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Poison
Chris Wooding Scholastic, Inc. © 2005 |
Poison, a
young girl who's lived in the Black Marshes in the village of Gull all her
life, wants to leave to find her younger sister, Azalea, who was kidnapped
on Soulswatch Eve by the Scarecrow of the Land of Phaeries. In her
place was a changeling. In order to get her sister back, her stepmother,
Snapdragon, and her father, Hew, would have to take care of the changeling as if
it were their own daughter, but it wouldn't be an easy task.
Soulswatch Eve is an event when the marshwraiths come
out. A wraith-catcher comes to town every year to collect them from the
cages and sells to the wealthy in other towns and cities. Our particular
wraith-catcher's name is Bram. He always leaves after he's done collecting the
marshwraiths, which are little orb-like objects that swirl around. He'll be the
person who takes Poison to the town that Fleet, a traveler who's originally from
Gull, told her to go to. Once there, Poison must find a man by the name of
Lamprey.
Lamprey tells her that she must go to the
House of the Bone Witch in order to cross over to the Phaerie World and to see
the Hierophant, the creator of everything. However, it's extremely dangerous in
there. The witch is blind and deaf, but she can smell. Her two giant dogs are
her sight and ears, but they can't smell. After a little while in the house, she
meets Anderson, who's a cat, and Peppercorn, and girl not much older than she
is. The three of them and Bram leave the house after a long day and enter the
foreign world of the phaerie.
Will Poison be able to find the Hierophant
and rescue her sister before the Phaerie Lord kills her?
I thought this was a well written novel
that kept me guessing. I was always trying to figure out what was going to
happen next. Would Poison make it out of the Bone Witch's house? Would she find
her sister? Had she met her sister on her journey? Would she ever make if home?
I think Artemis Fowl fans would love this book. I also think anyone
between 13 and 17 would enjoy traveling with Poison to find her sister.
~ Kayla Aldan, 10th grade, Boardman High School