March 1, 2007
Gr 9 Up-A companion to "Murkmere" (Little, Brown, 2006), this gothic fantasy follows the story of Scuff, otherwise known as 102, an orphan who doesn't know if she ever had a real name. When soldiers come looking for her at the remote manor house where she works as a servant, the girl is certain it's for a crime she committed as a small child in the Capital. After escaping, she is aided by some and led astray by others until she finds herself mixed up in a plot to assassinate the son of the Lord Protector. The story is convoluted, with many characters floating in and out, and tends to bog down. Although the writing (particularly the dialect-spiced dialogue) is vivid, it is often difficult to understand the motivation driving many of the characters, including Scuff herself, who is blown by the winds of fate from one bad situation to another. Buy where "Murkmere" has been popular, but otherwise you can skip this rather turgid fantasy."Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library"
Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2007
Fans of " Murkmere" (2006) will enjoy this companion, which follows the orphan Scuff as she flees Murkmere after learning that soldiers of Protector's army are intent on hunting her down. Why the kitchen maid should merit such attention is the crux of the novel, though this element sometimes disappears as the tale twists through the marshes and dingy small towns and into the fear-ridden capital city. The novel can stand alone, though readers familiar with the previous book will have a better understanding of the religious and familial underpinnings that are so integral to the story. Elliott tries to do a bit too much here, this intensely detailed, haunting novel will draw in readers, as much with its romance as its mystery. A few of the characters are not well integrated into the whole, but the entire cast is exceptionally drawn, particularly Scuff; sometimes brave, often scared, always in trouble, she is a realistic heroine who will win readers' affection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2007
Elliott returns to the gothic fantasy world she introduced in Murkmere (rev. 3/06), now focusing on the orphan kitchen drudge, nicknamed Scuff, who is suddenly the target of the totalitarian Protectorate's inquisitors. Guilty of a crime she won't name, Scuff flees Murkmere, going first to a refuge in the Wasteland with handsome young Erland, with whom she falls in love, and then on an odyssey encompassing a house of ill repute, a shipboard kidnapping, a slave auction block, and finally the household of the Lord Protector himself. There, to expiate her crime, Scuff agrees to assassinate the Lord Protector's son. Leah Tunstall, whose identity as an avian -- half girl, half swan -- was revealed in Murkmere, is once again in the custody of the Lord Protector; meanwhile, a powerful court figure called the Messenger is revealed to be Erland, acting as a double agent. Scuff's discovery of her own identity at book's close is satisfying both for its unexpected grandeur and for the way it reflects her journey from pawn to actor in her own destiny. Elliott unveils further details of her imagined society's political conflicts while keeping the intriguing cosmology at its heart occult, expressed in swan-related superstitions that will undoubtedly come into play in future volumes -- but it's her assured, atmospheric writing, rife with sensory details, that will keep readers enthralled through this one.
(Copyright 2007 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)