Waterweaver by Maya Gouliard is a cozy-dystopian, allegorical fantasy tale of midlife wisdom, unbreaking the world and discovering it’s never too late in life to make a difference.
Lara and her grown-up family are struggling for survival in the Wastes — their (grey) village has been leached of resources and colour by the oblivious inhabitants of seven magical and monochromatic colour realms. When the village well runs dry, someone must venture to the blue water realm to bring back water. Lara, searching for purpose after raising her family, becomes the village’s appointed, reluctant saviour.
What follows is a quest that’s grounded in Lara’s personal transformation from midlife “mother” into an empowered woman. Driven by the weight of responsibility and love for her home, Lara wields wisdom, kindness and reason in the teeth of opposition, determinedly trying to change the thinking of those in the blue realm who are hoarding the water.
You can imagine how that goes… Though there are some sympathetic to her cause, Lara struggles to combat the water realm’s fear of change and desire to protect the status quo.
What I love about this book is the main character’s emotional intelligence. Though Lara is naive in some ways, her approach is refreshingly calm, and her observations about the young adults she finds herself associating with reflect her experience and identity as a mother. She feels strong emotions but isn’t ruled by them — and instead channels them into finding a solution.
I also love the social commentary on capitalism and the underlying message about having a care for how actions and decisions affect others. Lara’s world is indeed broken — split like light through a prism into constituents that must work together for all to thrive. It’s clear that Lara’s journey through the next books will involve putting the world back together, one colour at a time.
I must also mention Fleck, Lara’s adorable baby pelanor (wish dragon). Lara meets Fleck early in her journey, and they form an empathic bond. Fleck is furry and reminds me of a cat in the way he snuggles (well, some cats I know…) He’s obviously a special creature of legend and there are a few hints about the importance of his kind to the coherent magic in this world… another sign that Lara has a role to play in putting the world back together.
Overall, Waterweaver is a charming, gentle story in which most people are rational and most things go right. Recommended for those keen to cheer on a wise woman whose quest to save her village turns into a journey of midlife self-discovery and a mission to change the world.
This was my second completed read for the 2026 Indie Fantasy Addicts Summer Reading Challenge.
Ellen Gregory 