Grade: 3 1/2 stars
Story summary: Strange puppets, creepy puppet masters, old witches dying slowly, lost children, a fair amount of thievery, etc. etc.
The characters were unique while still being familiar. Parsefall was a typical poor, thieving scamp in some ways. A bit of an Artful Dodger type, except more serious. Lizzie Rose was a "good girl", but with the few interesting things she convinced herself were acceptable. Grisini was quite Fagin-ish in many ways, but had interesting complexity in his history with Cassandra and the fact that he's in the puppet business because it's actually his passion. Clara and Cassandra were my definite favourites. They both had rather tragic pasts which psychologically screwed them up royally.
If I had a criticism, I would say that although the multiple view points decidedly create more complexity for each character, they also distract slightly. I didn't feel like the book was quite as cohesive as it might have been.
P.S. Just look at that awesome cover.
3 comments:
I keep seeing this book around and was wondering if I should read it--mostly because of the cover. It's absolutely gorgeous.
Well, I thought it was really good, and think you should read it. It's a children's book, but I'm assuming you don't mind that, like me. Also, as I mentioned, it can be slightly creepy. I don't mind creepiness, so it can be hard for me to judge whether other people will find it overmuch or not. But I'm PRETTY sure it'll be perfectly fine.
I love children's books! I think a really good book will enjoyed by all ages, regardless of the age range for which it was written. Corduroy is still one of my favorite stories! I don't mind creepy, either. I'll just make a mental note not to read this alone at night. :D
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