Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite fantasy authors, so I was immediately intrigued by the quotation from Gaiman at the beginning of The Flute Player by Shawn Mihalik. Placing a quotation from Gaiman at the beginning of your novel signifies inspiration from his unique writing abilities; Mihalik did not fail to deliver a novel hinting at Gaiman’s magical prose while crafting a story clearly in his own delightful voice. The only disappointment from The Flute Player was the inadequate number of pages. Simply put, I wanted more!
The Flute Playerfollows the dismal life of Oliver, who becomes the flute player for his rural village after watching the drowning death of his best friend Thomas as a child. In his rural village that is located in a different dimension than the “real” world, Oliver’s prestigious role as the flute player is vital to the emotional health of the villagers. Unfortunately, he is subjugated by his demanding father, who shelters him from the rest of the village for fear of another accidental death that would result in him losing his position on the Elder’s Council. Although the flute player is supposed to compose his own music, Oliver has been playing Thomas’s music, as he is unable to find inspiration to write music in his isolation. His mundane existence is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious young girl.
Mihalik’s writing style is so unique that reading the first few paragraphs was absolutely refreshing from the usual prose that I read. He obviously places much emphasis on the idea of each sentence so that I could not guess how the sentence would end from the beginning. I wish that the novel was longer than the mere one hundred and seven pages, although I would be satisfied by more literature from Mihalik.