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The Barnes & Noble Review
The Ill-Made Mute: The Bitterbynde Book One is a first novel from Australian author Cecilia Dart-Thornton. She has created a world whose human inhabitants are both aided and tormented by magical creatures called "wights." To avoid coming into contact with malicious, or "unseelie" wights, the people exchange trade goods on windships that sail through the air. The ships travel between, and dock at, tremendously tall towers that are inhabited by a few privileged families and the hundreds of servants who toil for them.
The central character is a mute, hideously scarred foundling who stows away on a windship to search for something that will trigger a memory of who it is, or where it is from. Along its journey, it encounters pirates, monsters, treasure hunts, treks through wight-haunted forests, true friendship, and its first stirrings of love.
Once I had enough information to form a mental image of the mute's world, I found the tale thoroughly engrossing and entertaining. (Kim Corradini)
Don D'Ammassa
For fans of mainstream fantasy, this is likely to be one of the high marks of the year.
— Science Fiction Chronicle
Kirkus Reviews
Into Isse Tower stumbles a youth with no memory, unable to speak, wearing a face horribly disfigured from exposure to poisonous plants. Becoming a lowly, abused drudge, the youth learns about windships (they sail through the air, thanks to "sildron," the antigravity metal), the "unstorms" of eerie magic blown in on the shang winds, the flying horses called Eotaurs, and the servants' incessant tales of wights both seelie and unseelie. Unfortunately, the youth comes to the attention of Mortier, Master at Swords, who requires a servant. The youth, aware of Mortier's terror of the unstorms and consequent involvement with horrid magic, and previously flogged by him for an imaginary infraction, stows away on a windship despite knowing a stowaway's usual, grim, fate. Unearthed, the youth must toil as a deckhand-until pirates attack the ship. To avoid capture, the youth jumps into the sky, only to be saved by Sianadh, not a pirate but a treasure-seeker with a map and a sildron belt. Sianadh names the youth Imrhien and instructs the mute in sign language. Together, they survive cruel hardships and dreadful creatures to reach Waterstair. Believed by Sianadh to be a sildron mine, Waterstair turns out to be far more wonderful. Buoyed by their discovery, the two travel to Sianadh's home, whence Imrhien, resolving to recover face, speech, and memory, sets off for a whole new set of adventures. With deep roots in folklore and myth: tirelessly inventive, fascinating, affecting, and profoundly satisfying-and Dart-Thornton has plenty in reserve for sequels. A stunning, dazzling debut.
OCT/ NOV 07 - AudioFile
This first book in the Bitterbynde series introduces the world of Erith, an untamed place in which humans must face “wights,” some good and some evil. Imrhein has no memory of her immediate past, cannot speak, and has been disfigured by poison. In her travels she faces many difficult challenges and finds some mighty protectors. Kris Faulkner draws on a strong store of accents and tones. Her engagement in the plot and its unlikely heroine are maintained throughout. Although the plot is a little hard to follow at times, Faulkner is a good guide. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
