Review: Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn

Discord's Apple
Author: Carrie Vaughn
Publication: Tor Books (July 6, 2010)


Description: When Evie Walker goes home to spend time with her dying father, she discovers that his creaky old house in Hope’s Fort, Colorado, is not the only legacy she stands to inherit. Hidden behind the old basement door is a secret and magical storeroom, a place where wondrous treasures from myth and legend are kept safe until they are needed again. The magic of the storeroom prevents access to any who are not intended to use the items. But just because it has never been done does not mean it cannot be done.

And there are certainly those who will give anything to find a way in.

Evie must guard the storeroom against ancient and malicious forces, protecting the past and the future even as the present unravels around them. Old heroes and notorious villains alike will rise to fight on her side or to undermine her most desperate gambits. At stake is the fate of the world, and the prevention of nothing less than the apocalypse. 



My Thoughts: I have been trying to decide how to write about this book. I thought it was an amazing and excellent book. It grabbed me and didn't let me go until I had finished the last suspenseful page. I loved Evie. I felt her pain as she went home to be with her father who was dying of prostate cancer. 


It is hard to describe the structure of this story coherently. The main story has Evie going home to Colorado to be with her father and finding out that she is (or will be when her father dies) the guardian of a storeroom filled with magical objects. But Evie writes comic books that mirror current events and some of the story takes place in that comic book world where Evie writes a character that she wants to be a role model for young women. 


Evie is also assisted by a mysterious man named Alex who is the same man who convinced the Trojans to let the horse inside during the Trojan War. Alex, then known as Sinon, was cursed by Apollo to never die and he has come to the storeroom to see if there is something there that will kill him. We also see some of his life with Apollo and the other Greek gods. And in other parts of the story we get glimpses of the other guardians who have watched over these objects for the last 3000 years.


Evie's world is not an easy place. Terrorism is rampant. In fact, she lost her mother in a terroristic attack. Ration cards, identity cards, ID checkpoints are common. The phone calls from her partner in LA keep her apprised of the world situation and how it is disintegrating. Evie has her own more local problems with her father's illness and with the attempts of the goddess Hera and her associates trying to gain access to the storeroom to further destabilize society.


My summary likely sounds confusing but the story flows so well and each part works so well with the others that the transitions were seamless. I loved the story and recommend it to all lovers of fantasy.


Favorite Quote:

When Evie was little, she used to think there was a rule book, some kind of golden understanding that enlightened you when you became an adult. "When I grow up" was a place, a real state of being, where one shed childhood like a worn-out carapace.

Challenges: RYOB Reading Challenge, Paranormal Reading Challenge