Lily the Silent

Davies continues exploring how beliefs create a new reality for the believer, but squanders some of the pleasures of 2011’s Snotty Saves the Day. Lily, previously Snotty, is more long-suffering and self-sacrificing and a lot less fun than her prior incarnation, and readers will miss the voluminous scholarly footnotes of Devindra Vale. Wilder the Bard, with formal flourish, launches into the tale of how Lily overcame slavery and the betrayal of her one true love to seek out the Key opening the door from the cold, polished, dying world of Megalopolis to the more pastoral land of Arcadia. Lily’s daughter, Sophia the Wise, adds detail to the story, suggesting that it may be an alternate version of Snotty Saves the Day, and that Arcadia’s origins lie mainly in the imagination of the teller. Davies’s absorbing salute to the necessity and power of storytelling promises many grand adventures while hinting that there is really only one. (Oct.)