Cherrypicker
Magic, Intrigue and Tears

Christian Handel and Andreas Suchanek take us along on a frenzied tour of two Berlins – one magical and one modern. But no matter where you are, devious intrigues lurk on both sides of the mirror.

By Anna Berchtenbreiter

© Knaur Charleston rhythms, glittering chandeliers, cocktails, a Roaring Twenties theme party in modern-day Berlin. What a blast, Max thinks. And then he meets the mysterious Lenyo, who is exactly the opposite of his boring ex-boyfriend. Max is glad the party’s gotten even better. He doesn’t reckon with being threatened and having to flee with his crush to another Berlin – one that’s magical and frozen in the 1920s. And he really didn’t reckon with even more is being drawn into a bloody conflict in the world of the fairies and, on top of that, into a web of intrigue for the rule in the so-called Mirror City.

The 1920s – glamour and peril

A queer urban fantasy set to 1920s vibes is probably the best way to describe the first joint book by award-winning authors Christian Handel and Andreas Suchanek. Spiegelstadt: Tränen aus Gold und Silber (Mirror City: Tears of Gold and Silver) revolves around secrets, the fight against tyranny, and the magic that can be found in the most unusual places. The idea is original, the setting impressive, and the characters likeable, even if the motives behind their actions don’t seem particularly profound.

On the one hand, there’s Max, who’s just lost his grandmother. He comes to the realisation that the world isn’t what he thought it was and that he finds his own identity complicated. Fortunately, his best friend Robin stands by him through these emotional ups and downs. But she too is guarding a secret. And then there’s the handsome Lenyo, who immediately has Max under his spell. During battles against evil Tamyra, who wants to usurp the rule in the fairy world and will stop at nothing to do so, and the search for the golden tears that allow one to travel between the worlds, Max and Lenyo become closer and closer – but does their young happiness stand a chance?

The characters’ motivations and the queer love story take a back seat to the fast pace of the story and the eventful scenes. However, readers will never get bored. The fantasy novel is written in an action-packed way and the events are described from alternating perspectives. From time to time, however, one is stunned by quite gruesome descriptions. As is typical for the genre, the book naturally contains some conflicts, but the level of brutality in certain scenes is a bit of a shock – this book is definitely not suitable for children.

First action, then a cliffhanger

Back to Max, Lenyo and Robin: In their attempt to defeat Tamyra and find out more about Max’s past, companions die, friends become enemies. The book skilfully handles many twists – some of them definitely surprising, so that you almost have to put the book down awhile to handle the plot twist.

The novel ends in an action-packed and fast-paced finale that will take your breath away – and then leaves its readers dangling, quite literally. One can only hope that the story about the “other” Max and the resister Lenyo will continue, because that can’t be all there is. Maybe volume two will be coming soon?