Shadowcry

by Jenna Burtenshaw

Overview

Those who wish to see the dark, be ready to pay your price.

The Night of Souls—when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest—is only days away. Albion is at war . . . and losing. And fifteen-year-old Kate Winters has just raised a blackbird from the dead.

As her home is torn apart, Kate's discovery that she is one of the rare people who can cross the veil between life and death makes her the most hunted person in all of Albion. Captured and taken to the graveyard city of Fume—where her parents met their deaths ten years ago—Kate must harness her extraordinary powers to save herself, her country, and the two men she cares for most. And she'll make a pact with a murderer to do it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062026439
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/26/2012
Series:	Secrets of Wintercraft Series
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 7.82(h) x 0.81(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Jenna Burtenshaw has been writing since she was a child, and she divides her time between her writing, her dogs, and her rescue rabbits. She is the author of Shadowcry and Blackwatch. She lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

Jenna Burtenshaw’s debut comes as a breath of fresh air.

The Times (London)

In this somewhat overwritten but nonetheless gripping first volume of the Secrets of Wintercraft, 15-year-old Kate Winters has lost her parents to the wardens who patrol the benighted land of Albion, drafting conscripts for a never-ending war with the Continent. Living quietly in her uncle's bookshop, Kate is unaware of her magical lineage as one of the Skilled. Her life changes, however, when the wardens, led by the powerful and immortal Silas Dane, a minion of High Council member Lady Da'ru, attempts to capture her. Da'ru seeks Wintercraft, a magical tome that has passed down through the Winters family for generations. Many of the Skilled have died at Da'ru's hands as she has sought control of the book's magic and, as Silas tells Kate, Da'ru and her fellow councilors "will keep experimenting on the Skilled, taking the lives of innocent people.... They will keep failing and they will try again, and everyone else will pay the price." Debut novelist Burtenshaw's tale is melodramatic and overly reliant upon coincidence, but her characters are compelling and her descriptions of the death-besotted society of Albion have genuine power. Ages 12–up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Kate Winters has led a relatively small life, helping to run her family's bookstore, but that is all about to change. Albion, the island nation she calls home, has descended over recent centuries from a center of enlightenment and cooperation, to a country at war with everyone, including its own people. Driving this decline is the High Council, headquartered in the former city of the dead, Fume. Their insatiable thirst for power has extended beyond the material and political realms into a quest for control of the dead. Council member Da'ru has experimented crossing into "the Veil" and created Silas Dane—alive but soulless—the High Council's chief "collector." And Silas is leaving no stone unturned in seeking to find the wisdom of the ancients contained in the book "Wintercraft" as well as any descendants of the Winters' family who might have inherited their unique powers. When the Council's Wardens invade Kate's hometown of Morvane to "harvest" the citizenry for fighting their wars, her uncle Artemis stashes Kate and her friend Edgar in a secret hiding place in the basement of the bookstore's cellar. But Artemis is captured, as eventually are Kate and Edgar; they are locked in cages and loaded on the Night Train to Fume. Kate must come to terms with her heretofore unknown powers if she is to survive and rescue her uncle and friend. Although characters are unevenly developed—Silas is more complex than Kate herself—the relationships between characters create dramatic tension. There is plenty to intrigue lovers of fantasy, and the foundation is clearly laid for a sequel. Reviewer: Paula McMillen, Ph.D.

Children's Literature - Paula McMillen

Gr 7 Up—Ten years after the last time the wardens came through their town and stole away everyone who might be useful in the war, including her parents, 14-year-old Kate Winters lives with her uncle running the family bookstore. Now rumors arise that the wardens are again on the move. Before they have a chance to escape, it is discovered that Kate is the last of her family who holds the power of the Skilled, making her a prime target for the wardens. Unfortunately, the heroine has power but little savvy, and her willingness to be influenced by friend and foe alike doesn't win her much reader sympathy. Silas, the villain, is easily the most interesting character and isn't well utilized. The opening chapter, with all its dark creepiness, is the best part of the novel, but long, meandering descriptive passages and lackluster dialogue don't live up to a promising beginning. Skip this one and recommend John Flanagan's "Ranger's Apprentice" (Philomel) or Tamora Pierce's "Beka Cooper" series (Random).—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK

School Library Journal

This lackluster debut combines familiar elements into a tale neither rare nor wonderful, despite some acclaim in its native Britain.

The formula is simple: war-torn country, power-mad leader (one of 13, technically), young person with unexpected powers who might be the answer to everything. But heroine Kate Winters never shows much pluck: She may wield significant power, though generally with little sense of how, and spends most of her time listening to other characters spout lengthy exposition. There is no purpose to power-mad leader Da'ru beyond her hunger for control. And although graveyard/city Fume is fascinating and the magic of Fume (bonemen, magical locks powered by spirits) hints at great powers of invention, Albion as a whole remains unknowable. What is the war, and why? How, in this pre-industrialized world with no commercial ties to "the continent," does a bookstore make for a viable living? Enigmatic, deathless Silas Dane comes across as the most nuanced of the characters, and his cold alliance with Kate is the heart of the novel, but Kate's narrative perspective keeps him at a distance.

Mediocre, but flashes of inspiration indicate Burtenshaw's potential, as yet untapped.(Fantasy. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews