This is my review of Maze of Blood, by Marly Youmans. It is such a good book. Have a look.
MAZE OF BLOOD
By Marly Youmans
(Macon, Georgia,
2015, Mercer University Press.)
MAZE OF BLOOD, by Marly Youmans, is a book to be
savored. It is a book that digs deep,
with every word of the spare and exquisite prose carrying level upon level of
meaning. It is a book that encourages,
even requires, both thought and feeling in every line. Though it will capture the reader immediately
and never let go, it’s not a book to be taken lightly. MAZE OF BLOOD is a book to read over and over
again.
As she did in GLIMMERGLASS, Youmans twists time and space to
explore the juncture of creativity between the material world and the
spiritual. This is the interface Youmans
returns to here, revealing the very essence of creativity through the story of
one man’s all too brief life.
Conall Weaver, the protagonist, fights to escape the
physical and emotional confines of his life in a small Texas town. He writes fiction and fantasy, leading a life
of the mind that nobody else understands or respects, even though he earns a
decent living at it. Sere, hot, flat and
empty, Texas itself becomes a metaphor for the human condition, something that
constrains and torments the creative soul.
Youmans draws the reader into the tension between the
restrictions of the physical environment and the spiritual yearnings of the
mind and heart. The reader is left to
determine if the creative spark needs both to catch fire.
This is a beautiful and important book. Clive Hicks-Jenkins’ illustrations show the
essential whimsy and joy that permeate Youmans’ universe even in the midst of
human turmoil.
Marly Youmans and I are of course vaguely related. We’re first cousins generations removed by
500 years and 3000 miles, and have never met IRL. I’d like to.
Her work is splendid.
Claire Youmans
Author of The Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy and The
Toki-Girl and the Sparrow-Boy, Book Two: Chasing Dreams (American I Publishing,
Big Bear Lake, CA; 2014 and 2015 respectively) both available on Amazon and
everywhere else.
claireyoumansauthor@gmail.com
American I Publishing
PO Box 576
Big Bear Lake, CA 92315
(760) 362-2173/ (760) 820-2212