Under The Golden Mists by S.G. Byrd

Publisher: OakTara

Pages: 155

ISBN: 978-1-60290-095-0

Source: My purchase

Lacht and her family have lived in Tarth's Root Forest for twelve years. That is how long it has been since the evil Gefcla was defeated by Lynn, the human from another world. Now that she is eighteen her Stalli family has decided to go home to Stalli. It will be quite diffferent, a land of mountains covered with green winter snow and blue leaves on the trees. The water is green, except for the Golden Lake with its golden mists and mysterious people, the Wassandra, who live under the water. He also tells them about the "wet ones". Supposedly there are a group of people who could go into the golden lake and come out as dry as they went in. They can also breath under the water. Crispen tells them the Wassandra have been in contact with them. One of their young ones has gone missing. This is the beginning of trouble for Lacht. She begins having dreams about the missing girl. Aftter arriving back in Stalli, and setting up house, they begin to meet new people. Crispin and his brother run a wood and metal shop. When Lacht meets Crispin's lame brother Ploddin, she immediately sees that the work load is one sided. She also realizes that she likes Ploddin much more than she likes Crispin. Part of this is due to the stories that Crispin is spreading around the village about the Wassandra people, causing the youth to be terrified of a people they have not yet met. Both Ploddin and Lacht are hiding secrets. Plodding shares his with Lacht when he discovers hers. This sets into motion a series of dangerous events that will lead to the rescue of the Wassandra child and set into motion changes that should have taken place a long time ago.

The characters were well developed. You could identify with Ploddin, the underdog in this story who allows himself to be taken advantage of for several reasons. We all know someone like him or maybe he represents us or who we used to be. We all know the braggart we have run into at work or school. Everything revolves around that person. We all know how important our decisions can be for not only our life but sometimes the life of others.

Sara Byrd has created a world that is so descriptive that I would love to visit it in real life. Bread and buns play an important part in her stories for so many reasons. It was wonderful that she ended the book with a recipe for some really awesome cinnamon buns.