Something Rich and Strange (Brian Froud's Faerielands) (Paperback)

Jonah and Megan live in the Pacific Northwest, in a little seaside town where nothing much happens. That is, until the day Adam Fin comes there, with his beautiful pieces of otherworldly jewelry and a mysterious past. Megan finds herself fascinated by Adam. She's haunted by the sea, by strange and sometimes alarming characters lurking around, and by the image of the sea hare.

But Jonah succumbs to a different kind of siren song, when a beautiful singer at a local bar lures him in with her voice. Soon he has left Megan, the world that he knows (and most of his brain cells) to follow the beautiful woman down into the waves. Megan goes down herself, to find her beloved and try to bring him back. In the process, she and Jonah both must discover the dangerous, angry, grieving beauty of the sea and what they must do for it.

The novella is shorter than most of McKillip's books and longer than her short stories, yet full-fleshed and believable, the simplicity of the story masked by the ornate language she employs so well. Reading this book is like immersing yourself in an ornate, opulent aquarium.

Repeated use of seaweed, pearls, bright fish, shells, mer-creatures, and exotic sea-creatures in unusual roles add a note of dreaminess to the proceedings -- not that they need it. Except for a few key Jonah-Megan scenes, the entire book has the feel of a beautiful, prolonged dream, wrapped up in detailed writing and strong imagery.

Also unlike most of McKillip's books, this is a contemporary novel, as evidenced by the first page where Megan finds an Orange Crush can and a styrofoam float. Yet this never interferes with the flow of the book, which deals with imagery as timeless as the sea itself. Don't expect the Big Message to beat you over the head with its theme -- McKillip weaves it in softly and subtlely, though it is hinted in where Megan walks along the beach and sees the junk strewn around. The message about pollution becomes clearest at the end, but during subsequent rereadings one can see the clues lined up, but never overemphasized.

Adam himself is everything he's supposed to be--sexy, ambiguous, in form as well as in mind, for we see him shift from everything from a man to a splash of shapeshifting sea-foam. His sister is not as defined--we know she is dangerous, beautiful, seductive, etc--but perhaps that is deliberate, as we see little of her but constant hints as Jonah pursues her.

One of McKillip's less known novels is also among her best. "Something Rich and Strange" proves to be a magical, beautiful journey into an enchanted sea realm. You'll never see a picture of a mermaid the same way again.

The characters of Megan and Jonah were believable. They weren't glamorous or exceptional - just ordinary people doing what they knew best and who took pleasure in each other's company. By the end of the book, the presence of magic had changed their lives completely, maybe for the better.

This is definitely one of her better books. Do yourself a favor and read it.