Publisher's Weekly Review
After her best friend and crush, Andrew, falls into a coma following a hiking incident, 17-year-old Meg returns to the woods where it happened. There, she encounters a pair of gray-skinned giants from a parallel fantasy world who claim they've summoned her to fulfill a prophecy: their monarch must take a human bride to revive his magic and save their people from a terrible fate. Hopeful that the king might be able to heal Andrew, Meg agrees to help them. Upon entering their world, she finds a stark, monochrome realm, where her chestnut hair and "eyes of hue" are uniquely prized. But the air is slowly poisoning her ("humans weren't created for our earth," the giants explain), and she can't return to her world on her own; the only thing keeping her alive is her stern, inscrutable betrothed's healing magic. Now she must find a way to awaken Andrew without marrying the king, who holds her life in his hands. Via evocative prose, Nelson skillfully portrays the unsettling world and its deep sense of place and history. Themes of love, loyalty, and sacrifice reverberate throughout this quietly gratifying debut. Human characters cue as white. Ages 13--up. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
Seventeen-year-old Meg has already lost her mother, and now she is about to lose her best friend, Andrew, to college. But Meg never imagined that she might lose her whole world. When a terrible accident leaves Andrew clinging to life by a thread, Meg is blindsided by grief and guilt. Hiking back to the site of the accident--where Andrew at last confessed his love for her--she is suddenly transported to a space between worlds, unable to return to her own. Trapped in a strange, colorless land among giants who believe she is the key to the salvation of their kind, Meg must fight to save those she loves, possibly even at the expense of her own life. Ironically, the bookends of the narrative set in the human world feel less vivid than the gray world of the giants. There's something ineffably beautiful about the whimsical and wild fantasy world and culture Nelson has created. Meg is an interesting narrator, defined more by her circumstances and choices (or lack thereof) than her personality, though her stubborn determination to remain true to herself and her principles makes it easy to root for her. Her struggle for personal autonomy in a world that has stripped her of it will ring painfully true for many young readers. Supporting characters are vividly portrayed: alien without falling into caricature. Meg and Andrew are cued White. A wonderfully strange debut. (map) (Fantasy. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
