Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary

ISBN: 0-312-86004-8 Order from: Amazon.com

A literate and touching novel with excellent characters and somewhat jarring fantastic plot.

Reviewed by David on January 17, 1999 (rev. 1)

Genre: Fantasy (Urban Fantasy, Literary Quotations)

Synopsis: Gentian, the fourteen-year-old middle sister of a liberal and literate family in Minneapolis, has few things to complain about, her bothersome floral name and an overly argumentative older sister Juniper notwithstanding. Her parents are affectionate, well-educated and trusting (and trustworthy). Her school is unusually liberal, despite managing to succeed in educating a crop of teenagers. She has so far steered clear of the pangs of adolescent angst, has an engrossing hobby, and an enviably warm and close group of friends.

Her life turns more complicated, however, when a mysterious family moves next door, and their handsome and exasperatingly enigmatic son begins to take interest in Gentian and her sisters.

Full Review: Pamela Dean has created a small opus of literate, quote-stuffed fantasies. This one, like her first trilogy which started with The Hidden Land, features teenagers, and is heavily infested by Shakespeare. However, unlike that earlier book, and more in keeping with her excellent Tam Lin, Juniper, Gentian and Rosemary takes place in a modern American setting, where the magic makes its slow, subtle and perilous encroachment.

Gentian is the middle of three sisters. An aspiring astronomer, she pursues her hobby with intensity unusual in a fourteen-year-old. As yet untroubled by adolescent lust or teenage rebellion, Gentian is the most sensible of the three, escaping the temperamental and sarcastic brilliance of the sixteen-year-old Juniper and romanticism of her eleven-year-old baby sister Rosemary. Blessed with affectionate and liberal parents, several cats, and a coterie of intelligent and close friends, Gentian starts off as a narrator of unusual contentment. Her discussions with her friends, filled with quotations, arguments on feminism, science, grammar and religion, are remarkably civil and almost, but not quite, too precocious. The girls quite consciously anticipate (with apprehension) the onset of teen angst, while avoiding most of it.

The real tension begins when the new neighbors' son Dominic, an attractive and quote-tossing inventor, starts to attract the three floral sisters. Intentionally or otherwise, he also seems to cause friction between Gentian and her friends. Other mysterious, frequently vexing, phenomena seem to be associated with the new neighbors. Even Genny's reliable telescope is affected by mysterious ills.

The book is filled with literate wit, which could have been too precious in adult characters, but works for well educated, bright and somewhat self-conscious adolescents. Gentian's occasionally dry narrative helps create the atmosphere:

Gentian ... grimly tried to read a very dry book about celestial mechanics, wishing it had less to do with mathematics and more to do with repairing stars.

The copyediting appears excellent: in a novel deliberately filled by obscure words (typified by kids playing Scrabble using the OED), I found only one misspelling (Step instead of Steph). There is a remarkably pleasant feeling of intimacy, especially in the interaction between Gentian and her closest friends. In particular, the affection between Genny and her best friend is both important to the story and quite touching.

The magical development, mostly taking place in the latter part of the book, feels rushed and surprisingly inappropriate. In particular, the reactions of Genny's father and her neighbor Mrs. Zimmerman, are somewhat incongruous. In fact, this book would be as good or better if the magic was not present.

In spite of this, this is remarkably good book, both for its well-developed, sympathetic characters and for the literary yet unaffected style of the narrative which gives these characters the room to love, grow, and explore trust and loyalty.

Overall: 6.5; Plot: 5; Characters: 7; Style: 8; World-building: 5; Originality: 6;

ISBN: 0-312-86004-8 Order from: Amazon.com