Discord's Apple was an impulse library borrow. I'm familiar with Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series and love the way she deftly handles the integration of the super into the natural world. Werewolves, vampires, witches, zombies, and other magical creatures have always been metaphors for the marginalized and vulnerable members of society, and Vaughn's practical, empathetic writing style normalized them; moved them from unknowable "other" to a familiar person, worthy of love. Weirdly, it's difficult to find even one of the fifteen books in the series in libraries and bookstores without special ordering, so when I stumbled upon the V part of the SF/F library section and again found only Vaughn's standalone novels staring me in the face, I plucked Discord's Apple off the shelf. I was curious to see how Vaughn would handle the more limited plot space of a standalone as well as her interpretation of Greek myth. Characters would have to be introduced and changed in a much more limited page space than a fifteen book series.

The answer is she handled it all really well. Discord's Apple is the story of the end of the world. In a reality that probably seemed incredibly far away & unlikely in 2010 and now might be next Thursday if the loud yam continues to be the USA president, nuclear missiles are being exchanged like love letters, domestic terrorism is at an all-time high, and neighbors report "suspicious persons" to the police for instant arrest. In the foreground of this bleak backdrop, Evie Walker, our heroine and LA comic book writer, has received the news that her father is dying of cancer. Because domestic, day-to-day life goes on, even at the end of the world.

Once Evie arrives at her small, Colorado hometown, several plot threads begin unraveling: the increasingly lethal political climate, her father's failing health, her looming comic script deadline, the mysterious Storeroom of enchanted objects, and the equally mysterious people who are trying to get into it. Vaughn expertly weaves them together, and the characters are an equal delight. Out of myth and legend and fae steps Robin Goodfellow, Arthur, Merlin, Hera, the Fairy Godmother, Queen Mab, and of course Alex, once known as Sinon the Liar. Vaughn wonderfully makes each both relatable and larger than life. Themes of trust, magic, war, death, power, and the apocalypse were teased out and developed without a beat missed. While she doesn't explicitly state his gender identity, Alex does love both male and female characters, so applause and kudos for the bisexual/pansexual man representation and bonus bonus points for having him not be a free-lovin' party-goer cliché.

The quibbles I had were minor. As you can probably tell from the mythic line up, there is a focus on the canon of Western literature, which I was not surprised, but still disappointed by. The story goes from dark to darker, and I would have preferred a bigger spark of hope. With so much else going on, the romance between Alex and Evie was not as passionate and overwhelming as I thought it would be, given their decisions at the end.

Like in the Kitty Norville series, Vaughn takes pains to transform the magical other into the magical normalized. There is an insistence that Evie and the other guardians of the Storeroom have no magic of their own. Their only power is in knowing, loving, and continuing on, which was comforting to read. Truth be told, I teared up quite a bit reading, for how raw and real the story and characters were. As a book nerd writer from a rural area, Evie was me and I was Evie. I recommend Discord's Apple if you're a Greek myth & Brit lit fan not quite in need of sanctuary from the times, but want to see magic return to our disheartening world. Vaughn will take care of you.