Defaid may be a haven from the horrors of the fforest, but it soon becomes a prison for Alys and the other Gwenith orphans, forced into night watch duty, on patrol in pastures and on the treacherous gate for 'soul eaters', living a continuous half life. This hard life breeds pain, anger, hate, and death. A haven and a torture chamber. These orphans are a fixture in the village, but are never really accepted as whole members of the community. They are not Defaiders, they are other. The children become ghost like, lost between their previous happy life and this life of just existing. Some wander off at the age of 16, to the calls that come from the fforest and the soul eaters, others diminish in the town and fade away. Alys is fostered by 'Mother' and 'Father', a shrewd woman with secrets of her own, and a quiet man. While Alys feels isolation and sadness, she grows fond of her foster parents, grows to understand them, and to love them. Alys knows love, but the more she stays in Defaid, the more she feels the villagers fear, resentment and anger; causing her to lean heavily toward the darkness lurking inside of her own soul. The novel perfectly captures the claustrophobia of fear. The gate acts as a barrier, a jail cell, where there is a wall keeping dangers out, but also no escape for those inside, who feel they have no resort but to stay. The soul eaters are scary, horrific, threaten to take your soul and turn you into a shell, into nothing. However, the Defaiders are not much better, so awful in their own right. They create their own tragedy by using these children seeking asylum and shelter as bait and guards. This causes the children to become weary, tired, and all they do is dream of rest and a life outside of their plight, which leads to temptation from singing soul eaters. But the Defaiders care little for the fates of the Gwenith children, and often blame them for their own hardships. I have never disliked an entire village so much, feeling very little pity when finding out their fate. When you try to defeat evil by crushing others, by restricting, by fearing those who are different, you in turn become the very thing you fear (draining the life from those you mean to protect). The Beast they fear seems tame and kind compared to the Brothers and Sisters with their starched white collars and unforgiving nature. Alys's hard life breeds the darkness within her, and it is only the few moments of kindness and the little love she is shown that save her from the fate of the twin soul eaters. I could not put this book down, feeling the fforest encroaching on me, pulling me deep into the darkness, towards a creature looming between goodness and badness. A creature of horror, an ugly beast, but with the essence of rain and wind, wild and free, nature wrapped up in black wings. Freedom from the all too real and terrible life humanity sometimes thrusts on others. A good book for learning that giving too much in to fear can often cause more hardship, as opposed to facing your fear head on and trusting in others. If we close ourselves off, lock our gates up tight, than we breed hate and we learn nothing of the beautiful, fragile world around us, and all the colourful and wonderful souls that inhabit it peacefully.
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