Caught in Crystal is the fourth book in Patricia Wrede’s Lyra series, the first chronologically and was originally published in 1987. The rights to the series have been purchased by Open Road books and re-released in ebook form. And about time too.

With over a decade under its belt, Caught in Crystal could be forgiven for reading its age. Yet there is nothing in the text or story that feels out-dated or antique. Quite the opposite, there is a zesty vibrancy to the writing that is makes it an immersive, enjoyable novel.

Innkeeper Kayl has gone to a great deal of trouble over the years to make herself unremarkable. All she wants is to run her inn and take care of her children. And for 15 years it has been easy, but some things are too dark to lie quiet.

Rousted from her peaceful life by both friends and enemies, Kayl has to take up the sword she had hidden away and remember who she had been before. A Justice of the Sisterhood of Stars, one of the First Star of Kith Alunel. Until the Twisted Tower and the terrible thing that had broken them, the thing that once more threatens the Sisterhood.

Hunted by the cruel Magicseekers and viewed with distrust by the Sisters, Kayl has only her husband’s old friend, the cursed mage Glyndon Shal Morag, and the manipulative Silver Sister Corrana to depend on.

Reluctantly, resentfully, Kayl has to be remarkable again. Or maybe none of them will survive.

Wrede is a consummate storyteller and in Caught in Crystal she has a good story to tell. The plot is a fairly straightforward one, but works well for it, Wrede is too good of a writer to need to blind her reader with body swerves. Instead the story canters along at a good clip, and doles out clues and revelations at just the right spots to invigorate potentially flagging interest,

She is, in fact, a bit too good at that. I picked the book up at 11 on a Tuesday night, planning to read a few pages before going to sleep the next day. At four o’clock in the morning, I figured there were only five pages to go so I might as well finish. Everytime I reached the resolution of one scene, Wrede hooked me back with the promise of another.

It helped that The characters in Caught in Crystal are so well crafted. Wrede rarely puts a foot wrong in crafting the characters who populate Lyra. Impossible to give all the cast a full and fulfilling inner life, of course, but the ones that Kayl and the readers spend time with are well-fleshed out and believable.

No one more so than Kayl, who might just be the most unexpectedly awesome protagonist of the year so far. She is stubborn, emotionally articulate, occasionally self-righteous and unenthusiastically pragmatic.

The latter is a gold seal for me, I love me a pragmatic hero.

Her children, Mark and his older sister Dara, are also well scripted characters. Unlike so many fictional children they are neither Uncanny Valley precocious or simply trotted out at intervals to be imperilled, rescued or brats. Their bickering provides a few chuckles and they have as much to contribute to the plot as some of the adults.

The world of Lyra is also a solidly convincing one, with a rich history and established tensions. Although since this was originally the fourth book in the series, that is only to be expected.

This isn’t a book for fans of Game of Thrones continent spanning epics or Richard Morganesque grim-dark novels. Kayl’s quest is very much a traditional adventure and although there are a few fight scenes, and references to systemic prejudice towards non-humans, the details tend to be elided.

That said though, it is kind of nice to read a novel with a plot that can be believably resolved in roughly 300 pages and isn’t rife with misery, disease and undertones of sexual violence. I like an epic as much as the next fantasy nerd – and a bit of grim-dark adds spice, although universal misery generally bores me – but sometimes a chance is as good as a rest. Caught in Crystal is a traditional fantasy romp, with a grown-up hero and some very nice writing.

Look out for the rest of the books in the Lyra series from Open Road publishers: The Raven Ring, Shadow Magic, Daughter of Witches, and The Harp of Imach Thyssel. Or watch a video with Patricia Wrede herself: