Rachel Reviews: Ildri & The Echoes of Trees by Krystal Bailey

Krystal Bailey is a good writer. I know that from having read her previous book A Clearer Sky, which I also had the pleasure to review. She is, in all senses of the description, a great storyteller.

In this, Ildri & the Echoes of the Trees, we follow a handful of characters who are key to the story. The chapters switch focus from one to the other, with their names stated at the beginning of each one for clarity. Firstly, Ildri who is the heir to the Treelock kingdom, currently under attack from a dark threat. When she is taken outside of her world and placed with relatives to keep her safe, she becomes aware of her otherness in the village of Kel-green and this becomes more pronounced as she gets older and her features become more defined.

The first half of the book establishes Ildri's life in Kel-green and her interaction with other members of her family like Kirana, her "twin sister" and her father, Gavin but also, outside of this, Matthew Merrick to whom she becomes inextricably linked by his discovery of Ildri's arrival.

The second half becomes more focused on Ildri when something happens that means that she has to leave Kel-green and the book also expands in terms of its world-building and people.

However, it is Ildri and Matthew on whom the action is centred, the other characters being important but more peripheral. As with most fantasy books which include characters who are coming-of-age, both Ildri and Matthew grow as they discover of what they are capable. Bailey is great at describing the environments in which they find themselves and the other beings they encounter, achieving this with realistic dialogue and an economical knowledge of just how much we need to know in order to envision places but not too much so that we come bogged down in purple prose.

This is a great start to a fantasy saga. It opens with drama and then concentrates on building the adventure as Ildri becomes older and more aware and more developed. This book was not overly dramatic but as the foundation for more, it provides the perfect startpoint.

I will look forward to the next book as there was much left unanswered at the end of this and as a reader, you will be left wanting more.

Rachel Rating: 4/5 stars

This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC:

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