Marcus Sedgwick’s creepy, foreboding fantasy centers around a magician’s desperate search for a book against an approaching deadline--the new year. Valerian and his servant, Boy, comb an unnamed, fading European city, following clues and digging up graves, culminating their search in an underground city square. Roger Rees helps maintain the uneasy tone, differentiating the gruff Valerian from lower-class Boy and Willow and assorted secondary characters, and even managing some required Latin. The slow meting out of details might frustrate listeners--at times the book seems TOO mysterious. If the ending seems unresolved, listeners can at least hope that loose ends will be tied up in the sequel, THE DARK FLIGHT DOWN. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
THE DAYS BETWEEN Christmas and New Year's Eve are dead days, when spirits roam and magic shifts restlessly just beneath the surface of our lives. A magician called Valerian must save his own life within those few days or pay the price for the pact he made with evil so many years ago. But alchemy and sorcery are no match against the demonic power pursuing him. Helping him is his servant, Boy, a child with no name and no past. The quick-witted orphan girl, Willow, is with them as they dig in death fields at midnight, and as they are swept into the sprawling blackness of a subterranean city on a journey from which there is no escape.
Praise for The Book of Dead Days:
“Beautifully paced and sometimes blood-soaked. . . . A very tangible sense of evil.”-The Guardian
“Subtle menace and power.”-The Independent
“Packed with drama, mystery, and intrigue.”-The Bookseller
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Praise for The Book of Dead Days:
“Beautifully paced and sometimes blood-soaked. . . . A very tangible sense of evil.”-The Guardian
“Subtle menace and power.”-The Independent
“Packed with drama, mystery, and intrigue.”-The Bookseller
The Book of Dead Days
THE DAYS BETWEEN Christmas and New Year's Eve are dead days, when spirits roam and magic shifts restlessly just beneath the surface of our lives. A magician called Valerian must save his own life within those few days or pay the price for the pact he made with evil so many years ago. But alchemy and sorcery are no match against the demonic power pursuing him. Helping him is his servant, Boy, a child with no name and no past. The quick-witted orphan girl, Willow, is with them as they dig in death fields at midnight, and as they are swept into the sprawling blackness of a subterranean city on a journey from which there is no escape.
Praise for The Book of Dead Days:
“Beautifully paced and sometimes blood-soaked. . . . A very tangible sense of evil.”-The Guardian
“Subtle menace and power.”-The Independent
“Packed with drama, mystery, and intrigue.”-The Bookseller
Praise for The Book of Dead Days:
“Beautifully paced and sometimes blood-soaked. . . . A very tangible sense of evil.”-The Guardian
“Subtle menace and power.”-The Independent
“Packed with drama, mystery, and intrigue.”-The Bookseller
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Product Details
BN ID: | 2940172219306 |
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Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
Publication date: | 10/12/2004 |
Edition description: | Unabridged |
Age Range: | 10 - 13 Years |
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