First released in 2015 but with a nice new cover and an audiobook edition published in 2022, Matthew Ward’s Queen of Eventide explores the history, folklore and mythology of Nottingham in a bleak and mist-shrouded tale of the fantastical bleeding over into the real world. Returning to Nottingham in search of a fresh start, Maddie Lincoln finds only painful memories and unsettling dreams. Those dreams come to terrifying life when she finds herself drawn into a strange world of fearsome hunters and mythical figures, as the hidden realm of Eventide begins to overlap with her own comfortable reality. Nothing has prepared Maddie for being caught up in a magical conflict spanning centuries, but the strange laws and terrible truths of Eventide reveal in her a strength she didn’t realise she possessed.
Shorter, more grounded and less epic than Ward’s Legacy Trilogy, this nevertheless shows a similar knack for dark, vivid imagery and the intertwining of magic, mythology and shades-of-grey morality. The modern (ish – it’s set in the late 1990s) setting adds an engaging dash of real world history into the mix, making for an intriguing interpretation of the Robin Hood mythos and its relationship with the city of Nottingham. It’s very much Maddie’s story, but it’s interesting to see familiar characters and themes crop up in unexpected ways as she comes to terms with what she’s unwittingly been caught up in. There’s a matter-of-factness to how she approaches and accepts the challenges set before her that suits the way the otherworldly Eventide overlaps with the everyday normality of Nottingham, and likewise it’s easy to believe in a sinister Robin Hood figure – and an even more sinister ‘Dark Lady’ – stepping from mist-clad forest out into the real world.
As a modern take on a classic piece of English folklore this ticks all the right boxes, emphasising the darkness at the heart of every good fairy tale and providing all the ambiguous morality and conflicted characters that modern-day readers want. It’s far from a straightforward retelling though, instead stripping things back to their core components and offering a contemporary, relatable viewpoint that connects characters in believable ways, and invites the reader to question what they think they know. It’s a story where nothing is quite what it seems at first glance, with a plot that nicely balances a comfortable trajectory with a few unexpected turns, and a relatively small cast of characters who all have their surprises along the way. Fantasy fans looking for something dark and characterful with lashings of crossover appeal will find a lot to like here, and it’s great to see this sort of story set somewhere a little more low-key than usual, proving that you don’t need glamorous locations to have impact and mystique and weight of history.
Many thanks to Matthew Ward for sending me a review copy of Queen of Eventide in exchange for my honest opinions.
See also: all the other Matthew Ward-related reviews, interviews and guest posts on Track of Words.
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