Teen Tuesday

Kenning Magic by Lizzie Ross (Saguaro Books, 6 March 2013).

In the land of Mitlery, almost everyone is able to do magic.  They use magic to perform everyday tasks like putting away clothes and planting seeds.

Except for Noni.  No matter how hard she tries, she just cannot cast a spell.  But she can do something that other people can't: decipher black marks on the page of a book.  She calls it "kenning", but her mother also referred to it as  the "Old Knowing".

But after a strange caravan comes to the village of Windrow, everyone's magic is gone, except for that of Noni's friend Twig, who always carries an amulet in his pocket.  No one is able to do anything, because they've relied on magic to do the most mundane of tasks. 

But Old Winesap, a village elder, remembers the Old Knowing, and tells Noni that she must find the Book of Spells, which will show her how to get the magic back.  Noni is hesitant, but when they learn that all of the surrounding villages have also lost their magic, she realizes that she must, indeed, do this.

She's afraid to go alone, and no one wants to go with her, because they feel lost without their magic.  Except for Twig, who simply takes his friend by the arm and leads her away from the village.

Their journey is long, and their adventures are many.  Not knowing whom to trust, Noni is suspicious of everyone and worries because Twig is not. 

Meanwhile, the magic thieves are also searching for the Book, but not only do Noni and Twig have to find it first, they have to avoid the dragons that are terrorizing the country.

Lizzie Ross's debut is terrific.  The reader is quickly drawn into the tale and is soon accompanying the young people on their quest.  Noni and Twig are well-drawn characters, and even the dragons have personalities.

The ending allows for the continuation of the story, which I await with eagerness.




FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the author,  who sent me an e-galley of the book for review purposes.

Teen Tuesday

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore.

It's eight years after the events of Graceling, the prequel to this book.  Bitterblue is now  eighteen years old and is queen of Monsea.  She's quite certain that her kingdom needs to do a great deal of healing after the reign of her deranged father, but her advisors tell her that they should look forward, not back.

She's kept busy signing sheaves of paper, and seldom has time to leave her offices.  One night, out of pure frustration, she "borrows" a cape from one of her servants and goes out into her city.  She chances on a pub with a storyteller who happens to be telling about how her father, Leck, had come to Monsea when he was a boy.  She also catches a young man, about her own age, in the act of picking a pocket, and follows him when he leaves.  However, she's not quick enough to see where he went, and heads home.

Having enjoyed being her own spy, she knows that sitting at her desk and signing piles of papers is not the way to run her kingdom, though she knows she cannot tell her advisors this.  She asks the Royal Librarian (!) to find her a map of the city, and goes out again the following night.  It eventually turns into a routine for her. 

The jacket-flap of the book indicates that it's not necessary to have read Graceling to understand Bitterblue, it is certainly helpful, especially understanding the political complexities of what is called The Known World.  It also helps in understanding  what Queen Bitterblue is up against.

Cashore has created an amazing World, with several different kingdoms, each with its own history and customs.  She has even included within the story, a sort of primer to another language.  Appendices contain maps of  Bitterblue's rooms, her castle and The Known World as well as a Who's Who of The World As We Know It (basically a Cast of Characters) recorded by the wonderful Royal Librarian of Monsea.

Kristin Cashore received a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a master’s from the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College.  She is the author of two previous young adult novels:  Graceling,  (2008) which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and it's companion novel Fire (2009).



FTC Full Disclosure :  I borrowed this book from my local library.

TeenTuesday

Born Wicked (Cahill Witch Chronicles #1) by Jessica Spotswood.*

Cate Cahill was fourteen when her mother died, making her promise to take care of her two younger sisters, Tess and Maura.  Which would be tough enough if they were ordinary, but the three Cahill girls are witches. 

With her father mostly away on business, Cate has kept a tight rein on Tess and Maura.  But now that Cate is sixteen, Maura fifteen, and Tess twelve, their interfering neighbour Mrs. Corbett has talked their father into hiring a governess for them.

To Cate this is horrendous.  She has a hard time keeping her sisters from practicing magic where they can be seen.  How will she manage with a governess around all the time?

Yes, the Cahill girls are witches.  In the alternate  America of the book,  the witches killed by the Puritans were really magical, and by the Nineteenth Century when this story takes place, witchcraft has been declared illegal.  It's a male-dominated society where women are only allowed to be wives or "Sisters", the female equivalent (though subordinate) of the  tyrannical "Brothers" who govern New England.  Women who are discovered to be witches are either killed, or send away to an asylum from which they seldom return. 

When Cate learns that their new governess is a Sister, she's even more frightened.  If Sister Elena catches any of them practicing magic, they'll  be in real trouble.  Worst of all, Cate is nearing the time when she must declare her Intention:  to marry or enter the Sisterhood.  But, having promised her mother she'd take care of Maura and Tess, how can she choose either of those options?

Close enough to accepted history to be almost disturbing, but different enough that it's not, this fascinating story grabs the reader and pulls her into its World.  Cate is a character most females can empathize with , especially if they have sisters (no matter where they fall in the birth order). None of the options open to her are agreeable, but she must choose one.  Her decision, and the path she takes to get there, is complex, thrilling and surprising.

Unfortunately, there has been no indication of when the next book in the series might be expected, but it won't be soon enough!






*FLC Full Disclosure:  I purchased this book at the inaugural Passion & Prose event in Long Beach.