Here Lyeth by Johanna FrankSet in a 17th century German-speaking setting, Here Lyeth is a tale of witch trials, murder, redemption, and the afterlife.
Meginhardt (or, well, his spirit) is taken through time and space to resolve his personal issues before his entrance to the afterlife which, in this story, is a literal spiritual kingdom with God as King (they pray to King, instead of God). Lexxie's world is shattered when she discovers that she was stolen as a baby - and the man and woman she grew up calling father and grandmother are not her biological family. The story follows Meginhardt's search for approval and Lexxie's search for her true family, with the separate strands gradually intertwining as you follow the threads back to Vereiteln Dorf.
Honestly, Here Lyeth was difficult book for me get into, mostly because it is linguistically confusing. Frank uses archaic sentence structures, I suppose to reflect the era, and she also drops in German words to reflect the setting. Actually, despite the German words dropped in here and there (which, did you know, the Kindle can pull up a translation for you if you don't want to refer to the glossary at the end?), a lot of the dialogue sounded very Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn to me, which pings Southern American - though I am neither American nor German, so maybe I am the problem lol.
AND THEN, when the angelic beings and time travel comes into play, a whole bunch of anachronisms make it through because, I guess, angels live outside of time and speak in modern-ish language. This only made sense when I read the previews of her other two books, which are set 300 years later in the modern era, so I guess she was maybe trying to make sure the angels sounded the same? Frank puts Here Lyeth as the first in the A Lifeline Fantasy Series, but is actually the third book to be published.
At any rate, Lexxie gets very little sympathy from me from the start because she is a Too Stupid To Live character. Unfortunately, that is probably a necessary characteristic for the story to go anywhere. If you don't mind Very Dumb Decisions, you may actually like her. She is kind and compassionate but hello, she is willing to throw away a wonderful, loving family because *tantrum* you are not my REAL father!!! BLOOD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVERYTHING ELSE. She doesn't press for answers, even though she has time and opportunity, which leads to...
ANNOYING NON-COMMUNICATION TROPE, where neither Harmon nor Grossmutter bother to explain anything, even though they know Lexxie is about to self destruct by going back to the village they once deserted in search of a father they KNOW isn't going to live up to her starry-eyed dreams which...
Okay, I understand some irrational decisions by seventeen year old girls but... to push through when everyone says it's stupid and dangerous and she has never left the home or interacted with Real Life People before... is a next level of unbelievable. The adults in this story aren't being very responsible or mature either.
Meginhardt, on the other hand, is a wishy-washy teen who changes his mind every other page, and is so set on trying to return to his body even though he is many years dead that it doesn't even make sense after a while. He's a classic example of a person who is rebellious just because, and doesn't listen to sense JUST BECAUSE, and no one can change his mind or reason with him because he'll do anything just to spite you JUST BECAUSE. Even if he wanted to in the first place. Boys, amirite.
I feel like maybe I am too urban and too old to understand these small village, isolated teens.
ANYWAY. Frank hit all my pet peeves in main characters, but I did enjoy the world that she built. Avondale sounds like a lovely village to grow up in. Vereiteln Dorf gave me the chills, but is very believable as a village under the control of a purity-obsessed priest and a money-grubbing treasurer. The witch hunts and blind belief feels especially real in the current climate.
The Kingdom, or afterlife, follows a very traditional Christian interpretation of heaven. There are heavenly beings, some of which have wings. The gates to the kingdom are guarded, and only the worthy are allowed in - rebels are kept out. The spirits of the departed live there, and perform various roles for the King (God), and the constant push is for the redemption of everyone. There's the imagery of the stones in the river of life which hold your true name that you get to see when you arrive - which feels like it's taken right out of Revelations.
While this story was not for me, you'll probably like it if you like historical fiction (especially around witch hunts and rustic locations) and Frank Peretti books (most of which I also found irritating lol) but with less overt spiritual warfare of the angel-battle kind. There are some Tilly by Frank E. Peretti vibes, I think, though it's been a while since I read that.
Note: I received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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