The Grave Robber's Apprentice

by Allan Stratton

Hans doesn't know who he is or where he came from. When he was a baby, he washed ashore in a wooden box and was adopted by the conniving grave robber Knobbe the Bent. Now fate has thrown him together with Angela von Schwanenberg, a young countess fleeing for her life from the evil Archduke Arnulf and his dreaded necromancer. Together, these friends are on a daring quest to discover Hans' true identity and to save Angela's parents from the archduke. In this world, anything is possible with luck and imagination - even for a grave robber's apprentice.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Adventure, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Canada

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 6, 2012

About the author

ALLAN STRATTON is the internationally acclaimed author of CHANDA'S SECRETS, winner of the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Honor Book, the Children's Africana Book Award, and ALA Booklist's Editor's Choice among others. His first YA novel was the ALA Best Book LESLIE'S JOURNAL. His latest, CHANDA'S WARS, a Junior Library Guild selection, won the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Canadian Book Award, 2009, and is on the CCBC Best Books List.

The German/South African film version of CHANDA'S SECRETS has been named an Official Selection of the 2010 Cannes International Film festival. the film title is LIFE ABOVE ALL. You can read about Allan's experiences on set on the December posts of his blog.

Allan's new novel, BORDERLINE, a coming-of-age mystery/thriller, came out in March 2010 from HarperCollins with starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal and raves in Booklist, Kirkus Reviews and Quill and quire..

He loves travel, cats and dogs, ice cream, working out, doing readings and workshops -- and, oh yes, meeting readers!

Allan is published in the USA, France, Germany, Korea, China, Japan, Vietnam, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and Slovenia. You can read more about his books, and visit him online at www.allanstratton.com

Reviews

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a MG grade I only picked up for a challenge, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. It’s action-packed and perfect for both boys and girls ages 9 and up (a hard group to find books for sometimes).

The book is set in medieval times in a Germanic area of Europe. Our boy hero was washed up on shore as an infant, taken in by a grave robber and raised as his apprentice. Our girl hero is the daughter of a count and countess. The evil archduke wants to marry her for her dowry. He’s gone through a string of young wives who have all met with unfortunate “accidents.”



The two eventually meet up and have to run for their lives from the archduke and his unscrupulous necromancer. They meet a group of highwaymen, hermits, and circus performers in their adventures.

It’s jam-packed with adventure and Shakespeare motifs. A fun book for all ages.



Language:
Sexual Content: None
Violence: Some scary moments but violence is not graphic
Harm to Animals: Some of the bad guy’s crows get killed
Harm to Children: Endangerment but no deaths

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars

This is a tale of two children whom under normal circumstances would never even meet, but whose destinies bring them together to save an entire kingdom.
~*~*~*~*~
Holy frack this is brutal for a kids’ book. I knew it was a little on the gory side to start out with – the main character is the apprentice of a grave robber, after all, which comes with quite a few… interesting descriptions. Plus entertaining little anecdotes, such as Hans being so good at keeping his balance on ice due to years of standing on coffins in muddy graves. Despite this, I did not expect the fates of the villains, though – I was a bit shocked that an author would go that far in a kids’ book. First the evil despot gets thrown into a pit of lye and starts dissolving alive - including a line about him wiping his forehead only for it to ‘slide off’, I believe was how it was phrased – and is then left to be eaten alive by rats. It’s only hammered in further when the other baddie, having betrayed his underlings a few chapters hence, is hauled off in the end to be dissected – while paralyzed and fully aware. They’re the kind of ending you wouldn’t be surprised to see in an adult novel, or a horror movie.
That being said, I’m sure any boys reading this book loved it.

This is a bit of a hard one to classify. On the one hand it's set in historical Austria - except none of it (as far as I know) is actually based in history. Fantasy? Well, it's fantastic, but you won't find hide nor hair of any mythical creatures here, and the only 'magic-user' in the story is never actually shown to use real magic, preferring to deal in trickery and mind games. Whatever the genre, however, it was an entertaining read and kept me wondering what would happen next.

The narrator did an amazing job of giving the characters distinct voices and bringing out their personalities. And the author, of course, did an amazing job creating said personalities and bringing them to life in the first place. (While the main characters are likable, and you can’t help rooting for them, to be honest? My favourite characters were the parents from the circus troupe. No idea how to spell their name since, audio-book, but they’re pretty awesome.)

Honestly, one of the things that may have lost it a few points was that it WAS an audio book I was listening to (despite the narrator's incredible work) – every time my mind wandered a bit, I’d have to re-wind and re-listen to parts. It takes you out of the story a bit when you have to do that. And as much as I enjoyed it the ebook, it did just barely fall short of getting an “OMG, I love this book!” reaction.

[Allan Stratton]

HarperCollins has done a book trailer for THE GRAVE ROBBER'S APPRENTICE that really captures the book's feel. If you're interested, it's on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5WjY...

Incidentally, I dedicated the book to my mom. She was amazing: a single mother in the 1950s. She took me to see Shakespeare's Twelfth Night when I was five and ever after. My love of literature and theatre all stem from those early years. I owe her, well, everything. :)

[Amanda M. Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see a lot of reviews riffing on this one for having some darker themes, it really isn't as dark as those reviews make it out to be and honestly underestimate kids' ability to get those themes whether parents and adults like it or not. In fact, we actually fail kids when we assume they don't, we grew up with the likes of Labyrinth, Neverending Story, and Dark Crystal none of which were purified of all potentially sad plot points to better suit parents ideal outlook for kids because most parents of that era got that kids liked those themes and were genuinely moved by them in a learning way. Let's not get me started on the folks that seem to expect a kids book will have as dark and complex plots as those we find in the adult novels they normally read...Do yo uread these YA books to enjoy them or to rip them up for entertainment? Honestly, that's pretty sad if it's the case.

Anyway, on to the plot of this one. The Grave Robber's Apprentice is a story created by the author based on some the classic plays of such playwrights as Shakespeare. In it we find ourselves with a boy who is not certain of his role in life as a Grave Robber though it's all he has ever known and a young countess who is whip smart and independent who is tackling her own problems with an unwanted suitor who appears to want her to obtain her land and money over all. Both of their lives cross paths when events begin to become much more complex in the events of the suitor bullying the Countess and her parents into allowing her betrothal and the boy's adopted father trying to force matters on his learning to rob graves for himself. Knowing a great deal about plays and plots through making some of her own with her marionettes and with the aid of Hans (the grave robber apprentice) knowledge of traps, hidden spaces and other skills learned in the graveyard the pair soon find themselves on a tangled path to rescue her parents while seeking to outsmart the Archduke. ALong the way many small details about Hans past are revealed and a great many friends aid them in various events that take them closer to the climax of the story.

This is definitely a fun one for kids who enjoy mystery, suspense and some gothic or creepy elements in their stories, very fun and admirably put together.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, that was legitimately disappointing. I was really looking forward to reading this after I got a copy at ALA Midwinter, but the only expectation I had about it that was fulfilled was that it is a quick read. But that was because I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. It's like someone crossed The Princess Bride with every Shakespeare play they read in high school, but took themselves completely seriously. It was a huge pile of cliches, and as such, extremely predictable, except for the parts that were unexpectedly violent for a mid-grade book (dissecting a fully-conscious human? That's a little harsh). The theme, "The Importance of Stories," has been done before, much less heavy-handedly. I guess that really gets to the heart of what bothered me about it--everything is heavy-handed. The humor is heavy-handed. The plot is heavy-handed. Just--everything. And I know this copy hasn't gone through its final edit, but a chapter heading of "Just Deserts"--that isn't a pun? Fail. So as much as I would like to, I'm afraid I can't recommend this.

[Danielleacorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book was amazing.It had so much adventure,drama,horror,it never gets boring.I could read that book a million times and it would never get boring.I think that the other silver birch readers will like this book because like i said it never gets boring.Even when the are trying to fall asleep its intresting.I think it was amazing how they keep runing and geting away.

[Kat!e Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love when I grab a book at random off the library shelf and really enjoy it. This one pulled me in with its title, and was just as dark and morbid as I hoped. The writing and story were compelling, the characters likable. Sometimes the prose was a little confusing, especially at the end, which was a little messy. But, over all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read and I'm glad I picked it up.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

sort of astonishingly too creepy and gruesome for a middle grade book, if you think about it -- but fun enough, in a silly and spooky sort of way, for me.

[Jennifer Rayment · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Good Stuff

* Fabulous opening chapter - will grab the kids (and adults) attention right away
* The banter between Angela and Hans is delightful
* Angela is a fantastic heroine - feisty and brave, yet compassionate and hilarious
* Hans is a perfect companion for Angela and they work so well together
* Wonderful adventure story full of nasty villians and wacky secondary characters
* Lots of scary and gross bits will attract the middle school boy reader
* Young kids save the day -- kids eat that sorta thing up
* Humor and scary stuff - what's not to like
* The secondary characters are just as well written as the main characters
* Has a fairy tale, quest feel to it with a hint of Peter Nimble thrown in
* Good messages of friendship and forgiveness

The Not So Good Stuff

* Some of the more complicated language may turn off the more reluctant reader which would be a shame

Favorite Quotes/Passages

"Tonight, the raging wind had promised a shipwreck- two or three, God willing - so Knobbe had scrambled down the steep cliff path to the beach, hoping to plunder the bodies of the drowned."

"Don't play your baby tricks on me," Knobbe warned. "Your sort are all alike. Sneaky,little schemers, out to make a fellow weak."

"Angela rolled her eyes at Hans: a hermit speaking in riddles was as irritating in real life as it was in storybooks."

"Shush. Who knows the future. Do the best you can and never regret a kindness. To live a coward is not to live at all."

Who Should/Shouldn't Read

* I would say for the stronger middle school reader due to more sophisticated language
* Not for the sensitive reader as there are some scary bits
* Adults will enjoy just as much

4.5 Dewey's

I picked this up at the 2012 OLA Superconference and my copy is signed

[Joseph R · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that the book was a mix of Thriller and Mystery because it starts out mysterious with knobbe doing his "grave robbing deed" and then it has Angela on an adventure with Hans to rescue her parents from the necromancer "the devil himself".

I think it turns in to a thriller mid book and it starts to have that thought in it like you know something is going to happen it's like in a movie when it has that mysterious creepy music and it gets higher pitched but in the book Allan expresses it with tone and it adds more mysterious things when peter is in the story you don't know what happened to him and how he was living without his wife and child.

I still don't understand why Allan(the author) would start the book with the soon to be character "Hans" in a box or casket when he was a child and was found by knobbe it just makes the surrounding story of the book just plain weird. I loved the tone of the whole story because it was on and off and it kept changing it was never the same. What I would have done is start it towards a backstory of knobbe and why he Grave Robs and why he lives like he does.

I recommend this book if you like either: Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, Thriller, Realistic-Fiction. Because I was never bored reading all the 275 pages of it. And I liked Angela's character because she does not get off-guard and she is doing this in a serious way and she only does this adventure because of her parents, if nothing happened this book would be 10 pages.

[Scoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Grave Robber’s Apprentice was a fabulous mid-grade fairytale adventure. It had princesses, evil magicians, traveling performers and an unlikely hero. The pace of the story was great – it never dragged and had a lot of action while still managing to develop emotion and show character depth. It was clearly written and easy to read; I never found myself tripping over the story. The plot was interesting and had themes of family, love and true bravery - along with a lot of fun adventure. Hans and Angela were both great characters and you quickly became attached to each of them. A few well placed clues lead me to figuring out the ‘big twist’ early on, but it didn’t deter at all from my enjoyment of the book. The story wasn’t all soft and fluffy; there were some definitely creepy parts with haunting deaths and disturbing ‘weevils’. I enjoyed the fact that this was a fairytale without magic, but the tale was still magical. And for the hopelessly-romantic like me, there was even a wink of romance enfolded in the tale. Although the author wrapped up the story nicely, I would not mind reentering the world of Hans and Angela again. Be sure to add The Grave Robber’s Apprentice to your wish list!

[Andrew Canfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel falls somewhere between two and three in the star category, failing to achieve anything great while barely passing the muster of minimal expectations.

The Moses-like beginning to the story-where the protagonist washes up as a baby and is found by the grave robber Knobbe-is far from the tale's sole unoriginal aspect. From the young boy (Hans) falling in love (and vice versa) with the daughter of more distinguished family (Angela), to said girl being longed for by a vainglorious, powerful ruler of a kingdom (the twisted archduke), the Grave Robber's Apprentice abounds in cliches inherent in its genre.

Sadly, Stratton rarely reaches for anything beyond these lazy cliches, putting together a book with paper thin character development and a bare minimum of self-reflectiveness in its universe's inhabitants. There are some harrowing scenes of narrow escape (including one of a girl being buried alive that will make readers cling to their seats) but the overall product did not even approach the story line's potential.

-Andrew Canfield Denver, Co.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book because my tutor girl has a book report on it and has no idea what it was about. Reading this book as an adult, I didn't mind it. However, I understand now why my tutor girl understood nothing. It is very difficult in terms of comprehension. There is much disgusting blood, guts, violence and gore. There are so many allusions to Shakespeare that a younger student would NEVER understand. Admittedly, I probably missed a few. The language is not easy to understand. Again, I enjoyed it to a certain degree. However, my fourth grader was obviously overwhelmed by this book.

Added note: I feel that the info, language, and plot line were advanced; whereas the characters were flat and boring. Weird combination.

[Jaye Latts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read such a great book in a long time! It is so good, I didn't want to read it because it would end! The writing is superb, and with excellent pacing. The characters and the action grab our interest and carry us along an amazing storyline. I can't wait to recommend this book to many of our library's patrons. They're often surprised that I read books in the "juvenile" section, but this is storytelling of a superior nature.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grave robbers apperentice was a good book for many reasons. One reason was because it was very action packed. Another reason is that it grabs your attention right off the bat! My favourite chracter was hans because he ends up saving his papa in the end and i think he was very brave!I would suggest this book for kids and adults who like action!

[Daniel Legault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun. Terrific adventure fantasy (scary, funny) with characters you can care about.

[Erin Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a happy accident for me. I want a sequel so badly I can't stand it.

[Mael Brigde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a strange book for me to review. I listened to the audiobook and it was brilliantly read by Penelope Rawlins. I listened to it in two days, in between other things that required greater attention, and I enjoyed it very much. From that kind of a quick go-through, it read flawlessly, except for certain old tropes that irked me as a child and that I am surprised to find intact in a novel written so recently.

SPOILERS:

Throughout most of the book it feels as though the main character is the young countess, even though we do switch back and forth between her POV and that of the grave robber’s apprentice. Even though the book is *named* after him, it still feels like it’s her story. And, being written in a time when girls are meant to be more important players in their own novels, the countess is very intelligent and active and bossy. Her quick thinking and skills in acting get them out of many scrapes. Nevertheless, there are comments throughout the book that depict her or females in general or the relationship of males to females in a stereotypical way that no longer should have a place in our novels or in our lives, and in the end, the boy and his powerful father rescue the girl and her parents. Despite all her cleverness and courage, like heroines of old, she still needed him to rescue her. Admittedly, everyone in the good guy camp contributed to the successful rescue of her parents and the dethroning and murder of the bad Archduke and his evil ally, but it was the boy and his dad who pulled it all together. Even the relationship between the countess and the apprentice, which starts off seeming radical because of the difference between their classes, turns out to be between two nobles, after all. He just didn’t know that he was the son of the real Archduke. So, in the end we are restored to the proper balance of unquestioned hierarchy, but with a good guy at the head instead of a bad guy.

I don’t even like hearing myself say these words because it annoys me to be giving attention to themes that were not intended to be important in the book and I don’t like to pick at the books like this. But I feel the need to say something. In a world where we are learning to change so many assumptions, we have to look at even these little, supposedly unimportant things and ask ourselves, collectively, what is the impression they are giving, and is this the impression we want to give?

[Carson Eggers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dystopia that I read was called The Grave Robber’s Apprentice by Allan Stratton is a wonderful story filled with adventures, enemies, and saving the Kingdom of Waldberg. When the main character Han, was only a couple weeks old, his mother decided that he didn’t want him anymore. She later put him in a basket and sent him down a river. One night, while the grave robber was robbing graves for anything he could find especially stuff like gold, money, jewelry, or valuable belongings, he heard a small cry of what he figured ws an infant. He followed the cries of the infant until it brought him to a small river close to him. He finally found the baby, picked him up, and held the young child in his dirty, old, hands. At first, the grave robber definitely did not want the baby. But then suddenly something crossed his mind. He thought that If he raised the boy as his own and fed and took care of him, he could train the young boy as an apprentice to rob graves since he wouldn’t be able to do it anymore as he got older. That’s exactly what he has taught the young lad to believing and even lied to Hans that he was his biological father. The two get in a fight when Hans is about 15. Hans wants to do more things on his own and just be more independent. Finally, Hans is fed up with the grave robber’s behavior and decides to run away for awhile. On the other hand in the kingdom, there is a young girl, Han’s age named Angela who is also struggling with (parent) issues. Angela’s parents (the king and queen) are being held captive by Angela’s horrible uncle, the archduke. The archduke is doing this because he wants the throne all to himself. Angela and Hans go on a daring adventure together to find out who they are, what they are willing to do for each other and their loved ones, and most importantly, take down the archduke who is teaming up with the scary and mysterious Necromancer demon.

[Pamela Hatch · Rating 3 out of 5]

SUMMARY: Hans is a foundling washed up on the beach and adopted and raised by a grave robber a job he does not look forward to. By chance he meets Countess Angela Gabriela, nearly thirteen, on the run from an evil archduke interested in her families wealth and plans to get it through marrying her. A deal with the sly necromancer goes wrong leaving Angela buried alive, her parents in an insane asylum, and the evil archduke loose upon the world. What will it take for them to form an alliance, develop a plan, and foil the archduke's plan -- a traveling circus with dancing bears, and a warrior hermit.

COMMENTS: I like unusual stories, but this one was very dark in nature. I almost stopped reading, but the way the author used words and developed his characters kept me wanting to go on. The most creative of the characters turned out to be the Necromancer. "The Necromancer floated into view, feeling his way with a long wooden staff. A wraithlike creature, hairless and pale, his willowy frame was draped in a dirty velvet shroud. His ears were withered; his nose and lips rotted. He had no teeth; no eyes. His sockets were empty caverns rippling with shadows from the lamplight." (p59) And depending on the occasion he places items in his eye sockets: a gold coin, lumps of coal, or glass doorknobs. A satisfying ending, but lots of murder, blood, terror, and torture to get there. For Mature Readers.

[brii | brii · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book to my eight year old daughter, and I can't lie. Neither of us loved it. Neither of us was excited about it. Neither of us cared if we had to skip a night because we had activities to do.

I'll throw my daughter's thoughts here and then insert mine at the bottom.

• Angela is really annoying
• The necromancer is gross and creepy
• What's going on?
• Pete the hermit and hans! Yay!
• I really didn't think that was a good ending

Angela was a handful, but I think that's to be expected from a young girl her age who's raised as a countess. Hans was great. This story was entirely predictable from page one. As someone who is older than 8, I saw the entire book flash before my eyes. Mostly. I was still surprised by some of the things the Necromancer did. That dude was creepy asf, my daughter hit that nail right on the head.

I found the writing to be entirely excessive, especially for a kids' book. My daughter got so bored in some of the descriptions (that just went on and on) that she completely zoned out. There were also entire sections of the book that were just there as filler and served no purpose.

When we finished the book, the first thing my daughter said was “I didn't like that book”. So those are her official stars. ☆

I'm going to go a bit higher, because I enjoyed the Circus friends. Also, because Angela attempted a Romeo and Juliet, and I thought that was fun. ☆☆

[Gypsy Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this seemed pitched at children, I often wondered if it was perhaps too gross and violent for the audience age. It does have grave robbing aplenty, and a deliciously evil duke and necromancer and plenty of adventure with a plucky heroine and reluctant hero. And I did love the Shakespearean touches (Angela was quite like Viola in Twelfth Night, disguising herself as a man before embarking on her quest), and there were touches of MacBeth with the prophecy of the forest coming to Dunsanane, and of course Juliet faking her death. For the most part, I thought the story was a fun romp. The only points where I thought it got tedious were that the villains were so moustache twirling evil and were rather one-dimensional in their personalities, and toward the end there were so many theatrical reveals of characters suddenly turning out to be something else, I totally lost count of how many reveals there were. Admittedly, I was more than a little grossed out by the Necromancer, not to mention felt a bit gipped since he never actually conversed with the dead, it was like the author just pulled out a creepy title for the character and went with it mainly because it gave the character a reason to live in the same graveyard as the grave robber.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This book was not terrible but also not very good. It was OK, rounding up to two stars.

The plot line of the story was not bad, but also very rushed. It seemed like Stratton was throwing in every idea he had without ever stopping to do much with any of them.

Similarly, the characters seemed really superficial and underdeveloped. The cliched stereotypes were also having me question SERIOUSLY?!? more than a few times along the way. Cliched stereotypes a là blond-haired-blue-eyed heroine and a là physically disfigured/disabled bad guys (one missing eyes and being blind and the other having no hands - yes, for the latter it was self-inflicted but still). And, of course, he makes a point of letting us know that the good guys are all also Christians [eye rolling now]. Plus if Angela said 'but I am a girl' one more time, I was ready to throw the book through the window, which I only refrained from doing because I was reading on my Kobo e-reader.

I have the sense that including the Shakespearean elements was supposed to be clever, but I just found it annoying. I also found the whole Christian elements annoying, but only partly because it is inherently annoying. Mostly, because while Stratton was careful to include 'here are good Christian people (see stereotypes above) he also, somewhat hypocritically then has these so-called 'good Christian people' believe in a fair amount ideas that are often frowned upon by those who make a point of letting everyone know that they are 'good Christians' (e.g. omens, reading of signs, etc.).

This book was frustrating on the one hand because Stratton seemed to be trying too hard to be clever and funny (and often falling flat), while on the other hand he seemed to put too little effort into developing his plot and characters.

I will not avoid other work by this author. But, I also would never make a point of looking up more books by him either.

p.s. seriously?!? ending a children's book with one person melting in lime and another being dissected alive? Yes, they were the bad guys, but seriously?!?

p.p.s. seriously?!? A Canadian author with a book set in Europe but still using American spellings? That was really grating.

[Shadow · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story that was written by Allan Stratton was magical, it kind of reminds me of the book inkheart, the author of inkheart made the story come true by using the right words and weaving them so that they will suck you into the story. The author has a very unique way of connecting the reader to the characters, he weaves the words so that they magically bring the story to life, a very fine book with lots of detail explaining things unlike other books, the ending is pretty obvious even from the start of the book, a really similar story to other fairy tales but this one has some twists that would not appear in other fairy tales, a very unique one indeed.

[Rayna Jessen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book at a library book sale just thinking this was going to be another middle school reading book that didn’t really have much to it. Boy was I wrong. There were multiple times that I was genuinely surprised that there was as much depth as there was. The theme is very Shakespearean (it’s highly influenced by Shakespeare plays) in the sense that it’s quite violent but so intriguing at the same time (And violent in the sense that there’s no real gore, but the situations get quite scary).
It was a really easy read. If my time had allowed, I probably could have finished this in one go.

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 2 out of 5]

After Angela is freed from the coffin where she faked her death by the son of a grave robber, Hans, the duo join forces with travellers across the land in order to stop the terrible reign of an evil Archduke and the Necromancer working for him before the men can end their lives - learning of life changing secrets along the way. Though brisk with rushed character development and darkly gory descriptions, Stratton will have avid fans of dark fantasy pleased with this quick romp. Hans and Angela may have just met, but their decisions as a team will change the fate of their home forever.

[Evonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness what a frolicking read! Splendid adventures for brave and heroic underdogs; impressive villany by devilish tyrants; and a lively, colourful supportive cast. Best afternoon of reading in a long time!

References to Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and the Holy Bible dash boldy and without apology throughout the story for those who can catch them.

Thoroughly enjoyable and recommended to all!

[Bérénice]

Pros : fast-paced, gruesome and fun
Cons : many major plot points are way too convenient and quite annoying to read as an adult reader (i.e "we need *this* to get out of this situation" - 2 seconds later *this* happens out of the blue) ; very trope-y and predictable. I do not think I would recommend it to anyone older than 11 or 12 maximum (while a lot of middle-grade books are smart enough to suit all ages).

[Bike · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a total kick! This books is enchanting and reminds me a little of The Princess Bride. It deserves way more than an average of 3.75 stars! It’s adorable and clever and adventurous with twists and turns galore. I picked it up because a student checks it out every year. He says it’s his favorite book so I thought I’d give it a read and I’m glad I did. Great cheer and good fun with plenty of substance.

[Erica Beckman · Rating 3 out of 5]

While reading this book I thought that the characters and parts of the story line where extremely unique and I really enjoyed the overall creativity of the book. But to me it felt rushed and it could have had more character development seen as a really did not feel a deep connection to the vast majority of the characters in the book. I still think it is an OK book and is one I would recommend to someone looking for a quick book to read.