When the 'marvelous misadventures' in the 18th century mode take on the aspect of a soulful Dance of Death, the fabric is rent; but stay—the telling tells all. How Fourth Fiddler Sebastian, coming afoul of his pomposity The Purse, is turned out, the least clumsiness being deemed devious in Regent Grinssorg's realm; how he saves himself and a blue-eyed white cat from a most unMerry Host, loses his fiddle and almost his freedom, and finds a friend whose name of Nicholas is not the whole of it; and most marvelously "How Sebastian Misjudged His Opponent" who changes in a trice from pugnacious fellow traveler to shrinking runaway apprentice to fugitive servant-girl to fancy-spoken Princess Isabel of Hamelin-Loring—recently betrothed to the Regent. Therein of course lies the tale, lacking only the clown Lelio's "accursed" fiddle (uncovered by Presto the cat at Quicksilver's Gallimaufry-Theatricus) to play out the theme. For in the hazardous course of thwarting the Princess' recapture—and divesting her of illusions about royal beneficence as well as her regal speech—the violin makes Sebastian its instrument, and he surpasses himself: is he not a mere fiddler but a true musician? The violin mesmerizes its hearers also, and providentially dances Grinssorg to his death before Presto shatters it, saving Sebastian from a like fate. Princess Isabel will be a constitutional monarch with Nicholas, otherwise Captain Freeling the legendary rebel, as First Minister until she abdicates all power and marries Sebastian—who meanwhile sets out to become "a noble among fiddlers, not a fiddler among nobles." Well put, and better to linger on than whether "make-believe and moonshine" are "the truth—as they might be." Especially since make-believe and moonshine are the making of The Misadventures.
Pub Date: Sept. 25, 1970
ISBN: 0440405491
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1970
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters.
Two young people save the world and all the magic in it in this series opener.
When tall, dark-haired, white-skinned Christopher Forrester goes to stay with his grandfather in Scotland, he ventures to the top of a forbidden hill and discovers astonishing magical creatures. His grandfather explains that Christopher’s family are guardians of the “way through” to the Archipelago, where the Glimourie Tree grows—the source of glimourie, or the world’s magic. Black-haired, olive-skinned Mal Arvorian, a girl from the Archipelago, is being pursued by a murderer, and she asks Christopher for help, launching them both on a wild, dangerous journey to discover why the glimourie is disappearing and how to stop it. Together with a part-nereid woman, a ratatoska, a dragon, and a Berserker, they face an odyssey of dangerous tasks to find the Immortal, the only one who can reverse the draining of magic. Like Lyra and Will from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Mal and Christopher sacrifice their innocence for experience, meeting every challenge with depthless courage until they finally reach the maze at the heart of it all. Rundell throws myriad obstacles in her characters’ way, but she gives them tools both tangible (a casapasaran, which always points the way home, and the glamry blade, which cuts through anything) and intangible (the desire “to protect something worth protecting” and an “insistence that the world is worth loving”). Final art not seen.
An epic fantasy with timeless themes and unforgettable characters. (map, bestiary) (Fantasy. 10-16)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593809860
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
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