THE BRIDES OF MARACOOR

A mysterious young woman washes up on the shore of a secluded island in the first of a new trilogy from Wicked author Maguire.

There are always seven Brides of Maracoor, no more, no less. They live their entire lives in seclusion on their island, Maracoor Spot, where every day they go down to the water and weave their nets, a ritual that divides time into the well-ordered daily segments that allow civilization to function. Each year the Minor Adjutant, currently a bureaucrat named Lucikles, arrives from the mainland nation of Maracoor Abiding to check on the brides and bring them a replacement baby girl if one of their number has died. But one day, a young woman with green skin washes up on their shores, her arm flung around a goose and her hand clutching a raggedy broom. Rain, the green girl, can’t remember much of anything about her life before she washed up on the beach, leaving the brides to discuss among themselves what to do with her. Maguire’s longtime fans will remember Rain from Out of Oz (2011), but even newcomers will instantly connect the dots between her green skin and her broom, and if that’s not enough there are those odd rumors of flying monkeys looking for a green girl. Maguire is setting up for a spinoff trilogy here, and the obviousness of Rain’s origins for readers new and old alike allows him to spend more time fully creating the world of Maracoor Abiding with wonderful attention to detail. Sketching out just enough about Rain to build momentum for Book 2, this first installment does excellent character work with the people around her, particularly with regard to the power struggles among the brides on their strange island, with their strange task of weaving time. The larger world of Maracoor Abiding, with its priestesslike brides, mysterious artifacts, and its own systems of magic, myth, and politics, has echoes of Greek mythology and looks to be fertile ground as a setting for more books.

An expertly crafted introduction to a new series of magic and adventure.