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The Dark Flight Down Marcus Segwick Random House Children's Books © 2005 |
Surely you won't run,
When your boat is ready to
sail.
Surely you will stand
And face the gentle rain?
In the morning you should
think
You might not last unto the
night,
In the evening you should
think
You might not last unto
morn.
Boy
now had a new master, Kepler, and he hated his new life. Life without Willow
was impossible, impractical, ridiculous. It was snowing heavily in City, and
Boy found it calming to watch, but was soon interrupted to go to his old
directors funeral. After the burial, and the mourning, everyone went to a bar,
and talked. Boy was able to steal some time with Willow because Kepler was
tipsy and didn't notice. They devised a plan, Boy was to leave Kepler the next
day with the book, and they would run away and live together. Of coarse Kepler
had other things in mind, he sent Boy back to his old house to retrieve a
lens. The house had been abandoned ever since the death of his old master,
Valerian. While inside the house he was caught by the Imperial Guard and was
taken to the palace, where the emperor, Fredrick, lived. Inside the palace,
Bot smelled a familiar scent, one that had been haunting him in his dreams,
the smell of blood. He was locked in the dungeon and sometimes was visited by
the emperor's advisor, Maxim.
When Boy never met Willow and she began
to worry, she went straight to Kepler's house. After staying one night,
they set off to the palace. Now Boy was Maxim's advisor, but he was in
terrible danger, if he made one mistake, he took the dark flight down to the
end of his life. Willow and Kepler were now the emperor's magicians. Life was
peaceful for a while, until Maxim claimed he had the book and could make the
emperor immortal. Fear broke out among the court when the phantom of the dark
flight down was released into the light of the above world.
I immensely enjoyed this book, although
I did not really understand what was going on because I had never read the
first book, The Book of Dead Days. I would recommend this book for
middle school students.
So dance, my dears,
dance,
Before you take the dark
flight down.
~ Ashley Aldan, grade 7, Boardman Center Middle
School