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Lynn Abbey is best known for her work in shared-world settings like Thieves' World and the Dark Sun books, and her solo novels have always been a slightly different animal. Jerlayne is one of the strongest of them: a quiet character novel about an elf-woman married to a half-mortal husband, navigating a family and a culture that treat both her and her children as suspect.
The fantasy mechanics are interesting (the worldbuilding has an unusual take on the relationship between Faerie and the human world) but Abbey is more interested in Jerlayne's daily life and her marriage. The book moves slowly. The accumulated weight at the end is real.
Three stars. Recommended for fans of low-key fantasy who like character work over plot machinery. If you want Abbey at her Thieves' World peak, this is not it.
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