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Mary Patterson Thornburg
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The Kura (Underland Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Mary Patterson Thornburg (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 10 ratings
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Alyssha promised her father she wouldn't return to Bandor, and for six years she has kept that promise. But the hit-and-run victim she found dying on a Granville street was a man she met in that other world, and his family won't know what happened to him unless she goes back to tell them. She really has no choice, has she?
And the other dead man, the body lying in a willow grove near the road to Bandor Gan... Finding him there was just a terrible coincidence, wasn't it?
Alyssha fervently hopes so. Yes, six years ago Bandor had troubles – cruel and repressive laws, workers exploited in the city's woolen mills and the northern mines. Growing pains of the budding industrial revolution. Some people were angry, ready to fight. But these problems seem smaller and easier to solve, somehow, than the problems she's left behind. Bandor is cleaner, kinder, more peaceful, more right, than the frantic world she inherited in 21st Century America.
Anyway, the problems aren't hers to solve. There's so much country here that these troubles don't touch. She'll go to the nomadic village where her friends are, where she was happy all those years ago. She'll study with the old kura, learning to be a teacher, a healer. Her life will mean more, here among these cheerful, pleasant people, than it would mean in Granville. She'll find her home here, and she'll be content.
And, as in a fairy tale, there'll be a happy ending. She and Kardl loved each other back then, when they were children. Now they're grown up, and the daydreams that sustained her in Granville will come true at last. Kardl will be here, waiting for her, as she's waited all these years for him…
Won't he?
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 2
    Underland
  2. Print length
    431 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    April 17, 2015
  6. File size
    864 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mary Patterson Thornburg was born in California and has lived in Washington State, Indiana, and Montana, where she currently resides with her husband, poet and fellow novelist Thomas Thornburg. She has published fiction, literary criticism, and poetry. Thornburg's short fiction has appeared in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, ZAHIR, and CICADA, among other magazines, and in several anthologies. Two of her stories received honorable mention in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR, and her young adult story "Niam's Tale," set in the world of THE KURA, and published in CICADA, won the 2011 Magazine Merit Honor Certificate from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00T5BXU8O
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Uncial Press (April 17, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 17, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 864 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 431 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 10 ratings

About the author

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Mary Patterson Thornburg

Mary Patterson Thornburg

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Mary Patterson Thornburg's dream was always to write fantasy stories and novels, but what with one thing and another she didn't get started until she and her husband moved west in 1998. When she'd finished her first story and it was published, she took off running and never looked back. She is currently in Montana, writing as fast as she can.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
10 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Patricia
5.0 out of 5 stars a parallel world that is like ours turned upside down and pushed back in time
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
A kura is a healer-teacher in Aerte, a parallel world that is like ours turned upside down and pushed back in time. The inhabitants of Aerte are people like us, and the all too human failings of greed, resentment, prejudice and treachery play their parts in Mary Thornburg’s tale of political intrigue, high adventure and young romance. The setting is a fantasy, but the characters are as real as the people next door, and the combination makes for a thoroughly engaging book that will keep both teenagers and adults turning the pages.

Alyssha Dodson and her brother discovered Aerte several years ago, when they ventured through a door beneath Voodoo Bridge. He stayed and she returned to Granville and her widowed father. Now Alyssha is eighteen, an adult, and returning to Aerte. She has a message to deliver, but she is also looking Kardl, the boy she loved on her last visit and has dreamed of ever since. Alyssha finds that a great deal has changed. Political and economic controversy has turned violent, her brother and Kardl are among the leaders of those promoting compromise, and Kardl is engaged to the daughter of a powerful ally.

Alyssha responds with dignity and courage. I’m not going to recap the plot, but I hope you will take the opportunity to meet Alyssha. She is the girl you wish you had been, the girl you want your daughter to be. I was sorry to reach the end of The Kura, because I didn’t want to say good-bye to Alyssha.
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Jenny Twist
5.0 out of 5 stars Step into another world
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2016
The Kura is an adventure story. No, it’s a love story. No, it’s coming of age. Or is it fantasy? Science fiction?
It is all those things, and that is what I find so delightful about Mary Patterson Thornburg’s writing. It is a rich tapestry moving through many genres.

This story begins with a young woman who witnesses what appears to be a hit and run. She has no reason to recognise the victim but discovers later that he says her name when he is dying.
From this bizarre beginning the story moves into another world where another dead man waits to be discovered.
It turns out Alyssha has been there before as a child but that world has changed . . . as have her childhood friends. They have grown up and relationships have become a lot more complicated.

On one level, this is a straight-forward ‘portal into another world’ story, a genre which perhaps began with Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland and is most recently is the concept in the Harry Potter books, but it also has a lot in common with the great mythological sagas such as the Arthur story.

Like the Harry Potter series, it deals with many issues familiar in our own universe – racism, injustice, hate crime and war to name but a few.

This is one of those books where you don’t notice how rich the tapestry is until you have finished the story, then you go on thinking about it for days.

One thing that became clear to me when I thought about it was that this must be one of a series. There had to be a prequel. There is. It is called ‘underland’ and it is the next book on my list. Watch this space.
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LAS Reviewer
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reading
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2016
Can the reality of Bandor ever live up to Alyssha’s dreams?

Alyssha’s life has been on hold ever since her visit to Bandor. Even though she was only twelve when she went through the door to Bandor, she knew in her heart that the other universe was her home. Only a promise to her father has kept her from crossing over again. I must admit that I have mixed feelings about Alyssha’s situation. On one hand, I admire her patience and determination. On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that Alyssha has missed out on so much. By living in her dreams, she essentially withdrew from the real world. However, Alyssha seems to be okay with this, and despite her lack of close relationships, she is a sweet young woman, and I looked forward to getting to know her as I read.

Ms. Thornburg did an excellent job of creating an alternate universe. I found the similarities and differences between the two universes interesting. However, I must let readers know that this is not a book to race through. In order to truly appreciate this book, readers need to take their time and really soak up the atmosphere of the world that Ms. Thornburg has created. That being said, I did find the sections detailing the political situation and the various clans and factions a little slow. While it definitely provided useful information key to understanding the world Alyssha was living in, it was a bit hard to get into those sections.

Once in Bandor, Alyssha finds herself in a strange love triangle. Kardl has changed quite a bit since she last saw him, and Alyssha isn’t sure if anything remains of the boy she fell in love with. Another man has also attracted her attention. I must say that Alyssha’s romantic dilemmas are resolved in unexpected ways, and I enjoyed watching Alyssha mature and learn to live and love in the real Bandor, and not just the one in her fantasies.

I must say that I loved the ending of this tale. I can’t say much without spoiling it, but I will say that someone very important to Alyssha makes a decision that I never foresaw and yet it made complete sense. It definitely left me with a smile on my face.

The Kura is certainly an enjoyable tale. Readers looking to lose themselves in a tale of love and friendship should definitely give The Kura a try.

originally posted at long and short reviews
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