Dun Lady's Jess was my first exposure to the fiction of Doranna Durgin.

Well, actually, it was the world's first exposure to one of Doranna Durgin's novels, but I just got lucky in that it was recommended to me for my first Evolutions book review...

Okay. Let me start over.

You see, Dun Lady's Jess was Doranna Durgin's first book to hit the shelves via Baen in 1994 and on top of that it won the Compton Crook Award for best first novel in 1995. Because of that timing, though, there was little to no chance of me having seen it when it first came out. (Hey, I had more bills than income, a grouchy wife, a house full of energetic ankle-biters, and a new job to settle into. I was not reading fiction at that time.) Later in a different life, I had tangential interactions with Ms. Durgin on Julie Czerneda's SFF.net web discussion group but never anything so personal as a direct exchange on a topic. I knew she was accomplished as an author. What I did not know was why.

When I put out a call for books that deserved review on Julie's board, then, I was happy to be reminded by Ms. Durgin herself that Dun Lady's Jess had been re-issued in a high-quality, trade paperback version. By picking up a copy and starting there, I would get a solid foundation on where she started her career and that would allow me to see how her skills and voice have matured over the years. So, I dived in and picked up a copy, curious both about the writer's words and how a story written in 1994 fares compared to my jaded 2008-era market eye.

Of course, my enthusiasm to acquire the book also illustrates my innate stupidity because I found out the next day I could have had an evaluation copy for free. Well, shoot. Look, I'm still getting used to this whole "editor" scam, okay? Free books? Just for telling the world what I think of said books? Whodathunkit?

Anyway, back to Ms. Durgin and Dun Lady's Jess. If you want to drop a genre box on it, Dun Lady's Jess is, I suppose, fantasy adventure with a contemporary fantasy slipstream overlay, not that I think people were so persnickety about sub-genres back then. Basically, the story kicks off with a frantic chase in a world with magic that results in a pair of participants and their equine mounts getting world-shifted to Ohio horse country.

By the way, if you haven't figured out by the title, the cover art, and now by the initial setting I've shared, Dun Lady's Jess has a lot of "horse" in it. A lot. Of horse. Not a bad thing, mind you, unless you dislike horses, like my mother, who always considered them very smelly and grouchy tractor-analogs. For the horse-crazy, it's probably not horsey enough. For people like me, who happen to find horses pleasant but not something we personally like to wander around scooping up after, it's just about perfect so far as establishing the setting and characterizations.

Right. Back to it.

Given the number of direct references via book blurbs and jacket copy and whatnot, I have no hesitation in mentioning that the principle character in the book is Jess herself, a spirited mare transformed into human form by the magic that shifts both her and her rider to our world. The good part about this particular tale is that Ms. Durgin does not present us with a fully formed person erupted from horse-hide. Rather, Jess starts out quite fully horse in a human skin. She adapts, and quickly, but adapt she must. Also, throughout the book, aspects of Jess' equine nature remain, thus supporting suspension of disbelief for the entire read.

Plot-wise, the book is straightforward but not "stupid". Dark, power-mongering sorceress wants to one-up the magical establishment by leveraging access to our world for implied advantages like sniper rifles, nukes, and DVD players which would, of course, simultaneously expose our world to the inherent instability of the new technology known as "magic". Ergo, much scurrying about occurs, along with armed conflict, et cetera, mostly off-screen except for where the point of view characters are directly involved. Not a grand, sweeping vision but definitely acceptable fare for a concise action-driven fantasy work.

Besides, in speculative fiction and especially fantasy, it's the characters and the accessibility of the prose that drive the novel forward. Dun Lady's Jess has both in spades. Lots of characters you get to care about in lots of sticky situations all trying to make things right somehow before the bad guys get what they want. Add to that the smooth and easy readability of Ms. Durgin's prose and it makes for a very fast read.

I did have a couple of "hiccups" during my reading, mostly related to how those empathetic characters enter and leave the stage. The point-of-view characters shift throughout the novel and the ones you start with quickly slip off the screen to be replaced with others, none of whom are concretely "main", although Jess does have a firmer standing than the others by the end. Although obviously not a terminal issue, such point-of-view transitions tend to be something aspiring writers are warned to avoid in shorter works for the very reason that I found it distracting: it causes the reader's trance to twitch as they try to keep up and bond with the shifting cast. I also raised my eyebrow during a couple of "Oh, really?" moments during the "tactical" portions of the action and, on occasion, with regards to some of the depth in world building.

What's overall the verdict? I rate "Dun Lady's Jess" as a "good read". I love the smooth prose, the fast pace with engrossing characters, and the ending that has growth and hope despite the harrowing challenges and grief experienced along the way. Considering where Ms. Durgin was at the time when she first wrote it, she did very well, even acknowledging the point-of-view character issues and "bare wood" feel of some of the world building.

In short, recommended, with the added observation that the book is definitely enticing in terms of wanting to follow up with later works to get more of Ms. Durgin's wonderful "voice." In fact, now that this review is done, I can finally take the book out of its hiding place in my briefcase and hand it off to my horse-loving daughters and their mother to enjoy.

Doranna Durgin spent her childhood filling notebooks first with stories and art and then with novels. After obtaining a degree in wildlife illustration and environmental education, she spent a number of years deep in the Appalachian Mountains. When she emerged, it was as a writer who found herself irrevocably tied to the natural world and its creatures.

After starting with Dun Lady's Jess, Doranna has gone one to author over twenty other titles across several genres. When she's not writing, she builds web pages, wanders around outside with a camera, and works with horses and dogs. She currently resides in northern Arizona where the San Francisco Peaks loom beyond the backyard.

Learn more about Doranna Durgin and the wonderful adventures waiting in her bibliography by visiting her website at http://doranna.net.

(Compiled from information provided on the author's website, with permission.)