Reading Vicariously

**Thank you to Atria Books for sending an advance copy in exchange for an honest review**

The Other Valley is a strong debut from Scott Alexander Howard. It is beautifully written with strong characters and an intriguing world. Odile is 16 years old and lives in a valley surrounded by mountains and heavily patrolled borders. We learn that students her age must go through a vetting process for their perspective careers, and her choice is the much-desired Conseil. We also learn that there are past and future versions of the exact same town and people that lie in their own valleys to the east and the west. This is why the boundary lines are guarded, and it is the Conseil who decides when occasional visitors may come from the future or their own townspeople may visit the past and so on.

The story starts right off with its inciting incident, immediately pulling us into the conflict our young protagonist is facing: we know one of the characters will eventually die, and now Odile does too…

Odile is a wonderfully realized character, really all of the young people in the story are, and I felt connected to her journey from the very beginning. The burgeoning friendships, the conflicted relationship with her mother, the transition from timidity to self-assurance as she enters the vetting process, the touching, quiet moments with Edme the doomed. Despite the archetypes this is not your typical coming of age teen romance, and it’s all the richer for it.

As the story progresses, Odile (and we the readers) becomes more invested in her life, her friends, her relationships with Edme, and her own future. I really appreciate that Howard takes his time building the world and the plot. The writing is often poetic and lush with imagery, especially when describing the natural world in which Odile prefers to spend much of her time. But as beautiful as the story is, there is also darkness and danger in it. Odile knows the day is drawing near that something dreadful will befall Edme, and she is torn on where her loyalties lie and whether action will betray her own community and entire upbringing.

To say much more would enter into spoiler territory, so I’m going to leave the plot details there. There is a big shift in time that happens at the midpoint of the book, and for awhile I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I was so invested in the first half’s storyline and characters that I didn’t want to leave them. But in truth they’re not really gone, the story just jumps to a different part of their journey. After a few chapters I was back on board, and then a few twists were sprinkled in and it was full steam ahead.

I’m a big fan of speculative fiction in general, and stories that play with time in particular. The Other Valley is a moving, wistful portrait of grief, loss, and love that stretches between three locales located 20 years apart from each other. Despite a few pacing qualms, it’s an intelligent and deeply satisfying read. Highly recommend!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THE OTHER VALLEY is available 2.27.24 from Atria Books. If you’re interested in pre-ordering a copy of the book, go HERE. If you read it, even if you didn’t love it, please leave a review on Goodreads, Amazon, etc. It really goes a long way in helping the author’s gain exposure/future readers!

About the Author

Scott Alexander Howard lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, where his work focused on the relationship between memory, emotion, and literature. The Other Valley is his first novel.

If you want to learn more about Scott and his work then check out his website and follow him on social media.