A Review: Stone Heart by Garrett Robinson

Continuing to follow the chronological reading order of the books of Underrealm, I’ve come to Stone Heart by Garrett Robinson, the second book in the Tales of the Wanderer series (which is itself part of the larger, overall timeline of the world of Underrealm). 

Blood Lust—the first in this series—closed with Sun accepting Albern’s offer to join him on his adventures. In this volume, they journey forth, and Albern tells Sun the story of how he and Mag continued to track the Weremage responsible for the death of Mag’s husband. Weremage trail leads them into Calentin—a land of giant, violent trolls, and worse: Albern’s powerful yet estranged family. Mag and Albern must face their grandest threats yet, and this time it’s personal for Albern too.

Like in the first novel, this story has a narrative issue that it must overcome: how to create tension when you have the Uncut Lady on your team? Robinson gives Mag and Albern a physical challenge that Mag can not simply cut through: the trolls. And then, to top it off, he gives Albern a personal confrontation that can’t resolve physically—facing the powerful family that he left behind so many years prior.

I’ve read several reviews about Robinson’s novels that criticize the author for having a story that features a trans character. For a few of you, that may be an issue. For me, it’s not. In fact, I thought it was really cool. It’s rare (especially in fantasy) that I read something like this, and the fact that it’s baked into the worldbuilding makes it all the more interesting. In this story, we talk about how this character became who he is—something that has not been a focus in the three books he has appeared in prior to this. Refreshingly, the author didn’t feel the need to explain the character until the right moment. In fact, it’s possible wouldn’t know he was trans until this very novel.

And this was the right moment because we have a story—in a world that features more than one character with a troubled home—where we explore how a person can heal and rebuild familial relationships. There is a reckoning in this story, and it can be cathartic if you’ve ever experienced fission in your family, especially when it comes to matters of identity.

Save for reasons of religious or cultural objection to a trans character, I have very little reason not to recommend Stone Heart. And even as I reserve the recommendation from those with objections, I recommend that you read widely and experience new ideas and perspectives so you can learn from them and grow as a person. Give this story a shot!

And, if you’re an audiobook fan, I actually edited the audiobook for this installment of the series! If you have a few free audible credits and want to support the work I do here, please pick it up!

*Full Disclosure — I work for the publisher, but I wasn't paid to review this book. While this is an honest review, I was involved in the production of the audiobook, and I receive a small royalty for purchases of the audiobook version*