!["The mysterious jewelry box", by Maristella Angeli: review](https://www.premioceleste.it/indi/_pics/7/9/Il-portagioie-misterioso_2793_2005.jpg ""The mysterious jewelry box", by Maristella Angeli: review")
Critical texts, Italy, Torino, 02 November 2018
"The mysterious jewelry box"
fantasy novel by Maristella Angeli
Antipodes Publishing House
http://www.antipodes.it/prodotti/scheda ... .asp? id = 43
Review by Rosella Rapa (writer)
Needless to look for other bombastic terms in our vocabulary and beyond: this work by Maristella Angeli, already known as a poet and painter, is a fantastic and fantastic story, a daydream, which transports us from the disappointing real world into a wonderful and unusual Fairy World.
Dedicated to girls (The protagonist, Azan, is a young girl who is facing the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood) is actually a suitable book from 9 to 99 years: children will enjoy the fantastic and imaginative adventures that follow page after page, while older readers will enjoy the metaphors that are felt at every step, hidden between the lines.
Unlike many (too many?) Novels that are covered with the words "Fantasy" to re-propose physical and verbal violence now come to bored even among fans of the genre, in the Enchanted World of Azan, full of magical swords, dragons and unicorns, as he wants tradition, the eternal struggle between Evil and Good, between Dark and Light is not fught with bloody battles, corpses and useless bloodshed: Good, Justice, Goodness use other means to defeat enemies. They destroy Evil in its essence, never in real people. This idea, indeed this intimate conviction transposed into adventure, would be enough to make the book unique.
Of course it is not all here: there is adventure, inventiveness, feeling. Each page offers us something new, it makes us stay in suspense, the twists are repeated repetitively, making the book really read in one breath, not only to know how it will end. One obviously expects a happy ending, but which, how, when or after what trials, this is all to be discovered. The content is so rich that other authors could have tried to dilute it, spoiling the adventures with useless fillers, perhaps saccharine pages and banal digressions; Maristella Angeli instead is an honest writer, who proposes to cast (but not in a hurry!) Everything that really has to say. It is not just about adventure and fantasy, behind every event there is a deep moral sense and genuine feelings, unfortunately rare to find. That's why you have to invent a Fairy World to describe them better.
The protagonists are many, all delineated quickly and effectively, all with their own distinct personality. Among the Good, family relationships are marked by tenderness and understanding, the many couples are united by intense and deep love, based on the understanding and the commonality of feelings, not on the external appearance, even if they are all beautiful, because in a fantasy must be like that. Even among the wicked there is a sort of family bond that unites them, but it is determined above all because it is generated by hatred against the rest of the world, which leads us to pages that shudder. The delicate Maristella knows how to invent scenes that scare even the most savvy reader, with monsters, nightmares and demons. Evil is so skilfully outlined, and in such a way as to make us feel horror for it, coming to make us tremble, to live alongside Azan. It is not just a matter of moving the story and capturing the attention, the message that is proposed goes far beyond fantasy or play.
"Il Mysterious Jewelery" is therefore proposed as a complete work, able to be read, but also to invite reflection.
A last unusual characteristic lies in the fact that Azan does not forget the Real World, ours, where he lived until adolescence. Do you even regret any particular ... an invitation to look for something beautiful around us?
fantasy novel by Maristella Angeli
Antipodes Publishing House
http://www.antipodes.it/prodotti/scheda ... .asp? id = 43
Review by Rosella Rapa (writer)
Needless to look for other bombastic terms in our vocabulary and beyond: this work by Maristella Angeli, already known as a poet and painter, is a fantastic and fantastic story, a daydream, which transports us from the disappointing real world into a wonderful and unusual Fairy World.
Dedicated to girls (The protagonist, Azan, is a young girl who is facing the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood) is actually a suitable book from 9 to 99 years: children will enjoy the fantastic and imaginative adventures that follow page after page, while older readers will enjoy the metaphors that are felt at every step, hidden between the lines.
Unlike many (too many?) Novels that are covered with the words "Fantasy" to re-propose physical and verbal violence now come to bored even among fans of the genre, in the Enchanted World of Azan, full of magical swords, dragons and unicorns, as he wants tradition, the eternal struggle between Evil and Good, between Dark and Light is not fught with bloody battles, corpses and useless bloodshed: Good, Justice, Goodness use other means to defeat enemies. They destroy Evil in its essence, never in real people. This idea, indeed this intimate conviction transposed into adventure, would be enough to make the book unique.
Of course it is not all here: there is adventure, inventiveness, feeling. Each page offers us something new, it makes us stay in suspense, the twists are repeated repetitively, making the book really read in one breath, not only to know how it will end. One obviously expects a happy ending, but which, how, when or after what trials, this is all to be discovered. The content is so rich that other authors could have tried to dilute it, spoiling the adventures with useless fillers, perhaps saccharine pages and banal digressions; Maristella Angeli instead is an honest writer, who proposes to cast (but not in a hurry!) Everything that really has to say. It is not just about adventure and fantasy, behind every event there is a deep moral sense and genuine feelings, unfortunately rare to find. That's why you have to invent a Fairy World to describe them better.
The protagonists are many, all delineated quickly and effectively, all with their own distinct personality. Among the Good, family relationships are marked by tenderness and understanding, the many couples are united by intense and deep love, based on the understanding and the commonality of feelings, not on the external appearance, even if they are all beautiful, because in a fantasy must be like that. Even among the wicked there is a sort of family bond that unites them, but it is determined above all because it is generated by hatred against the rest of the world, which leads us to pages that shudder. The delicate Maristella knows how to invent scenes that scare even the most savvy reader, with monsters, nightmares and demons. Evil is so skilfully outlined, and in such a way as to make us feel horror for it, coming to make us tremble, to live alongside Azan. It is not just a matter of moving the story and capturing the attention, the message that is proposed goes far beyond fantasy or play.
"Il Mysterious Jewelery" is therefore proposed as a complete work, able to be read, but also to invite reflection.
A last unusual characteristic lies in the fact that Azan does not forget the Real World, ours, where he lived until adolescence. Do you even regret any particular ... an invitation to look for something beautiful around us?
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