The Dark City (Relic Master Series #1)

by Catherine Fisher

Overview

Welcome to Anara, a world mysteriously crumbling to devastation, where nothing is what it seems: Ancient relics emit technologically advanced powers, members of the old Order are hunted by the governing Watch yet revered by the people, and the great energy that connects all seems to also be destroying all. The only hope for the world lies in Galen, a man of the old Order and a Keeper of relics, and his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Raffi. They know of a secret relic with great power that has been hidden for centuries. As they search for it, they will be tested beyond their limits. For there are monsters-some human, some not-that also want the relic's power and will stop at nothing to get it.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101515211
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	05/17/2011
Series:	Relic Master Series , #1
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	443,673
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Catherine Fisher is an acclaimed novelist and poet, and has written many fantasy books for young people, including the popular "Oracle Betrayed" series. She lives in Wales.

Editorial Reviews

In this postapocalyptic tale, the scattered remnants of the Order struggle to keep ancient technologies alive, despite the efforts of the thuggish Watch to destroy them. Relic Master Galen Harn has lost his powerful extrasensory abilities in an accident, but he struggles on with the help of his half-trained teenage apprentice, Raffi. Galen hears rumors that the Crow, one of the founders of their civilization, may still survive in Tasceron, "the burning city, the city of the Makers.... a web of a million streets, alleys, bridges, ruins." He and Raffi set out to find the city, accompanied by Carys (who, unbeknownst to them, is a Watch agent) and one of the catlike Sekoi. This first volume in the Relic Master Quartet is a gritty and enjoyable tale of adventure, poised on the dividing line between science fiction and fantasy; Dial will release the three subsequent installments (originally published in the U.K., beginning in 1998) in June, July, and August. While perhaps not as captivating as Incarceron and Sapphique, this should easily please Fisher's fans, as well as those hungry for dystopian reading material. Ages 12–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 5 Up—In this quartet opener, Galen is a relic master who has recently lost his powers, and he must rely on his apprentice Raffi, whose mystical abilities are still developing. They are sent on a quest by a bandit lord who wants them to find a nonhuman Sekoi thief in exchange for the return of a precious relic. The Sekoi seems to be traveling to the city of Tasceron, which has been plunged into perpetual gloom. Galen hopes to find a cure for his condition in this city that was once home to the relic masters and is now a stronghold of the Watch. Along the way they meet Carys, a young woman who claims to be journeying to Tasceron to rescue her father from the Watch but who is in fact a spy. Fisher's flawed characters are more accessible than fantasy heroes with incredible powers. In this moody book full of mist, swamps, and darkness, the threat of the Watch hangs over the secret relic masters and innocent villagers alike. Besides the Watch, the characters face challenges ranging from mystical riddles to fearsome creatures. The author's earlier successes and the general popularity of dystopic fiction should guarantee an audience for this one. On top of all that, it's a great read.—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids, WI

School Library Journal

A gripping fantasy adventure, the first of a tetralogy, satisfies but does not surprise.

Raffi, the novice "scholar" sworn to the surly Relic Master Galen, finds little joy in their now-outlawed Order's sacred task of seeking out the ancient technology of the vanished Makers. After one such exploding "relic" stripped Galen of his mystical powers, a vicious thief lord bullies the pair into pursuing a member of the catlike Sekoi race into the post-apocalyptic city of Tasceron, which just might harbor a magic powerful enough to heal Galen. Meanwhile, the Watch, fanatical enemies of the Order, has set one of their murderous agents on their trail... Fisher takes a hoary science-fiction trope—the Lost Colony revering the ancestral "Starmen" as gods and their forgotten gadgets as holy objects—and melds it with the standard quest fantasy, complete with the archetypal naive-yet-powerful apprentice, the wise-but-bitter mentor, the roguish spy-with-a-heart-of-gold and the vaguely elfin alien. Yet her mastery of detailed and exotic worldbuilding, every scene hinting at intriguing secrets and untold back story, blends these speculative staples into a tale redolent with humor, wonder and suspense. Genre-savvy readers will undoubtedly predict every plot twist pages in advance; nonetheless, they will also demand the sequels.

Well-crafted storytelling provides more than the sum of its parts.(Fantasy. 11-16)

Kirkus Reviews