Review of Splendors and Glooms, by Laura Amy Schlitz

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Historical 0

Splendors and Glooms

by Laura Amy Schlitz

Candlewick Press, 2012. 384 pages.

Splendors and Glooms has been nominated for consideration in two groups I’m part of: Capitol Choices, and the Cybils Awards. I’d already heard speculation about it for the Newbery Medal on Heavy Medal blog. So I wasn’t surprised to find excellent writing. The story, however, isn’t up my alley.

We’ve got a sinister gothic horror tale, beginning in the fogs of London in 1854. There’s a creepy puppeteer who bullies the boy and girl who live with him. There’s a poor little rich girl who lives among memories of her four dead brothers and sisters. And there’s a dying witch, living removed from London, who desperately wants a child to steal her magic fire opal so that she can give it up, so that she won’t be consumed by its fire.

Fans call the book “atmospheric.” I found myself calling it “creepy.” Now, the creepiness is wonderfully crafted. We feel the sinister squalor in which the children live with Grisini, the puppetmaster. We feel the impending doom of Clara’s obsession with the puppets.

Here’s a conversation between the children who live with Grisini after the rich girl, Clara, has disappeared.

Parsefall grabbed her wrist and squeezed it warningly. “We can’t tell the coppers,” he hissed. “There ain’t nuffink to tell. We don’t know nuffink.”

“We know that Grisini knew two other children who disappeared. It must mean something,” hissed Lizzie Rose. “Perhaps the coppers could find out what it is. It might help them find Clara!”

“Grisini would kill us,” Parsefall said desperately. He dug his fingernails into her hand. “If we peached on him, he’d kill us. You don’t know ‘im the way I do.” He heard his voice rise and lowered it again. “Promise me you won’t go to the coppers.”

Lizzie Rose gave a little shiver. She wasn’t promising anything.

So the story is spooky, with slow-growing realization that these children are in the thick of something bad, something dangerous. But on the other hand, the plot is very slow-moving, and by the end the revelations have been foreshadowed so many times, they’re rather anticlimactic. The characters aren’t very likeable, and I found the book awfully easy to put down along the way.

What do you think? Many are lauding this book as a prime Newbery candidate. Laura Amy Schlitz certainly uses language richly and creates a setting where you can almost feel the fog clinging to your clothes. For the Cybils, I’m not sure I can recommend this book as one having kid appeal. But perhaps I’m simply the wrong audience, since in general I don’t like creepy books. I know lots of kids do. If you’ve read the book, I’m curious if you thought the heavy foreshadowing was a flaw or a strength. Feel free to discuss spoilers in the comments.

candlewick.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Liar’s Moon, by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Fantasy, Mystery, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Liar’s Moon

by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic, 2011. 356 pages.
Starred Review

This book is a sequel to Star Crossed, and I liked Elizabeth Bunce’s first book, A Curse Dark as Gold so much, I bought my own copy of StarCrossed and Liar’s Moon. I did get a chance to reread StarCrossed before I took up Liar’s Moon.

I did enjoy Liar’s Moon, and there’s absolutely no question in my mind that I will snap up the next book. Some details are left very badly hanging, so it’s clear this is intended as at least a trilogy.

This is not your typical second-book-of-a-trilogy, though. After narrowly escaping from her home in the city of Gerse in the first book, Digger is back, trying to survive in the underbelly of the city. Right from the start, she’s captured and thrown into prison — in a cell with Durrell Decath, whom we met at the very start of StarCrossed, but then didn’t see much of.

It turns out that Digger’s in prison just to talk with Durrell. He says he’s been falsely accused of murder. But if he didn’t murder his elderly wife, who did?

If you’re expecting a book very similar to StarCrossed (like I was), then you’re going to be disappointed. But if you take it for what it is — a murder mystery set in a fantastical world, with our heroine scouring the underworld for clues — then there’s lots to enjoy here.

In all her books, Elizabeth Bunce is skilled at making another world seem completely down-to-earth and real.

Now, there’s a huge plot development at the very end, so I think I need to reserve judgment on this trilogy until it finishes up and the story is complete. So far, I enjoyed the first book more, but I definitely liked this one enough to want to reread it when the third book comes out. I definitely want to see more of Digger’s friends, fighting in the war, and find out how that battle turns out. I don’t really understand Digger’s relationship with her brother, and that will probably become more clear with time, too.

But meanwhile I highly recommend this series. The first book gave you conflicting loyalties and magic and secrets. This one gives you a murder mystery set in an alien world. Who knows what will be next?

elizabethcbunce.com
thisisteen.com/liarsmoon
scholastic.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

There’s a lot we could discuss about the ending, so please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Review of The Spy Princess, by Sherwood Smith

Adventure, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

The Spy Princess

by Sherwood Smith

Viking, 2012. 386 pages.
Starred Review

Sherwood Smith does politics really well. I know, that sounds boring, but in Sherwood Smith’s hands, it’s not boring, not at all. She takes a medieval world with a kingdom and adds an unhappy populace, but applies realistic, not simplistic solutions. Then she puts her characters in the thick of unrest and change and has them try to figure out what is right and what is best. Oh, and she mixes in some magic along the way.

Sherwood Smith also does romance wonderfully well. Hold on — there’s no romance at all in this book. This one’s about kids embroiled in a kingdom at war, trying to figure out a way to make a difference. I only miss the romance because I know how well she writes it, but this book is firmly for middle grade readers and has all the adventure they could wish for with no mushy stuff.

When Princess Lilah Selenna hears peasant children yelling insults at her family’s carriage, she wants to find out what’s going on. She decides to sneak out and disguise herself as a village boy. When she does, she makes her first friends — but they are planning Revolution.

By another author, this book might be simply about carrying out the revolution. But Sherwood Smith delves a little deeper. Yes, there’s Revolution, but once the peasants are incited to violence, can the leaders get them to stop? Who will govern now and what new laws will be needed? And can they even hold their gains? For Lilah, what part can kids play in bringing about Slam Justice?

Lilah’s uncle the king has banned mages from his kingdom, but she does find some in a hidden valley. So there’s magic and spying and secret passages and vigilante justice and plenty of adventure, with some deep thinking about justice and leadership.

So this was revolution. I remembered how impatient I’d been for it to happen — just so I wouldn’t have to curl my hair. But in my idea of revolution, people gathered to make stirring speeches about how we could better our lives, followed by cheers and exciting trumpet blasts as . . . things somehow changed. Not this horror.

sherwoodsmith.net
penguin.com/youngreaders

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey

Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Beauty and the Werewolf

by Mercedes Lackey

Luna, 2011. 329 pages.
Starred Review

I’ve read all of Mercedes Lackey’s Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each one. They aren’t fairy tale retellings. In some ways they’re fairy tale improvements. They tell us stories of people in fairy tale situations and show us those people figuring out how to come up with a happy ending, despite what the Tradition might want to push them toward.

That’s how magic works in the Five Hundred Kingdoms. The Tradition builds up around people in fairy tale situations and uses its power to point them into storybook lives. But that often doesn’t turn out nicely for the people involved. The books about these people are clever and funny and anyone who’s ever enjoyed fairy tales will find great satisfaction out of seeing how the characters foil tradition.

Beauty and the Werewolf starts out as a Red Riding Hood variant. Bella is taking some gifts to Granny, the local herb witch. In this story, the woodsman is the villain, not a man Bella likes at all. But when she’s attacked in the night by a lone wolf, the next day she is taken to his manor. It turns out that he’s a werewolf who was supposed to be secluded during the full moon. Now Bella must wait in his palace to see if she will transform into a wolf as well. And, of course, now she’s playing out Beauty and the Beast.

One thing I like about these books is how she picks and chooses elements, and sometimes leaves out the unpleasant ones. Bella’s stepsisters are sweet, if flighty. She gets to see her father through a magic mirror, and it does provide comfort. We even find out the story behind the invisible servants eventually. Bella’s the one who immediately thinks to have them wear armbands so she can tell where they are. (Well, duh! Mercedes Lackey brings practical thinking to these fairy tales!)

Bella’s smart, independent, and enterprising. We’re not surprised when she doesn’t wait quietly to find out if she’s going to turn into a beast herself. She’s not one to let the Tradition push her around. Once again, this is thoroughly enjoyable reading.

Harlequin.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review 0

Akata Witch

by Nnedi Okorafor

Viking, 2011. 349 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s a fantasy tale of a young person discovering she has magic that is nothing like any other book I’ve read. Because this young lady, Sunny, lives in Nigeria.

Our main character explains herself:

My name is Sunny Nwazue and I confuse people.

I have two older brothers, like my parents, my brothers were both born here in Nigeria. Then my family moved to America, where I was born in the city of New York. When I was nine, we returned to Nigeria, near the town of Aba. My parents felt it would be a better place to raise my brothers and me, at least that’s what my mom says. We’re Igbo — that’s an ethnic group from Nigeria — so I’m American and Igbo, I guess.

You see why I confuse people? I’m Nigerian by blood, American by birth, and Nigerian again because I live here. I have West African features, like my mother, but while the rest of my family is dark brown, I’ve got light yellow hair, skin the color of “sour milk” (or so stupid people like to tell me), and hazel eyes that look like God ran out of the right color. I’m albino.

Then Sunny learns that she is a Leopard Person, a person with mystical abilities. She is a Free Agent, someone whose parents are not Leopard People, but are Lambs. And she runs across two other children from Leopard families who have also recently discovered their abilities.

If this sounds like Harry Potter’s world, the basic set-up is similar, with Leopard People instead of Wizards, Lambs instead of Muggles, and Free Agents instead of Muggle-born. Sunny and her friends must learn to use the magic and also to combat a powerful and evil Leopard Person who is carrying out ritual killings. But that’s where the similarity ends. The magic used is African magic and very different from the magic in Harry Potter’s world.

Though this book is complete and has a satisfying climax, it’s very much a beginning. Sunny finds things out about this new magical world she’s part of, and she has many questions about what it means for her life. This book provides a detailed and evocative set-up as well as being a gripping story by itself. I will snatch up any further adventures of Sunny and her friends as soon as they come out.

nnedi.com
penguin.com

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Source: This review is based on a book I got at ALA Annual Conference and had signed by the author.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 2

Seraphina

by Rachel Hartman

Random House, New York, 2012. 465 pages.
Starred Review

Seraphina has a secret. She tries not to be noticed. If people found out the truth about her, the chances are good that she would be murdered horribly. So she didn’t plan to play her flute at Prince Rufus’s funeral. But when the soloist and backup soloist suddenly aren’t available, what else can the assistant to the court composer do? Perhaps she shouldn’t have played quite so beautifully if she really didn’t want to be noticed.

The funeral was coming at a bad time.

Rufus had been murdered while hunting, and the Queen’s Guard had found no clues as to who’d done it. The missing head would suggest dragons, to some. I imagined the saarantrai who attended the funeral were only too aware of this. We had only ten days before the Ardmagar arrived, and fourteen days until the anniversary of the treaty. If a dragon had killed Prince Rufus, that was some spectacularly unfortunate timing. Our citizens were jumpy enough about dragonkind already.

The treaty with dragons has been in effect for forty years, but not everyone — human or dragon — is happy about the treaty. On top of preparing the music for the New Year’s celebration, Seraphina gets pulled into the investigation of Prince Rufus’s death. Meanwhile, the strange visions she’s been having are acting up, her uncle is in trouble, and she has to lie to someone she cares about to try to keep her own secret.

This is one of those fantasy stories with an intricate, highly detailed world. In this case, it’s a world like Renaissance Europe, but with dragons in human form, and an elaborate religion with saints, some of which are particularly hostile to dragons. The world here is skilfully built. There’s a large cast of characters. After her prominence at the funeral, Seraphina gets to know more of the members of the court and gets pulled in to the investigation of the murder. Can the treaty continue? And can she keep her secret?

Honestly, my personal favorite fantasy novels are simpler than this, and more fairy-tale like. With all the detail, it reminded me of the Finnikin of the Rock series. Wonderful books — Just not my absolute favorite, out of a simple personal preference. If you like elaborate detail, this book does it well, and builds a completely credible world where dragons walk among humans.

I’m also not crazy about stories with lots of bigoted religious people, even if it is a made-up religion, but they did provide a realistic threat to Seraphina. The romance is a highlight of the book, built realistically as a friendship with misunderstandings along the way. I was extremely invested in the characters once I got about a third of the way through the book. The story is complete with the solving of the murder, but there are definitely some big things left unresolved and the possibility of war looming. I will definitely want to read the next book the moment I can get my hands on it.

I like that the dragons are extra good at Math. Math is like a religion to them. The book is full of fun details like that. For example, Seraphina’s performance fell short of technical perfection, and her teacher comments, “Had you played perfectly — like a saar might have — you would not have affected your listeners so. People wept, and not because you sometimes hum while you play.”

Hmm. Rachel Hartman gets very close to technical perfection in this book. Is that perhaps why it didn’t quite affect me deeply? But I am tremendously eager to read on, and I’m curious what other people think. Meanwhile, I highly recommend this book about dragons like you’ve never seen them before.

RachelHartmanBooks.com
randomhouse.com/teens

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Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Review of Cold Cereal, by Adam Rex

Adventure, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Humorous, Starred Review 0

Cold Cereal

by Adam Rex

Balzer + Bray, 2012. 421 pages.
Starred Review

I’m going to give Cold Cereal to all the kids waiting for the next Rick Riordan book, at least, if we can keep it on the shelf. (I hope it will soon be as popular.)

Scott thinks he’s a normal kid who’s simply moved to Goodborough, New Jersey, because of his mom’s new job with Goodco Cereal Company. “There’s a Little Bit of Magic in Every Box.”

Biking to school, Scott sees some strange things in the park. A rabbit-man. A unicat. Scott’s sure it’s some kind of aura, a neurological event related to his migraines. The only people who are nice to Scott at his new school include some twins, Erno and Emily, and Emily is seriously strange (and super smart). Later, in a restroom, a little man that no one else can see tries to steal his backpack.

What emerges is that the Goodco Cereal Company is imprisoning magical beings and putting their magic in its cereal. As well as doing experiments on Emily, preparatory to putting dangerous ingredients in cereal to feed the children of the entire country.

Only Scott, Erno, and Emily can stop the evil cereal company, but it won’t be easy!

This book plays off Celtic mythology in a story where three kids need to save the world (and themselves). There’s lots and lots of humor, with Adam Rex poking fun at consumerism, at parents who will do anything to make their children smart, cereal slogans over the years, and so much more. This book is the first volume of a planned trilogy, but it does have a satisfying ending on its own.

I will definitely want to read the upcoming volumes.

adamrex.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Source: This review is based on an Advance Review Copy and checked against a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of Palace of Stone, by Shannon Hale

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Palace of Stone

by Shannon Hale

Bloomsbury, New York, August 2012. 321 pages.
Starred Review

This year, I keep changing in my hopes about the Newbery Medal:

First, I read Wonder, by R. J. Palacio, and hoped it would win the Medal. Next, I read The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, and hoped it would win the Medal. Then, I read Summer of the Gypsy Moths, by Sara Pennypacker, and hoped it would win the Medal. Finally (???), I read Palace of Stone, by Shannon Hale, and hoped it would win.

I think this will be my final choice, but I’m proving awfully fickle. I’m not sure I completely trust myself over Palace of Stone, because I like Shannon Hale’s writing so much, and I’ve met Shannon and like her so much, and she sent me an Advance Reader Copy of this book with a tremendously nice inscription and signature, so I may well be biased. But I am going to have fun making a case for Palace of Stone for the win on the Heavy Medal mock Newbery blog, and maybe I can partially express here why I think this book is outstanding.

Palace of Stone is the sequel to Newbery-Honor-winning Princess Academy. Princess Academy on the surface seems like a trite idea: A bunch of mountain girls training at a school because one of them is going to be chosen by the prince to be his princess. But Shannon’s books are definitely not trite. She paints a picture of Miri loving her mountain yet wanting to learn more, of Miri learning how to help the village get out of poverty, of Miri learning to be a friend, and of Miri figuring out the magic in the stone of the quarry on Mount Eskel.

In Palace of Stone there’s also a rich mix of things going on. Miri is going to the capital city, along with some other girls from Mount Eskel, to help her friend prepare to be the princess. She gets to study at the school at the Queen’s Castle while she is there. Peder is going at the same time, to be apprenticed to a wood carver.

But when Miri and her friends arrive, they learn that rebellion is brewing. And when the king’s advisors tell him that now Mount Eskel is a province, they should be taxed, Miri can’t help but have sympathy with the rebels. A kind fellow student introduces her to a Salon of plotters, and that handsome student seems to have a lot more time for Miri than Peder does.

In both books, I’ve been a tiny bit annoyed with how simplistic Miri’s thinking is at times. But on reflection, she has lived on the mountain without any education at all except the one year in the princess academy. It would be silly for her to use sophisticated concepts.

And Shannon Hale weaves sophisticated concepts into the setting of this book. Why does a king rule? What right does he have to tax his people? How does government work? There are also implications about the Palace of Stone. Only the king’s quarters are made from linder blocks from Mount Eskel, and common people are not allowed to go there at all.

Like before, Miri still characteristically pulls big ideas from books:

Timon had said first Asland; the rest of Danland would follow, and then all the world. His promises felt as real as paper in her hands, just awaiting the ink strokes of action.

But Miri was not the only one who took sick that winter, and revolution proved no match for a head cold. Salons emptied, as did the Queen’s Castle. Now Miri found time to haunt the palace library.

Master Filippus had said they needed to study History to understand what had worked in the past. Miri found the Librarian’s Book and started to read all she could on tributes, hoping for clues on how to defend Mount Eskel. There were laws that limited how much tribute a noble could take from a commoner, but as Miri had seen from the Grievance Official’s ledger, if they took more anyway, no one could stop them. And no laws limited the king.

This is a sequel to Princess Academy. I think you’ll enjoy it more if you read the first book first, though I’m sure you can understand what’s going on even without that. But as with all of Shannon’s books, why would you want to? In fact, I used this as a delightful excuse to reread Princess Academy. I enjoy her books more every time I read them, and now here’s one more to return to again and again.

squeetus.com
bloomsburykids.com

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Source: This review is based on an Advance Review Copy sent to me and signed by the author.

Review of The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom, by Christopher Healy

Children's Fiction Review, Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Humorous, Starred Review 0

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

by Christopher Healy

Walden Pond Press, 2012. 438 pages.
Starred Review

Have you ever noticed how many fairy tales claim that the hero action was done by Prince Charming? The author of this book explains that there’s a reason for that.

Blame the lazy bards. You see, back in the day, bards and minstrels were the world’s only real source of news. It was they who bestowed fame on people. They were the ones who sculpted any hero’s (or villain’s) reputation. Whenever something big happened — a damsel was rescued, a dragon was slain, a curse was broken — the royal bards would write a song about it, and their wandering minstrels would perform that tune from land to land, spreading the story across multiple kingdoms. But the bards weren’t keen on details. They didn’t think it was important to include the names of the heroes who did all that damsel rescuing, dragon slaying, and curse breaking. They just called all those guys “Prince Charming.”

It didn’t even matter to the bards whether the person in question was a truly daring hero (like Prince Liam, who battled his way past a bone-crushing, fire-blasting magical monster in order to free a princess from an enchanted sleeping spell) or some guy who merely happened to be in the right place at the right time (like Prince Ducan, who also woke a princess from a sleeping spell, but only because some dwarfs told him to). No, those bards gave a man the same generic name whether he nearly died (like Prince Gustav, who was thrown from a ninety-foot tower when he tried to rescue Rapunzel) or simply impressed a girl with his dancing skill (like Prince Frederic, who wowed Cinderella at a royal ball).

If there was anything that Liam, Duncan, Gustav, and Frederic all had in common, it was that none of them were very happy about being a Prince Charming. Their mutual hatred of that name was a big part of what brought them together. Not that teaming up was necessarily the best idea for these guys.

That’s the narrator getting ahead of himself. The Princes Charming don’t start out teaming up. Things start when Cinderella decides Prince Frederic has too little sense of adventure. She wants to go find Rapunzel, who really seems to have adventures. She ends up getting involved with a witch, and Gustav and Frederic try to save her. Meanwhile, Prince Liam discovers that Briar Rose is not a nice person at all. He doesn’t want to marry her. But she has her little ways of getting revenge.

But all four princes encounter one another and end up having to fight the witch, who now has a big plot to massacre thousands, including the princes and destroy the kingdoms.

This book is very funny, and a great twist on all the old fairy tale themes. I think this would be excellent classroom reading that would keep an elementary class hooked day after day.

Now, I myself thought the first hundred pages or so were hilarious. After that, it started to drag for me. It wasn’t really less funny; it was just going on and on and on. I’d happily read a chapter a night, but not until the last hundred pages or so did I get absorbed enough to finish up, so the book took me more than a week to finish. I would have liked it a good bit shorter, but I doubt that kids will mind.

The author keeps his irreverent and humorous tone throughout the book. Here’s where Frederic meets Gustav:

Over the years, Frederic had met his fair share of other princes. None of them were anything like this prince of Sturmhagen. Gustav was so gruff. He had no patience, no manners, and ridiculously poor communication skills. Frederic could only presume the man’s flamenco dancing was just as awkward.

Lots of silliness; lots of surprises; lots of fun coincidences. My only complaint is that it runs long-winded, but the better to keep kids entertained, right? And judging by the “Book 1” on the side, there will be more to come in the future.

christopherhealy.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of Wisdom’s Kiss, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Fairy Tale Variant, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Wisdom’s Kiss

A Thrilling and Romantic Adventure, Incorporating Magic, Villainy, and a Cat

by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011. 284 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s another fairy-tale-type story set in the world of Princess Ben. In fact, Princess Ben, as a grandmother, makes an appearance, though you don’t at all have to have read her story to understand what’s going on.

Wisdom’s Kiss centers around two princesses, named Temperance and Wisdom. They are granddaughters of Queen Benevolence and share the tradition of character-based names in the kingdom of Montagne. The story is also about Trudy, a young maid with the Sight. She loves the miller’s son Tips, who has gone off to learn to be an acrobat, and an excellent one.

Despite his mother’s machinations toward the throne of Montagne, Duke Roger of Farina is betrothed to Wisdom, the younger sister. She must travel to Farina for the wedding, and along the way she gets a new lady-in-waiting, Trudy, even though when Trudy looks at Wisdom, she feels great pain.

But then Tips’ troupe is performing in the capital of Montagne, and when Wisdom sees him, she finds out what she really aspires to. But royal betrothals are not easily gotten out of.

This is a fun story, with very creative story-telling, including several different perspectives, The Imperial Encyclopedia of Lax, letters, and a play script. The plot moves along with nice twists and turns and is never the least bit boring.

A lot hinges on love at first sight, which I wasn’t crazy about, but mostly everyone’s actions seem true to character, and even that love seems to have a basis in the characters of the people involved.

This is an entertaining tale, creatively told, and does include romance, magic, and villainy to delight all readers.

catherinemurdock.com
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Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy I got at a library conference.