood out to me was the secondary plot for Rupert, Wilhelm's younger brother. At one point in the story, he says, "'I think I've persuaded Father to make me the new bishop'" (50). This is interesting, because this was absolutely a thing. Younger sons who didn't have inheritance would be appointed by their families to serve in the church, usually in high offices that they weren't qualified for. This was because church offices meant you could own land and still be wealthy and provided for. Yes, this was absolutely a thing.
Two hundred years before this story begins.
This story is set in 1386, and the question of who got to appoint bishops in the Holy Roman Empire - known to history as the Investiture Controversy - was settled in the Holy Roman Empire in 1122. (Short version, the church had to choose the person, but they didn't get the land and money until the king gave it to them.) This is all to say that I don't think the Duke would have been able to force the church to accept Rupert, and almost certainly not as a bishop. There still would have been church-related options available to Rupert, but probably not like that.
I don't think this matters for the sake of the story - especially because the rules of being a bishop actually do play a very important part of Rupert's story - but I mention it because it seems to be another instance of not recognizing how much time passed in the Middle Ages. By no means do I think Melanie Dickerson is to blame for this - it just seems to be something that comes up in popular culture a lot. (See the first costume on this video, starting at about 1:30, to get what I mean by that.)
The other historical elements are quite interesting, but they come across more as world-building than as any sort of historical commentary, so I'm not going to bother researching and sourcing them. I didn't bother researching the Investiture Controversy - I already knew about it - and there are some other parts that I know are accurate because I've been to museums and volunteered at one and learned it there, but anything I didn't know to be true, I didn't bother investigating. Because the back of the book felt like such a fairy tale, and the villain was an obvious fairy tale villain, it just never felt necessary.
I don't want to give away the ending, so I'll just say this: the big twist ending is a pretty good example of what makes me nervous about combining historical settings with fairy tale expectations. Having said that... it didn't bother me too much in this one. The total fairy tale element, and the complete immersiveness of the characters, made it possible for me to ignore it. I could totally tell that this was supposed to be a fairy tale.
To summarize, I enjoyed this story. I liked the characters, and I liked the twists on expectations. The summary being so strongly a fairy tale helped me deal with my struggle over combining the genres. I'm still nervous about other books like this (there are 11 more books in this series, after all), but this one was... fine. There was no question about what you, the reader, was supposed to be taking away from this story, and it was definitely an enjoyable read. It is for older readers, so probably 15 and older (definitely not my target audience for Darkwoods), and if you fall into that category, I recommend you check it out. I think you will enjoy the story!
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