Bound To Stay Bound

View MARC Record
 

Full Text Reviews:

School Library Journal - 05/01/2015 Gr 4–7—From the first chapter, Trevayne will have readers intrigued. On the eve of Thomas Marsden's 12th birthday, he and his father are out after dark looking for graves to rob. It's 19th-century London, and grave robbing is how Thomas and his father keep food on the table and the tallow candles burning. Thomas has developed a knack for "finding the bones": the sense of knowing which grave might hold the plunder they can sell in order to fill their bellies and put coal in the home fire. On this night, the first grave's yield is two silver coins. The second grave is fresh, and there is no coffin, just a body, one that is identical to Thomas, even down to the blemish on his cheek. There are also faeries living in London, trapped in the basement of a grand home belonging to a spiritualist named Mordecai. These faeries were brought to London against their will by Mordecai and able to speak for the dead, making him rich and famous. Even the queen has come to him in order to speak to her dead husband. The faeries are entrapped by evil magic and the iron that hurts and weakens them. The oldest of them, Deadnettle, has a plan to help them escape back to their world. The key is Thomas Marsden. Finding the grave of his "twin" leads Thomas to the faeries and to his destiny. Full of mystery and suspense, this fantasy adventure presents a likable main character, an eye into historical London, and an opportunity to recognize that sometimes it is our very ordinariness that makes us special. VERDICT A first purchase.—Kathy Kirchoefer, Henderson County Public Library, NC - Copyright 2015 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 05/15/2015 Eleven-year-old Thomas and his father are grave robbers in Victorian England. It’s unpleasant work, but in difficult times, it’s also the only way they can put food on the table. One evening, Thomas opens a grave and discovers a body that’s not resting in a coffin. Much more startling, the body bears an eerie resemblance to Thomas himself. Thus begins a mystery that leads him out of the graveyard and into the parlors of the spiritualists of London, as he embarks on a quest to discover the young boy’s identity. Along the way, Thomas discovers something surprising about his own identity and meets a spiritualist who seems to be channeling directly from the other realm. What is his secret, and what does it have to do with Thomas? Fairies, fakers, and family all play important roles in a story that effortlessly combines magic and reality. Readers of Neil Gaiman’s Holly Black’s Tithe (2002) and The Graveyard Book (2008) will willingly suspend their disbelief. - Copyright 2015 Booklist.

Bulletin for the Center... - 09/01/2015 The Spiritualism movement is sweeping across England, and a man named Mordecai brings people in droves to his shows as he successfully communicates with the dead. Unbeknownst to his audience, however, caged faeries are trapped below Mordecai’s stage and forced to open the door between the living and the dead so Mordecai can continue to make money. Meanwhile, twelve-year-old Thomas has spent much of his life digging graves with his father-until they find a burial site that contains a dead boy who looks exactly like Thomas, even down to the small birthmark on his face. Discovered to be a changeling, Thomas is drawn into the efforts of Deadnettle, an elder faerie, to release his kind from Mordecai’s enchantment and return them to their beloved homeland. Rich historical details combine with faerie legend to create an engrossing atmosphere-creepy, ugly, but compelling nonetheless. Mordecai is a villain of the mustache-twirling variety and he plays it well, managing to be both menacing and a bit of a buffoon. The focalization shifts between Thomas and Deadnettle, giving readers a broader view of what exactly is at stake as more and more faeries die under Mordecai’s abuse. Thomas makes an interesting hero, especially in his initial decision to just walk away from the whole thing and in his resentment toward a people he believes willingly gave him up to the human world. Readers who’re looking for a quieter but still creepy alternative to the boldness of Colfer’s Artemis Fowl (BCCB 7/01) will appreciate this historical fantasy. KQG - Copyright 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

View MARC Record
Loading...



  • Copyright © Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. All rights reserved.
  • Privacy Policy