Review: The Perfect Tear by Connie Lansberg

★★★★★

In a world of technology and magic far beyond our understanding, the balance between the forces of nature has been shifted. The songs that bring peace to the world have halted, and their young singer Eleanor – an orphan with little to say about herself – is left to discover why. As a great darkness descends upon the world in the form of a suffocating mist, Eleanor travels the world in search of her songs, a fabled crystal, and her destiny in order to save a dying world in The Perfect Tear by Connie Lansberg.

The Perfect Tear is, at its core, a modern-day fairytale, taking on board the lessons of every one of its peers to turn up a wonderful end result, bringing back fond memories of “The Dark Crystal,” “Willow,” and the like without following in their shadows in any way.

It’s clearly a book aimed at a younger audience, more of a high fantasy read than your typical idea of a young-adult novel, but a story that treats its audience with more dignity as a reader than maybe some younger ages might expect. It’s a very clean, enjoyable book that spreads its wings so gracefully across typical expectations that really anyone with a desire for a magical read that brings back a touch of childlike wonder can get into it.

The book comes with solid editing and a rich vocabulary that will see the average reader needing a dictionary on hand. It’s rare to refer to a book as “cinematic” without eroding its credibility as a good written work, which is why the term here is used with some qualification: it’s a beautifully written book that so rarely, richly deserves a proper visualization of its jaw-dropping imagery.

The only real bugbear comes in the cover, as it feels a bit too old-school for the contemporary generation of readers, regardless of age. It harkens back to fairy portraits and fantasy landscapes popular late last century and feels a little odd to find featured on a book emerging in 2016. There’s nothing technically wrong with the cover, save perhaps a little difficulty to take in due to the contrasting, and is in fact quite a beautiful piece that exudes a fantastic air, even if it does feel a touch out-of-place for a modern title. As really the only thing to earmark, however, The Perfect Tear deserves quite an applause for the achievement.

So much more than your average fairytale, The Perfect Tear is a tale of princes and princesses done justice, with a maturity and deep consideration throughout that doesn’t confuse the wonder or the simplicity of the story. As a debut novel, Lansberg has hit an extraordinary high note and is definitely a writer to keep an eye on in future.

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