Thrice

Needle and Leaf, Book 1

By: Andrew D Meredith

Narrated by: Andrew D Meredith

"Steeped in a wealth of brooding Slavic folklore, Thrice is a deeply personal story of a reluctant father and the mysterious child in his care. It beautifully weaves a tale of personal survival with a much grander narrative of ill-fated bargains and dangerous magic of the past to tell a story that's both intimate and epic." (Graham McNeill, A Thousand Sons)

Forced out on the road with the boy left in his care, Jovan determines to journey into the cave of the bear — to seek out those that would do him and his boy harm.

It is the boy and his bottomless well of soul-searing magic that they seek.

They would do anything to exploit it.

And Jovan would do anything to stop them.

Thrice is the first book in the Needle and Leaf series. Read by the author.

©2021 Andrew D Meredith (P)2021 Andrew D Meredith

Great writing

Prologue is a dramatic account of a birth. Like any good fairy tale it describes the humble state of the protagonists, but not for long. Then fleeing through the woods. I knew then this is a writer with talent. I could really feel the texture of the country. This was written by someone who knows what it is like to go off trail. The rest of the story and its mystery are then slowly revealed. Although anyone would enjoy it, I suggest it is not for younger teens and children

The Needlemaker and His Son

I was immediately drawn to Thrice when I saw a write-up for it that a friend did during SPFBO. The idea that the main characters could be a needlesmith and his adopted son seemed like a breath of fresh air. That coupled with the amalgamation of Slavic and original folklore really produced a book that kept on giving.

Let me start by really saying even though this is a short book, it feels dense. At the beginning it took a little bit for me to get my bearings, but I was glad I did. So much of this book feels longer than it is and only in the best ways.

To me, this is an ambitious book. It takes a lot of the things I love about fantasy and literature and really commits to them: juxtapositions, internal logic, moral and societal messages, and heart.

I found myself questioning a lot of different elements of the book and always enjoying the life it had in my head. The characters both fit and subvert tropes as well as live their own lives where there is always a little bit more you don’t know.

I found myself most often comparing it to books like Stardust or The Buried Giant. Even though those books didn’t work for me very well, Thrice takes that magical dream-like narrative and runs with it.

And I found myself running alongside it.

***my full review will be up later this week on my website along with a Q+A with the author!

A fantastic tale

Thrice is a nice quick read that is exciting and entertaining. It has a very interesting story with a magic system that is well explained and thought out. There are many characters that readers will begin to love and enjoy the journey that they are forced to undertake. I found that this was a great breath of fresh air, thrilling, exciting, and intriguing.

The strength of this novel was the characters. There are a variety of them that are very easy to relate to. Jovan and Leaf became instant favorites of mine, the opposites attract type of relationship between mentor and child. The only issue with the characters was me trying to remember the age of Leaf, with the actions that he does, even though the author does an awesome job of making sure that the readers are reminded often. The biggest thing I wanted more of is the world, knowing the magic throughout the rest. This is something that I am sure we will see in the future installations.

Thrice is one that is suitable for all types of readers. It has adventure, revenge, crime syndicates, and a mystery that will keep readers guessing up to the end. I did the audio and the author does a fantastic job of this as well! This is an exciting new series with a ton of potential and promise!!

Thanks for taking the time to read my review. As always, happy reading and Stay Great!!

Well written fantasy journey

I really enjoyed this book. The narrator did a great job with the character voices, which added a richness to experiencing this story in audio. I found myself thinking about the characters and what would happen next in the story while not listening. I loved how the magic system was slowly introduced and revealed. It was great to get a little tantalizing taste and wonder what else the magic could do. It left me wanting to keep reading to discover more about it. For such a short fantasy story, I thought there was a great amount of world-building, yet it refreshingly did not bog down the story. I can’t wait to read more by this author. He has a new series coming out soon.

HobbitysortaVIBE

Thrice is a novel that follows a needle maker named Jovan who has a mysterious past history of violence but now seeks to make a living as a humble tradesman. However he also is looking after a four year old lad he calls "Leaf" who is much more alert and coherent than you would expect from his age. He also might just have something a little bit magic about him. The novel covers Jovan as he and Leaf try to evade those who want to capture the boy, or who seek to harm them for any other reason. It takes many twists and turns, but that's the basic set up.
King Solomon tells us that there is nothing new under the sun, and if you hear the two sentence, non spoiler pitch for this book, you could spend three minutes naming other books and movies that sound similar. Whether it's The Road, Logan, True Grit, The Witcher, Shane, even portions of Book of the New Sun.
But here's the important thing, King Solomon is right. (shocking I know). In many ways, ideas are cheap, it's more about what you do with them. But also, no matter how many times this basic idea for a plot is used, it's incredibly effective. (Especially as a dad I can say that stories of a father protecting his kids will always work for me.)
Meredith really adds his own style when it comes to the style and setting. This setting feels like it's a the full fleshed out world that the Brothers Grimm only gave us a snapshot into. It's very Scandinavian in tone, and I loved that.
This is also very much...how do I describe this? Tradesman fantasy? Yes that's what we'll call it. The only other book I can think to call this off the top of my head is The Name of the Wind. (And yet this book is very very different from NOTW. I'm mainly speaking about tone and setting.) There's a lot of attention given to tradesmen and their work. Money doesn't magically appear, it must be earned. When you're bartering with a crotchety innkeeper there's actual stakes because, as a reader, we have a good idea of the stakes. They don't have an unending purse.
Meredith also writes with a sophistication that's better than 80% or more of indie fantasy I've read. His writing voice is excellent and improves the way the story comes across. But it's also full of personality! He uses what I call the Birnam Wood principle. When Tolkien watched the play Macbeth and it seems as though the woods come alive and begin to move, he noted that it would have been so much more exciting if the woods had actually been alive and moved! Thus the Ents were born. Without giving spoilers, Meredith does a similar thing when it comes to one of the major side characters.