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Anne Nesbet teaches classes on silent films and Russian novels at UC Berkeley. The author of The Cabinet of Earths and A Box of Gargoyles, she lives near San Francisco with her husband, three daughters, and one irrepressible dog.
The Wrinkled Crown
by Anne Nesbet
eBook
$4.99
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ISBN-13:
9780062104328
- Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date: 11/10/2015
- Sold by: HARPERCOLLINS
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 400
- File size: 894 KB
- Age Range: 8 - 12 Years
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Fans of Anne Ursu will love Anne Nesbet's tale of music and friendship, set against an age-old war between magic and science.
In the enchanted village of Lourka, almost-twelve-year-old Linny breaks an ancient law. Girls are forbidden to so much as touch the town's namesake musical instrument before their twelfth birthday or risk being spirited away. But Linny can't resist the call to play a lourka, so she builds one herself.
When the punishment strikes her best friend instead, Linny must leave home to try to set things right. With her father's young apprentice, Elias, along for the journey, Linny travels from the magical wrinkled country to the scientific land of the Plain, where she finds herself at the center of a battle between the logical and the magical.
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Publishers Weekly
09/07/2015Nesbet’s (A Box of Gargoyles) charming though predictable fantasy introduces Linny, about to turn 12. In her mountain village of Lourka, that milestone will keep her out of danger, since any girlchild who has ever touched a lourka (the village’s eponymous musical instrument) will be spirited away by evil Voices on her 12th birthday. Linny has not only touched a lourka, she has fashioned one of her own; yet when the day comes, the Voices take her best friend Sayra instead. Linny ventures beyond her mountains for a way to bring Sayra back, discovering in the strange lands of the Broken City that there is an ancient prophecy she resembles about the Girl with the Lourka, and that she is being swept up into a revolution far beyond her control. Spritely characterization, complex worldbuilding, and efforts to create a landscape of moral ambiguity nearly balance Nesbet’s thoroughly telegraphed plot and tendency to drop threads of story. Linny herself, despite being something of a cliché of the spirited heroine, has enough interiority and dimension to maintain interest. Ages 8–12. (Nov.)
Booklist
PRAISE FOR THE CABINET OF EARTHS: “In her debut novel, Nesbet has crafted a carefully imagined, magical world-one that is shrouded in mystery and keeps the reader engaged and guessing. With imaginative alchemy, compelling action, and sensitive characterizations, this novel will undoubtedly win over fantasy fans.The Horn Book
PRAISE FOR A BOX OF GARGOYLES: “Nesbet’s style is both animated and animating...all elements of her story fairly quiver with life.Shelf Awareness
PRAISE FOR THE CABINET OF EARTHS: “This debut novel of intrigue, family betrayal and an unsolved case of missing children will grip readers from first page to last. Readers will be swept along by the novel’s swift pace and enjoy the mystery’s unraveling with Maya and Valko as their companions.Horn Book Magazine
Nesbet’s fable explores the relationship of science, logic, and imagination, forging ahead with eventfulness and visual richness. A cozy, personable narrative voice punctuates the drama with light humor.Children's Literature - Lois Rubin Gross
It’s not always what happens that is the most important thing. Sometimes it’s how you tell the story.” Anne Nesbet has created a fantastic story full of brave girls, terrible villains, and lands of magic beyond the reader’s wildest imaginings. Linny, her “mismatched twin, Sarya, and their awkward friend, Elias, live in the “wrinkled” town of Lourk. This hidden-away mountain village carries a curse on pre-adolescent girls who are strictly forbidden from touching the town’s symbolic instrument, the round-belled lourka. Musical from birth, Linny takes on the challenge of building a beautiful lourka and playing it on the eve of her twelfth birthday. The curse is not visited on her, but bounces to Sayra who vanishes into an oblivion called “Away.” Desperate to save Sarya, Linny goes on a journey to the Plains to find medicine to rescue her friend and to find her mother’s long-lost sister. More than a fantasy, this is a technicolor fairy tale in which butterflies change colors in flight; silk embroidery changes form; and modern technology sits uncomfortably next to superstitious towns. The intensity of Nesbet’s descriptions is simply unmatched. Linny even has a Cheshire-like feline companion who is equally gold and silver and has powers of his own, Linny is a wonderful hero—brave, smart, gifted, rebellious, contrary, and quick-thinking when she has to be. She is also warmhearted to her friends and loyal beyond comprehension. Villains in this story are markedly evil and also absurdly inept in pursuit of Linny and her powers. The three young people in this story grow and develop as they learn they carry magic within themselves and face down the powers that may disturb them. A great read-aloud! Reviewer: Lois Rubin Gross; Ages 10 to 16.Kirkus Reviews
2015-08-05A rebellious girl breaks a community taboo, unintentionally endangers her dearest friend, and scrambles through a series of dangerous encounters to make things right. Nesbet's confident worldbuilding creates a fascinating picture of two diametrically opposed cultures: wrinkled (pastoral, magical, and mysterious) and Plain (filled with hard surfaces and sharp angles, technologically advanced, and deeply suspicious of magic). She populates this world with characters simultaneously familiar and fresh. There's heroine Linnet, friend and companion Elias, a scheming magician, a power-hungry regent, a mad scientist of sorts, a helpful, newly discovered relative, and a magical cat, among others. Each plays a role as Linny travels the length of the world to seek a remedy for her friend Sayra's sickness. The plot gallops along from capture to escape and triumph to disaster, with multiple instances of each and cliffhangers aplenty. Meanwhile, the author paints a thought-provoking picture of the ways that misunderstandings and miscommunication can create animosity and how both the conflicts of those in power and the power of story can shape the lives of everyday citizens. The messages are clear; luckily they are delivered with enough subtlety to keep the tone from turning preachy. With hints of a sequel to come, this agreeable adventure introduces an appealing, spunky heroine and sets the stage for more conflict and compromise to come. (Fantasy. 10-14)