Wisp of a Thing

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/wisp-of-a-thing/

Wisp of a Thing is Alex Bledsoe???s second stand-alone novel about the Tufa, an ancient race of magically gifted swarthy rural folk who live in the Smoky Mountains of Cloud County, Tennessee and may have descended from the Tuatha D?? Danann. You don???t need to read the first book, The Hum and the Shiver, though it???s worth your while and you???ll get a little more out of Wisp of a Thing if you recognize a couple of characters who make cameo appearances in this second book.

This story focuses on Rob Quillen, a musician who became popular after the country watched him experience a personal tragedy on a national TV reality show. Rob has come to Cloud County because a mysterious man told him that???s where he can find a song of healing. He knows it???s a long-shot, but Rob has nothing else to do and nowhere else to go.

As soon as Rob arrives, he realizes that strange things happen in Cloud County. The first person he meets is a feral girl who lives in the woods. Then he meets a vacationing couple that he hears fighting before the wife disappears. There???s a Tufa man who seems to have special power over women and another man who thinks he should make decisions for the whole clan, but there???s also a small cadre of women who wield some sort of magic that gives them a quiet but obvious authority. There???s a family of mean ???white trash??? folks, a disappearing graveyard, a dangerous cave on the side of a cliff, and an ancient curse that will take effect when the wind tugs the last leaf from the Widow???s Tree.

Rob unwittingly gets involved in all of these weird events and the treacherous factions of the Tufa as he faces the truth about himself, deals with his guilt and loss, and searches for a song that might mend his broken heart and let him move on. His experience with the Tufa will change him, but his presence among them will also, in turn, change the Tufa.
Wisp of a Thing is a lovely haunting fairy tale about love and loss, the pressure of culture and tradition, and the power of language, music and dance. The characters are intriguing, the plot is mysterious, and the prose is evocative. The unusual rural Southern setting is dark and eerie. Next time I travel through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, I???ll be on the lookout for those suspicious black-haired swarthy people, and if they start singing, I know I???ll be entranced.

I liked Wisp of a Thing even better than The Hum and the Shiver, mainly because I liked Rob and some of the other characters more than I liked Bronwyn, the protagonist of that first book. If you liked The Hum and the Shiver, you must read this one but, again, you don???t have to read The Hum and the Shiver first. Wisp of a Thing stands alone well enough. The audio version of Wisp of a Thing is narrated by Stefan Rudnicki who is perfect for this role. As always, I loved his performance.

I was sadly a little disappointed in this book. I love The Hum and the Shiver so much, and I really enjoyed the world building and concept, but this volume felt a bit clunkier. Mostly, I think the romantic plot lines just threw me off and felt a little squicky. Actually, Bronwyn's romantic plot lines were my only issue with the first book too, so maybe I just don't enjoy Bledsoe's style with romance. I was much more interested in Bliss and would have liked to explore her character more. I will probably continue the series cause the world is such an interesting and unique one, but I think I'll take a break first.

When I picked up THE HUM AND THE SHIVER, I was doing it out of a sense of loyalty to the author. Alex Bledsoe currently lives in my hometown (Mount Horeb, Wis.) and he and I have been Twitter/Facebook pals for some time. I enjoyed his Eddie LaCrosse books, but that's more my speed: swords and banter. Love it. There was nothing about THE HUM AND THE SHIVER that actually made me want to read it. I just figured I ought to to support Alex.

And damned if he didn't make me love it. There was just something about it. The mystery of the Tufa, the music, the gentle backwoods cast, the setting...it was just perfect. I went out immediately and put the next two books in the series on my reading list. But, like most people, my “to-be-read” pile tends to grow faster than my “has-been-read” pile, so it took me a couple of months to get to WISP OF A THING.

By the third chapter, I was kicking myself for not getting there sooner. Alex is a gifted storyteller, and the world-building he's done with Cloud County is as magical as its residents. His prose is Tupperware tight, but effortlessly readable and pages tick past like miles on a country road.

I found it strange that he chose not to follow the main characters of the first novel, but in doing so he's given himself a much larger, much more interested sandbox in which to play. While I would have liked to hear more about Bronwynn Hyatt and her life, I didn't miss her. Bliss Overbay, Rockhouse Hicks, and the rest of the Needsville townies more than make up for her absence, and in some ways surpass it.

WISP OF A THING is one of those books that sticks with you because of it's haunting nature, and because of the revelations about the Tufa that it provides. While THE HUM AND THE SHIVER was a good bait novel, WISP OF THING is where Bledsoe really yanks back on the rod and sets the hook.

I finished the book last night before I went to sleep. Upon waking, I cracked my copy of LONG BLACK CURL over breakfast. I can't stay away from Cloud County for too long anymore. Maybe it's the Tufa magic...