Book Review: The Yochni’s Eye

The Yochni’s Eye. Abigail Morrison, AMorrisonBooks.com, 2022. Paperback and eBook. 302 pages.

Reviewed by Stephanie Wilson Medlock.

The success of a fantasy novel depends in large part on how well the author creates the magical world in which events are set. In The Yochni’s Eye, author Abigail Morrison’s setting and characters are particularly well developed, and her world abounds with surprises, not the least of which is the yochni, a huge eye set on four feet. With a blink, the yochni can grant a wish to a single supplicant every six hundred years. The wish can be simply personal, or it can dramatically change the entire society until the next time the yochni blinks.

As this YA fantasy novel opens, three beings are on a quest to get the yochni to grant a wish—a dwarf named Mira, a bogey (dog being) named Atlan, and a human boy named Kraven. Each of them is in some way a champion for their group. They know they must overcome incredible odds to reach the yochni alive and ask for a wish. Besides the competition among them, the aims of Mira and Atlan conflict with each other. In fact, if Mira succeeds, her wish may eliminate all of the bogeys, who have enslaved her people and have forced them to work in the mines.

Through a fluke, however, the quest they share brings these three disparate souls together. Kraven is an arbiter, a person endowed with magic to mediate disputes and create contracts. He forges a magical agreement so that the three of them can’t hurt each other on the quest until they get to the mountain where the yochni dwells.

Kraven is also the master of a large and adorable water dragon named Drake, whose size and strength will be an asset to the little band as they fend off would-be attackers.

The three unlikely comrades plus dragon encounter many challenges along their way, and as they reluctantly come to each other’s aid, they are forced to reevaluate their long-held beliefs about each other. Changing their attitudes, especially for Mira, comes slowly and unevenly. The author shows us how even when your life has been saved by a member of a feared group, you may not be able to trust their good intentions. Yet even those of your own kind may betray you for their own ends.

The Yochni’s Eye, while on one level an adventure story for young adults, also provides a metaphor for our society, where long held mistaken beliefs about people considered inferior or the “other” can cause the group in power to disregard the basic rights of these “others.” Ironically, it is this fear and mistrust which constantly threatens to sabotage the three heroes on their quest.

Morrison also demonstrates how wishes become corrupted. She cleverly chooses the bogeys or dog people to exemplify this. The original bogey wish was to give the dogs, noted for their loyalty and goodness, greater intelligence and strength so they could prosper as equals. Over time, however, they sought to dominate rather than coexist, and they abused their power to enslave the dwarves.

Morrison writes beautifully and surprises the reader with her originality. She conceives of a group of humanoid trees, for example, who welcome the three exhausted pilgrims and help them on their quest. 

In another scene toward the end of the novel, the weary champions and their dragon pass through various chambers in the mountain where the yochni lives. One is filled with boxes, each of which contains either the doom or dearest wish of the champion. Mira, Atlan, and Kraven know that the box is likely a trap and will delay them from reaching the yochni. But as they prepare to pass through the room without stopping, they forget that there is a box for Drake, the dragon, who has no reserve of self-control. As Drake lunges to open his special box, with the three others desperate to stop him, he creates a catastrophic avalanche of boxes, many of which spring open, burying several of his companions.

Morrison creates vivid characters with whom we can identify, even with their flaws. She clearly describes each protagonist’s development, which makes the conclusion of The Yochni’s Eye all the more satisfying. The suspense lasts through the final pages, as the reader waits to find out whose wish the yochni will grant, and how the next six hundred years will be affected.