The Silk Palace

by: Colin Harvey

Published by: Swimming Kangaroo Books

Reviewed by Alex McGilvery

The Silk Palace by Colin Harvey is the story of a scholar named Bluestockings who has come to a city perched high on a massive white rock between two empires. The only way in or out is by a controlled hot air balloon ride–or being lowered in a potato sack. Bluestocking is a resourceful if somewhat naive young woman who gets caught up in the politics of the Silk Palace. She befriends one princess but makes enemies of the other two. The translation that she is working on turns out to be much more difficult than she expected–and much more important.

Colin Harvey has created a world of magic where your status depends on your name; and your name is given to you by a sacred gem through an incorruptible order of priests. Slaves have one-syllable names while the nobility get true jawbreakers. (Harvey takes pity on his readers and has the nobility granting permission for their intimates to use pet names.) Changing one’s name is punishable by death for the family of the offender and torture of the offender themselves. We are given a glimpse of a society in which the layers of society are fixed and immutable.

The characters that Harvey creates for the story are believable and likable. Even the villains are complex and human. The actions follow logically from the nature of the people in the story. Just one warning – some scenes are quite graphic, though not unnecessarily so. This book grew on me as I read it. I began thinking that it was an interesting premise, but as the plot progressed I was pulled more and more into the lives of the people in this world. I finished the story wanting to learn more about the people and their lives.

Armchair Interviews says: This was a sleeper, but the story is very pleasantly surprising.