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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
The Absurd Burden of Family: A Cautionary Tale by H&S Alvaurence is a fantasy that begins with Lady Eugenia Gastrell, a wealthy London noblewoman, who has two sons under very different circumstances. Simon, her first, is fathered by a faerie and inherits magical traits, while her second son, Daniel, is fully human. Simon is raised under his mother’s strict control and favoritism toward Daniel, learning to manage his magical abilities alongside obligations to his mother. When Daniel disappears into the realm of faeries, Lady Gastrell enlists Simon, now a physician named Terrance Buckley, to help locate him, using his skills and knowledge of the Otherworld. Years later, Daniel returns under the name Fletcher and attempts to consolidate power within the estate under the guise of familial duty and affection.
H&S Alvaurence’s The Absurd Burden of Family is a sharply observed portrait of a household...with a fantasy twist of power and manipulation. Lady Eugenia is the most interesting to me; a perfectly horrid literary mother who is a master of gaslighting, obsessed with faerie artifacts to a degree that leads to a grotesque discovery later, and a facile study of the Otherworld. It is her presence that drives the story’s psychological antagonism. H&S Alvaurence carefully detail Fletcher’s masquerades, flirtations, and orchestration of appearances, showing how performance can dictate perception. Buckley is the necessary counterpoint, and all of these come together wonderfully in a household and an imagining of the fae. Through meticulous attention to character behavior, dialogue, and dysfunction, The Absurd Burden of Family is an intelligently entertaining read. Very highly recommended.
