Sonderbooks Book Review of The Shamer's Daughter

Reviewed December 20, 2004.
Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2004. Originally published in Danish in 2000. 235 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF KAA).
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2004, #6, Fantasy for Young Adults

Many fantasy books have used the idea of a talisman telling the truth about a person. For example, the one who grasps the Sword of Shannara must face all the truth about himself. Only a hero can do that. What if that power resided, not in a talisman, but in a person?

Dina is upset that she is inheriting her mother’s gift. Now no one at the village, and none of her former playmates, dares to look her in the eyes. Then a man comes to the village from a big city, asking for her mother. She’s wanted at a trial, to help discover the truth about a horrible murder.

Later another man comes, saying Dina’s mother is asking for her. She thinks she’s finally going to be allowed to help her mother in her work. Of course she believes the man, since he can look her in the eyes without flinching. Dina has been taught that only someone very good can do that. She doesn’t realize yet that there’s another type who can do that, someone totally without conscience.

This is a wonderfully crafted book. We know from the first sentence that Dina’s going to have trouble with dragons. She says, “Strictly speaking, it wasn’t really Cilla’s fault that I was bitten by a dragon.” When she first walks safely past the dragons and sees one instantly devour a goat, we shudder. The danger from dragons builds, culminating in her mother being scheduled for the horrible execution of being fed to the dragons.

Here’s another book I intended to dip into, but ended up devouring the whole thing almost like a dragon devouring a goat. I’m excited about the title statement that calls it Book One of The Shamer Chronicles. Indeed, some threads are left hanging, and justice isn’t done yet. I can hardly wait to find out what happens next.

This is a well-written fantasy novel based on an original idea and surrounded with suspense.

Review of another book by Lene Kaaberbol:
The Shamer's Signet

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****The Shamer's Daughter*

Book One of The Shamer Chronicles

by Lene Kaaberbol