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Reviewed by Cecelia Hopkins for Readers' Favorite
The Midnight Carriage by Aether Drake finds Elise standing alone at an old train station. A mysterious train pulls into the station, and Elise feels compelled to board it. The ominous conductor asks whether she has brought her baggage, and she seats herself alongside a teenage girl and a man wearing a trench coat. They alight in the Forest of Whispers, where each passenger struggles along a strange path. The experience becomes increasingly personal until Elise hears her sister's voice crying out for help. Lily offers her forgiveness, but Elise struggles to forgive herself. She is tortured by negative messages and struggles with guilty accusations. The Hall of Mirrors shows the worst possible interpretations. She is confronted with the consequences of her choices, but in the Abyss, she learns that while she cannot change the past, she can choose how to enter the future. Climbing back into the Midnight Carriage, she completes her journey. A final message from her sister awaits.
The Midnight Carriage: A Journey Through Shadows, Regret, and Redemption by Aether Drake was a meditative fantasy. I liked the extended metaphor of the train journeying through guilt, grief, and loss. I appreciated the psychological symbolism as the ghost of Lily always offered forgiveness, but it took a long time for Elise to heal from her experiences. I found Elise easy to identify with, and felt empathy with her grief. While Elise's history was dramatic and unique, I could see how the narrative might also address my issues. The Midnight Carriage by Aether Drake created a grim, emblematic landscape that brought the process of self-discovery and healing to poetic life.
