54 pages • 1 hour read
Rebecca RossA River Enchanted
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Power of Music and Stories in Shaping Reality
The power of music and stories in shaping reality is a significant theme throughout A River Enchanted. Music is integral to both the plot and the worldbuilding. For Jack, music is initially an academic pursuit, something that he can learn and teach, something that brings meaning to his life. After he plays for the spirits for the first time, however, he is awed by the power that music has over the world around him:
Jack remained silent as he picked threads of algae from his harp strings. But he was inwardly overcome, astounded at what he and Adaira had done. At the power of Lorna’s ballad to summon all the spirits of the sea—the folk he had once heard about in the legends of his childhood (141).
Music summons the spirits and changes Jack’s view of reality. He has always revered the spirits but has never had any interactions with them, save the glimpse of Lady Ream in the water. Music shows Jack that the spirits are real, tangible parts of the world he lives in and an important piece of the mystery he’s working to unravel.
Stories also have the power to shape the characters’ experience of reality. Even in conversation with Adaira about their childhood rivalry, Jack acknowledges, “Of course, they would see this story from different perspectives” (120). Jack and Adaira’s history changes depending on which of them tells the story. This is also true of the history of Cadence, which Jack notes “shifted like constellations” depending on the perspective of the storyteller (10). The Tamerlaines cast the Breccans as bloodthirsty warmongers due to their raids, but it’s possible the Breccans would categorize the Tamerlaines as selfish and greedy due to their refusal to trade. Jack’s reality is informed by the stories that he is told; at first, he is afraid and wary of the Breccans. After he finds out his father is Breccan, he wonders if peace between the two clans might be possible. A different story allows him to imagine a different future for the isle.
Another example of storytelling’s power to shape reality is the divided book of stories that Graeme gave to Torin, which previously belonged to Joan Tamerlaine. Half of the book lives in the east, while the other half remains in the west, perhaps left behind by Joan during her marriage to Fingal. The Tamerlaines therefore only have access to half of the history of the spirits, as do the Breccans. In the next book in the duology, the reality of the Tamerlaines and Breccans will continue to shift, as new truths come to light during Adaira’s time in the west.
The Dynamics of Homecoming and Belonging in Community
The dynamics of homecoming and belonging in a community are integral to the understanding of Jack’s character. Jack has always had a fraught relationship with his home. Part of his alienation comes from his status as a child whose parents weren’t married: As a child, “bastard followed him in whispers, more than his own name” (40). Unkind words and actions, due to something entirely out of Jack’s control, make him feel unwanted by his community. This feeling is reinforced when he is sent away to study music at Bardic University as a child, and it follows him into adulthood. When Adaira proposes marriage to him, he replies, “Out of all the men in the east, I am the most unworthy” (219). He feels unworthy because of his status and his alienation from his community.
Still, despite feeling as though he does not belong in Cadence, when Adaira asks for his help, he obliges: “He felt the last name he wore like a cloak—the only name that would claim him, even at his very worst—and he knew that his deepest allegiance was to her and her family” (45). Even though his parents aren’t married, he carries the surname Tamerlaine, and his name fills him with a sense of duty to the family. This duty, coupled with Jack’s growing affection for Adaira and their eventual marital bond, helps deepen his connection to the clan and the feeling that the east is his home.
Jack’s return to Cadence is complex; after years on the mainland, he doesn’t consider Cadence to be his home anymore. He finds the changes to the island jarring; Torin is now the captain of the East Guard, Jack has a new sister, Laird Alastair is ill, and Adaira’s ascension is imminent. Still, once Jack returns, he feels the call of the land that was his home for 12 years before he went to the university. At the idea of remaining in Cadence and leaving teaching behind, he thinks, “It must be the isle blood in him. To crave a life of risk and little responsibility. To let the wind carry him from place to place” (49). Cadence unlocks a part of Jack that lay dormant on the mainland, a part of him that yearns for adventure and connection to the land that nurtured him in his youth. Though he attempts to deny that Cadence is his home, his homecoming forces him to wrestle with who he really is and where he truly belongs.
The Importance of Unity in Preserving Cultural Heritage and the Natural Environment
The divide between the east and west is a central aspect of the plot in A River Enchanted. The Tamerlaines and Breccans have long been in conflict, and that conflict has an intense impact on the natural environment of the island. As Jack says of the deaths of Joan Tamerlaine and Fingal Breccan, “[s]he had cursed the west as Fingal had cursed the east. The magic of the spirits was unbalanced now because of their strife and the clan line” (90). The “unbalance” of the magic of the spirits causes severe repercussions for both the Tamerlaines and Breccans: The Tamerlaines cannot use magic without falling ill, and the Breccans do not have enough resources to survive through winter. Each has what the other does not, due to the curse placed on the land by their ancestors and the resulting imbalance. In the west, the land itself suffers; in the east, the spiritual realm suffers.
There is also an intense divide between the two clans. Even after attempting to set up trade with the Breccans, Adaira wonders, “Was it wise for her to go alone to the west? Was it hypocritical of her to feel a pit in her stomach every time Moray mentioned trust?” (162). The fracture in the trust between the clans stems back generations, and the lack of unity has ramifications across the communities. For Mirin, she had no idea how to raise Jack as half-Tamerlaine and half-Breccan. In Mirin’s mind, the cultures of the east and west are too irreconcilable to possibly raise a child in both traditions. Much of the cultural heritage of Cadence is lost due to this perceived divide. However, the actual cultures of both clans are similar; they both revere the spirits, they both use magic to craft enchanted items, they both have similar clan leadership structures, and they both have one half of the book of stories about the spirits. After the reveal of Adaira’s identity, Jack tells her, “You belong to both […] You are the east as you are the west. You are mine as I am yours” (434). Adaira represents a possibility for unity, for a Cadence where the spirits’ magic is rebalanced, and the cultures and environments are reunited.
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By Rebecca Ross
