**STARRED REVIEW** “Brilliantly developed world. Kellen and Nettle are both memorable from their first introduction. As always, Hardinge is masterful at her ability to write poignant, thoughtful passages while also ably developing an expansive fantasy world that is believable and relatable.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Hardinge’s immersive world building and layered plot pull readers into an adventure full of mystery, treachery, political machinations, and danger. A thought-provoking pick for tweens.
"Hardinge creates a top-notch fantasy with a fresh setting populated by original monsters (Bookbearers, Gladelords, Dancing Stars) and the feel of old folktales."
**STARRED REVIEW** "Hardinge has a rare gift for crafting strange and original worlds, and here she’s in top form. . . Brightening toward the end, frightening throughout, psychologically acute."—Kirkus Reviews
**STARRED REVIEW** "Hardinge again displays her knack for imbuing mythological-feeling tales with casts of creatures and characters who are fully realized and impeccably described, rendered in astonishing detail while carefully avoiding verbosity."
—School Library Journal The Horn Book Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Booklist
★ 01/01/2023
Gr 7 Up— In the land of Raddith, anger and hate left to fester in a person's heart form a "curse egg" and those who carry curse eggs can wreak havoc on the lives of those around them. Everyone who isn't a curser is vulnerable to being cursed for real or imagined slights; every interaction with a stranger can turn dangerous quickly. Kellen, who possesses a mysterious ability to "unravel" these curses by finding their source and cause, and his companion Nettle, a girl who was cursed to be a heron until Kellen saved her, are hired to unravel a very specific curse by a strange marsh horseman named Gall. However, as they traverse the curse-ridden and creature-filled woods known as the Wilds, it becomes increasingly clear that whatever has given Kellen the power to unravel curses must be reversed before he unravels himself and everyone else. Characteristically lush and transportive descriptions accompany a rapidly paced, consistently suspenseful plot, keeping readers firmly planted in the land of Raddith from beginning to end. Hardinge again displays her knack for imbuing mythological-feeling tales with casts of creatures and characters who are fully realized and impeccably described, rendered in astonishing detail while carefully avoiding verbosity. Introspective realizations, the processing of uncomfortable feelings, and the importance of knowing and understanding oneself are continual throughlines in the narrative, along with the insidious effects of allowing fury and hate to grow unchecked. VERDICT Another deeply atmospheric, compulsively readable yet utterly unsettling offering from Hardinge. Highly recommended for all libraries serving teens.—Allie Stevens
★ 2022-09-28
Hardinge has a rare gift for crafting strange and original worlds, and here she’s in top form as she chucks two teenagers into webs of deadly magic and conspiracy in Raddith, where curse eggs are illegal but readily available to be cast by anyone out of spite or hatred. The journey takes rude, ill-tempered Kellen, whose unique talent for unravelling affects not only curses, but any woven garment or item in his vicinity, and his constant (in every sense) companion Nettle, seemingly “meek and inoffensive if you didn’t know her,” from the populous capital of Mizzleport to swampy wilds haunted by terrifying creatures to eldritch Moonlit Market (where everything, including memories and daydreams, is vulnerable). The author gradually brings Kellen (and readers) to an understanding that curses are not always undeserved, that those who bestow them may be damaged but are not invariably evil, and that perhaps we all have the capability to control the hatred that fuels them. Along with weaving in frequent desperate straits and near brushes with disaster, she embroiders her tale with memorable lines; a romantic subplot involving a rider bonded to a demonic horse and, by the end, even more so to his loving husband; and a cast of characters who are memorably distinct. The cast presents White.
Brightening toward the end, frightening throughout, psychologically acute. (Fantasy. 12-18)
