The Namer of Spirits

Ash Narro is the eponymous Namer of Spirits in this engaging eco-fantasy by Todd Mitchell. She is a young girl with a talent for finding the true names and souls of beings and thereby taming them. She is growing up inside the walls of a village that is hiding from the perils of the outside world, including the unpredictable and fearsome dao fora, who seem to attack at random. But the village has been cursed, and their fear and greed has blinded them to what’s important while their farms struggle under plagues of webworms. When a dao fora youth called Fen finds his way inside the walls and is imprisoned in a cage by fearful villagers, Ash befriends him and sets him free. Branded a traitor by her own people, she goes on the run with Fen to clear her name and to find the Sky Tree in the hope it will provide the answers that her village needs to survive. Engaging characterization in this adventure will have readers rooting for the protagonists right from the start. The magic is enchanting, and the monsters are frightening and have hidden sorrows. The lineup of otherworldly beings is rich without even a hint of the confusion or clumsiness that many less experienced writers get bogged down in within this genre. Author Todd Mitchell’s naming is both creative and evocative; I particularly loved the mistcats and the illwen. The Namer of Spirits is among the best of its kind, and it has a superb cover too. Drawing devastating parallels with the real world, Mitchell has created a captivating allegory on the effects of deforestation. This is a thrilling educational adventure novel for children ages 9 and up, but this beautifully crafted story will also be loved by adults.