Oh, Mother, why are you waiting there? I am waiting for my daughter. Oh, Mother, where did your daughter go? She went over the river. Oh, Mother, when will your daughter return? She will not return. Oh, Mother, why won’t your daughter return? She went into the river. Oh, Mothr, why are you waiting there? I am waiting for my daughter. Let’s meet The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, by Anne Ursu.
Synopsis:
A fantasy about a kingdom beset by monsters, a mysterious school, and a girl caught in between them.
If no one notices Marya Lupu, it is likely because of her brother, Luka. And that’s because of what everyone knows: that Luka is destined to become a sorcerer.
The Lupus might be from a small village far from the capital city of Illyria, but that doesn’t matter. Every young boy born in in the kingdom holds the potential for the rare ability to wield magic, to protect the country from the terrifying force known only as the Dread.
For all the hopes the family has for Luka, no one has any for Marya, who can never seem to do anything right. But even so, no one is prepared for the day that the sorcerers finally arrive to test Luka for magical ability, and Marya makes a terrible mistake. Nor the day after, when the Lupus receive a letter from a place called Dragomir Academy–a mysterious school for wayward young girls. Girls like Marya.
Soon she is a hundred miles from home, in a strange and unfamiliar place, surrounded by girls she’s never met. Dragomir Academy promises Marya and her classmates a chance to make something of themselves in service to one of the country’s powerful sorcerers. But as they learn how to fit into a world with no place for them, they begin to discover things about the magic the men of their country wield, as well as the Dread itself–things that threaten the precarious balance upon which Illyria is built.
Source: Goodreads
SPOILERS BELOW
The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy is set in the fantasy kingdom of Illyria. Though it ultimately triumphed in a long and brutal war against the neighboring kingdom of Kel, the Kellian witches unleashed a deadly curse upon the land in a final act of spite before being killed. Called the Dread, it is a purple cloud that randomly manifests in forests across the land and then engulfs the nearest village, killing every human it touches. Only Illyria’s organization of highly trained sorcerers are able to hold back the Dread; and only enough to evacuate villages and minimize casualties, not destroy it for good. With Dread attacks increasing in frequency and striking ever further into the kingdom, it seems they are losing the battle.
Our main character is Marya, a village girl whose parents ignore her in favor of lavishing attention on their son, Luka, a prodigy who they expect to someday become a sorcerer. When Marya embarrasses a visiting sorcerer who has come to evaluate Luka’s potential, she ends up getting shipped off to a boarding school called the Dragomir Academy for Troubled Girls. There, girls who are deemed screw-ups or misfits because they fail to conform to the strict gender roles of Illyria’s misogynistic society are sternly lectured in manners and etiquette, with harsh punishment for stepping out of line, until they’ve been molded into the dutiful and obedient women that their culture demands. Marya isn’t at the academy long, however, before she suspects something more sinister may be going on: something involving the mysterious disappearance of the daughter of the Dragomir family and a lingering curse on the mountain where the school is located.
I thought this novel had a very strong climax, when Marya uncovers the secrets of Dragomir Academy and learns the true nature of the Dread; it’s just a shame that it took so long to reach it. Much of the story up to that point is just Marya being brow-beaten by her teachers into following the rules, which isn’t very interesting. This book could have used a few more subplots to keep things interesting and provide more of a sense of stuff going on up until things really kick off with the Dread attack on the school. Like, for instance – I hate to reference Harry Potter now that Rowling’s revealed herself to be such a vile person, but it’s the first example that comes to mind – the first book wasn’t entirely about Snape belittling Harry in Potions class until Voldemort showed up at the end. You had subplots like going into the Forbidden Forest to look for the unicorn and Quidditch games and attempts being made on Harry’s life; and let’s not forget that the classes themselves were about interesting magic stuff rather than proper posture and how to hold a spoon.
Well, the characters of Marya and the other troubled girls were good (in fact, liked the classmates enough that I wish they’d been explored in greater depth), the climax was strong, and the resolution was satisfying. On the whole, I think I can call it decent.
Final Rating: 3/5
