Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.
Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.
But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin’s faith in her . . . but in himself.
As a fantasy author, I love immersing myself in rich fantasy worlds filled with daring adventures, high stakes and heartfelt heroes. So it made sense that was drawn to give ‘Finnikin of the Rock’ by Melina Marchetta, a try. Vaguely, I remember it as a book that was recommended a lot a few years back, but as I never read anything in a timely manner, I didn’t pick it up until now. I’ve written before about my rocky relationship with audiobooks. I like the idea of them, but often get frustrated at the experience of listening to one. So I don’t really know what possessed me to borrow another audiobook, especially when I wasn’t sure I was even going to like the book. But actually, I really, really enjoyed it. (Although an unexpected side effect of listening to the book is that I have no idea how to spell anyone’s names, and I’ve had to Google them all just to write this post).
Mostly, I listened to the book in car on the way to and from work. It’s a 20 minute drive either way, so I could listen to decent chunk at a time. There’s nothing much to distract me from listening when I’m driving, and because I work regularly, I was listening to a bit almost every day, which helped me remember what was going on without having to go back. Plus the narration was excellent. It makes a huge difference to me whether or not I like the narrator’s voice. But more than anything else, I loved the story. I loved the characters, especially the novice Evanjalin. I loved how clever she was, and how strong she could be. I loved how she wasn’t afraid to be ruthless, but how kind she could be as well.
The other thing I liked about the book was that it surprised me. Because I’m a writer, and my mind is wired to analyse stories, every time I read a book, I’m unconsciously teasing out the plot threads and predicting where it’s going. The more I know about stories, the more accurate I get at predicting the endings, which can sometimes be fun, and sometimes be frustrating, because I simply can’t turn my brain off. ‘Finnikin of the Rock’ wasn’t like that. A fair few of the plot twists caught me completely by surprise, while still making absolute sense, which I absolutely loved.
If I have one complaint, it’s that the ending of the book happens a little too quickly. We spend so long on the journey, but once we reach our destination, everything happens so fast. Still very enjoyable, but I would have loved to take my time a bit more towards the end. Plus I feel like they clipped Evanjalin’s wings towards the end. I just wanted more of her with her brilliance and her headstrong nature, but she wasn’t allowed to be the character I loved quite as much any more. However, in general, it was an excellent read. Definitely the way I want to start my reading year.
One caveat about the book. ‘Finnikin of the Rock’ isn’t afraid to go to some very, very dark places. Plus there are a few sections of a slightly more sexual nature, though nothing explicit. Just something to be aware of if you’re thinking of picking this up for yourself. For myself, I very much enjoyed this read and am ready to go straight on and listen to the second book ‘Froi of the Exiles’ next. And I do mean listen. It’s nice to have something to look forward to as I drive to work every day. Perhaps audiobooks will win me over yet, haha.
