My review: A curious mixture of humour and fantasy makes Mark Mayes The Gift Maker an interesting debut novel. Not normally a fan of fantasy fiction, I was drawn into this novel because of the story, the language and the setting.
The plot is well-managed and seamlessly interweaves the three stories of Thomas, Liselotte and Jo (short for Johan) as they are taken out of their own small world to a strange fantasy world where nothing is as it seems. Sometimes a beautiful dream, sometimes horrific and shockingly nightmarish everything is masterminded by the charismatic Reynard.
The writing is of a high quality earning its label of literary fiction, and the reader is challenged with a demandingly literary vocabulary – thank goodness for Kindle so you can click on a word you don’t know. Occasionally the writing strays into the ‘poetic’ in the negative sense of the word, but overall it is lyrical and musical. A pleasure to read.
The elements of folk and fairy tale are vividly drawn, with elements of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Andersen and Angela Carter. Wolf-like creatures, huntsmen, magic apples and old couples living in snow-covered mountains make the setting fascinating. I loved the inventiveness of the Germanic names and sinister politics lurking in the background. The world created here is well-drawn, and just slightly off-kilter to make it a fascinating place to spend time. I was strongly reminded of the best kind of children’s stories: The Snow Queen, The Box of Delights and Emil and the Detectives but written for an adult audience.
My only disappointment was the ending. Everything was resolved, and in a surprising way, but I would have liked to see the characters back in their university town, changed by their quest, but happily drinking Malzbeer. Maybe that says more about me…

A brilliantly written novel with a fantasy twist. Loved it from beginning to end. Unputdownable :)