From the Bookshelf of Oly Reads…

Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, #1)

D.M. Cornish

Why we're reading this: Recommended by Rachel
[close] Recommended by Rachel

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jul 09, 2010 Rachel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-fiction, book-talk

Rosamund is a foundling, or in other words, an orphan. When you are dropped off on the orphanage’s doorstep as a baby with nothing but a blanket and a girl’s name pinned to it, you grow up with two rules. Rule Number One: You can stay at the orphanage as long as you are a child. Rule number two: when you turn thirteen childhood is over, it’s time to enter the wide world and get a job. Rosamund would like to be a sailor.
However, fate has other ideas in store for him. He is offered the position as Rosamund is a foundling, or in other words, an orphan. When you are dropped off on the orphanage’s doorstep as a baby with nothing but a blanket and a girl’s name pinned to it, you grow up with two rules. Rule Number One: You can stay at the orphanage as long as you are a child. Rule number two: when you turn thirteen childhood is over, it’s time to enter the wide world and get a job. Rosamund would like to be a sailor.
However, fate has other ideas in store for him. He is offered the position as a lamplighter. Lighting Lamps for the rest of your life? It sounds boring, but far from it. The life of a lamplighter is rigorous- a life of the open road, science, darkness and monsters. Did I forget to mention the monsters? Because the half continent is full of them. They lurk in the depths of the acidic sea, crawl through the slimy moors and jealously guard dark forests.
Welcome to the half-continent, where this book takes place. It is a world as dangerous and strange as it is beautiful. There are many similarities in this world to the one we live in, for instance: They have an ocean, just like we do, only instead of saltwater, theirs is made of vinegar. They have cities, but unlike ours, theirs are surrounded by trenches and battlements, catapults and cannons. In the half continent, there are no suburbs or quiet neighborhoods, like here in Washington. In Lacey we live wherever we want to- all spread out in flimsy wood houses without proper protection like explosives or poison gas to keep us safe. But in the half continent, only great cities and mighty fortresses can stand guard against a land inhabited by monsters- and it’s everyone’s duty to help keep them at bay. The people who live in the half continent, like Rosamund, grow up and get jobs, exactly like we do. For instance, in this other world if you study hard, one day you could grow up to be a surgeon, although the people who come out of your surgery often come away with body parts they didn’t come in with and these body parts aren’t always human. Or you could join the army- although as a soldier in the half continent you don’t fight other soldiers, the things you do battle with are much larger and darker and stronger than you are.
But Rosamund is going to be a lamplighter, and he must leave the safety of orphanage and travel across the country to begin his new life. More than anything, he fears the dark creatures lurking out in the real world, but he soon comes to discover that the worst monsters, aren’t the beasts from his nightmares at all. Some of the most dangerous monsters he meets are human.
...more

Like · see review

Jun 10, 2009 Stellabella rated it liked it

Dec 23, 2010 Sara marked it as to-read

Nov 03, 2011 Scott rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, steampunk

Group Home Bookshelf Discussions

Photos Videos

Send invite Members Polls