Unraveller by Frances Hardinge. 432 p. Amulet Books/ Abrams, January, 2023. 9781419759314. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)
Fifteen-year-old Kellen is blunt, off-putting and easily irritated. He also has a singular talent that the residents of Raddith find useful. He's an unraveller and there are quite a number of residents who need their curses unravelled, including Kellen's traveling companion, Nettle, who was cursed into a heron's body and was unravelled by Kellen. She is now his traveling companion.
Curses spring from curse eggs and can appear at any time, but is usually brought on by intense hatred. There is a government department, the Chancery, devoted to rounding up the cursers and separating them from society. Cursers are remanded to the Red Hospital, presumably for treatment, but it's little more than a prison. The unravelled also tend to suffer from PTSD and are never the same.
There is a quiet revolution afoot. Someone is releasing captive cursers and there may a traitor among the Chancery! Kellen and Nettle receive an invitation from a mysterious one-eyed man who drives a carriage pulled by a marsh horse. But as they venture deeper into the Wilds, Kellen and Nettle no longer know whom they can trust.
This was absolutely exquisite. I wanted to swallow it whole due to the suspense and mystery, but slowed to savor the absolutely lovely writing, flawed and complex characters and vivid world building. It's definitely a book I would reread! Highly recommended!
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