The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip

This story has stayed with me since reading as a child, when I fell in love with every mythical creature Sybel calls to her castle’s crystal observatory. Sybel herself was a blueprint for my own loneliness, broadening my ideas of independence to include interdependence, and oh the liralen! The liralen elegantly teaches a timeless lesson of the inextricable link between love and freedom. I recently revisited this book, reading it in one day under the shade of my backyard’s maple tree, and was once again astonished by its singular prose and heart-stoking story.