The Grass King's Concubine

In the World Below, the court of the elemental spirit known as the Grass King slowly dries up. In the World Above, heiress Aude P%C3%A8lerin des Puiz searches for the origins of her family's wealth and discovers a desiccated "vast floor of thin gray grass" where rice paddies once thrived. The droughts are connected and only Aude can set them right. This imaginative steampunk fantasy is populated by charming characters%E2%80%94the bookish, na%C3%AFve, and impulsive Aude, committed to social and economic justice; Jehan Favre, the soldier she loves; and the twin ferret sisters whose story is linked to Aude's%E2%80%94and Sperring's imagery is rich and striking, as with the Grass King's court with air "that tasted of spice cake and fresh bread and oranges." Unfortunately, the plot and writing ramble and lurch unevenly, and the result can be as vague as Aude's half-remembered childhood glimpse of the magical court. (Aug.)