Every now and then, we cognitively inflexible (read ‘grumpy’), and mature (read ‘old’) men (read ‘stale pale males’) should venture beyond the comfortable boundaries of literary fiction. This time, I wandered into YA fantasy. I was, quite possibly, the least qualified person in the room. 

Veils of the Fallen follows Esme, a seventeen-year-old navigating a troubled family life and a world in which danger is never particularly far away.

What struck me most was the relationship between Esme and Bec. Their exchanges move between teenage antagonism, resentment and genuine affection. When danger arrives, that complicated relationship becomes one of the story’s strengths.

Author Hannah Kristen has a good instinct for suspense. The pace quickens considerably as the story progresses, and the later action sequences give the narrative real momentum.

There were moments when I felt the prose explained emotions that the characters’ actions had already conveyed. But I also recognise that YA fiction operates with different expectations of emotional accessibility from the literary fiction I usually read. What might feel a little emphatic to me may be precisely what another reader appreciates.

And that’s rather the point of occasionally reading outside one’s niche.

This is an imaginative, energetic story with an emotional heart, written by an emerging Brisbane author who clearly enjoys storytelling. I have little doubt Hannah could explore more earth-bound complexities in the future, especially as she has professional counselling experience to support her creativity. I enjoyed my excursion into unfamiliar territory. I may even return.