SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
In 1600s England, Coriander lives happily with her parents unaware of her mother's heritage. But events lead her to learn that her mother isn't from her world, and that she has left behind an item of immense power that must be protected.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Coriander Hobie is the only child of a wealthy English couple. She grew up near the thames and was taught to read and right.
Thomas Hobie is a sea merchant who grew wealthy after he met and married his wife.
Eleanor Hobie is Coriander's mother. She helps heal people from ailments through her own herbs and potions.
Danes has worked for the Hobies and taken care of Coriander since she was small.
Maud becomes Coriander's stepmother. She seems to be apart of a christian cult. She physically abuses her own daughter.
Hester is quite frail and weak from being abused by her mother. She is actually kind and sweet though, and becomes friends with Coriander.
Arise Fell is a supposed Reverend (who has neither a church or a congregation). He shows up and makes Coriander's life a living hell.
Tycho is a prince from the other world. He is forced into marriage with Princess Unwin by Queen Rosmere.
Queen Rosmere is evil, manipulative and demanding. She comes off as rather cartoonish especially when she tells Coriander about how she hates her mom because her mom heals people. Rosmere hates people who are nice and heal people, apparently.
PACING
The pacing is slower but that doesn't ruin the story. I found myself very interested in Coriander's exploits as a child as well as the going-ons of England in the 1600s. It feels like a lot is being set up for later on by Coriander and the silver shoes, as well as meeting the old woman and her raven.
CORIANDER THE PROPHET?
In the first part of the story, while Coriander is still very young she blurts out about a woman's children wanting to be born. Later, she tells her mom she just knows that she will have two children. It seems she has the gift of prophecy. But this is never mentioned again. It seemed like it was there to inform the reader that Coriander was special and little thought went into it.
TYCHO & CORIANDER
Coriander get's three scenes with Tycho.
One where she first meets him and asks why he would marry someone he doesn't want to.
The second when he stands up the Queen and is attacked by her and she asks if he is okay.
And the third when she time travels (somehow, it's not really explained how) and finds him with scruffy, long hair and a beard.
By then they are portrayed as being madly in love but I kept thinking that they were mere acquaintances. There wasn't any real relationship between them.
CORIANDER THE BRAVE?
Coriander is told she has to retrieve and protect her mother's shadow and she freaks out. She says she is not brave or a hero but is told she is. She is told that she saved the prince (which she didn't) and she braved a charger (she pet the prince's horse) and she faced the queen (she didn't do that either, she accidentally ended up in the room with the Queen).
It was obvious that Gardner was trying to prove that Coriander was a hero, when in reality she hadn't done anything but be a victim in her own world then explore some of the fairy world. There she wasn't really in danger because she was basically invisible. And when the Queen vows revenge on the invisible intruder it makes no sense. It was Tycho alone who rebelled. Coriander did next to nothing.
It's not as though Coriander does not become brave later, she does. But all of this is after her journey to the other world. And logically, this didn't really seem to be because of that journey and any courage she supposedly got then.
PURITANS OR CULT MEMBERS?
All throughout the story Maud and Arise are painted as Puritans who believe Jesus is coming back to take the throne of England. Thomas is told he needs to marry a good Puritan woman because Puritans are the ones who have the power. So this important to the plot.
And yet at the end of the book, Gardner gives a history lesson. Turns out that only one particular cult in the 1600s thought that Jesus was coming back to England to be king. And yet she never bothers to mention this in her actual story. I didn't just find this odd but dishonest. I was left confused with what the author intended. She didn't seem to care about history.
She could have had basically every other character point out that Maud was nuts as this was 1600s England and no doubt everyone in this story considered themselves Christians. Coriander was taught to read, and would have no doubt been familiar with the teachings of the Bible.
Perhaps Gardner didn't want to bring religion in to the book. That would have been fine but she did it anyway. For example there are random lines that make me think it's her talking and not the characters.
Like how one character says magic doesn't belong in this world with the cross and crucifixion.
Or when Thomas points out how Christians want comfort and an afterlife, but turn to superstitions when they aren't happy. And that God doesn't provide, he does.
These lines feel shoved in the story and take me out of Coriander's world. After all, Christianity and morality are simply not themes in this book. It just happens to be a convenient backdrop so Coriander's father can remarry a psycho then be persecuted and abandon her.
THE VICTIM COMPLEX
It was very fairy tale like that Coriander would be abused by her stepmother. Add Arise Fell to the story and this went to absurd levels. But the real reason I couldn't swallow it was because her father abandons her. He is completely oblivious to the abuse his daughter goes through apparently. I had a hard time respecting him, because he seemed like an idiot.
A WAY WITH WORDS
Gardner paints the world of Coriander beautifully. England is detailed and Coriander is portrayed as rather charming as a child. I enjoyed the first portion of the story immensely.
THE FAIRY WORLD
Not much is explained about the fairy world. We see that they have kings and queens. And time works differently there. It just felt uninspired. Perhaps the story should have been longer and Coriander could have stayed there longer, so as to learn more about it.
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE
I already mentioned how stupid Thomas Hobie comes across when he abandons his daughter to be abused. But before that he lets Coriander wear the silver shoes that Eleanor doesn't want her too. I couldn't make sense of it.
This would only be logical if he had no idea who his wife was. But he explains later, in a daze that his wife gave him her shadow after they married. So he knew that she was a magical being that came from a magical world. So there was no reason why he wouldn't trust his wife about the shoes.
Also, after he is left a widower, Thomas sinks into depression and completely neglects his daughter. And he marries the first so called “Puritan” woman he meets without any hesitation. After he brings her home, he asks what he has done. He just comes across as an idiot. There were no doubt plenty of single Puritan woman, but he had to marry an ugly fat one with black teeth, because?
It just feels like in order to make Coriander a victim, her dad has to be an imbecile. Now, this could have been made believable.
Maybe Maud was a really good actor and they met multiple times and he thought he got to know her. Maybe she was actually pretty and he was taken in. But it's so obvious from the first moment we meet Maud that she is evil and stupid and has no redeeming qualities.
Later when we learn why Maud married him, it would have been the obvious point to jump in and say Thomas had been under a spell. But no such luck.
PLOT HOLES
Besides Thomas seeming like an idiot (which is just as much of a plot hole as bad writing) when Coriander returns, she tells Danes about her journey to the fairy world. And Danes doesn't hesitate, instantly believing her. I just found this odd. I was surprised Coriander didn't.
She had kept her journey a secret for good reason. Danes reveals she once saw her mother's shadow, so she knew she wasn't human. But that was all. It would still be natural for her to be slightly skeptical at the outlandish tale that she was told.
And before that, Coriander falls asleep after Tycho runs away from the wedding. She wakes up somewhere else, in a different time.
This is never explained. Can she time travel? Is someone guiding her? Does it have to do with the man, Medlar? He says he is the king's magician and that he has to bring her back to London. Later we learn exactly who he is. But those other questions aren't really addressed.
CLIMAX
Coriander faces Maud and Arise and one is killed without any sympathy from her. Queen Rosmere fades away (for some unknown reason). She later faces Queen Rosmere, defeating her with her anger (I didn't quite get this). She says goodbye to Tycho even though she has a crush on him (it's portrayed like a real relationship).
LET THEM DIE
In the climax, Coriander watches one of the antagonists stand on the edge of possible death. It never crosses her mind to forgive, or maybe to let this person live and be dealt with by the police.
I wanted to root for her, because she had been so abused by this person. But when this person perished, she didn't even put her hand out. There was nothing but hatred in her heart. I don't think the author thought that hatred was bed, because she points out that's how Coriander defeats Rosmere.
AFTERMATH
Coriander meets Hester's and Gabriel's new born baby. And she meets her brother, who likes her but she rejects him. Then has another, more annoying Suitor who won't leave her alone. It's dragged out for far too long (again, making Coriander look like a victim with an insanely stupid suitor). Finally Tycho shows up on the last page.
CONCLUSION
Gardner has a way with words and Coriander is likable. But the victim complex is taken too far and the fairy world is rather uninspired.
The romance between Coriander and Tycho is nonexistent and awkwardly emphasized; Thomas Hobie came across as not just an idiot but useless. His only purpose it seemed was to make Coriander a victim, completely abandoned.
And the use of crazy cult members as villains was rather cringe inducing and did a disservice to actual history. I give “I, Coriander” one and a half stars.
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