What is Lena Coakley reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Lena Coakley, author of Witchlanders.

Her entry begins:

I’m reading a book right now that I should hate. I’m a fantasy fan; I liked to be surprised by unique and vivid worlds. Fiction without a fantasy element tends to bore me, especially episodic fiction without a strong narrative line. I picked up Black Swan Green by David Mitchell because he wrote the strange and wonderful novel, Cloud Atlas, not realising that Black Swan Green is an episodic, semi-autobiographical book about growing up in England in the 1980’s. I was prepared to put it down after a few pages; I haven’t yet.

Mitchell’s Britain in the 1980’s is a unique and vivid world. (“Druggy pom-pom bees hovered in the lavender.”) Our hero, Jason Taylor, is a thirteen-year-old stammerer and secret poet. Though he doesn’t realize it...[read on]

Among the early praise for Witchlanders:

"Exquisite storytelling plus atmospheric worldbuilding equals one stunning teen debut."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Plot twists unfold at a riveting pace, the boys’ characters are compellingly sketched, and Coakley explores her subject matter masterfully without falling prey to safe plot choices."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Coakley’s world-building is lush and provocative, exploring the ways in which ethnic and cultural conflict can calcify over a generation through a splendidly realized friendship between antagonists, fraught with mistrust and torn loyalties but cemented by a gut-level recognition of shared humanity (as Ryder asks, “Are we only allowed to care about people who are on our side?”). The book also achieves a sophisticated intertwining of religious and magical mythologies that illuminate both the fantasy world and the ways in which its history and belief systems have been manipulated over time. At its heart, though, Witchlanders is all about character, and the struggle of two equally sympathetic, equally flawed protagonists to reconcile inherited enmity with grudging mutual affection—all while battling giant earth-monsters—is what gives this book its urgency and depth. Fans of contemplative, psychologically rich (but no less action-packed) fantasies à la Ursula Le Guin will welcome this warm, inventive debut and wait eagerly for the implied sequel."
--The Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books

Learn more about the book and author at Lena Coakley's website, and follow her at Facebook and Twitter.

Writers Read: Lena Coakley.

--Marshal Zeringue