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juushikaTitle: Lamplighter (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book Two)
Author and Illustrator: D.M. Cornish
Published: New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 717
Total Page Count: 58,692
Text Number: 168
Read For: continuing the series, checked out from the library
Short review: Following his adventures in Foundling, Rossamünd is now a lamplighter apprentice, accompanying his fellow Prentices and a new arrival, a haughty young woman, as they learn the tools of their new trade. But all is not well: the number of monster attacks is on the rise, and Rossamünd begins to suspect some nefarious scheming within Wintermill, home of the lamplighters. Unlike Foundling, this book does follow a quest or journey, and the plot is weaker for the lack of direction. A darker, grittier sequel, peopled by vivid characters (many wonderfully complex, but a few simplistically evil), and foreshadowing changes and revelations to come—Lamplighter suffers a bit from middle book syndrome, but it remains an engrossing and enjoyable read. I look forward to the final book, and I recommend both the series and this installment.
As a sequel, Lamplighter is in many ways similar to Foundling, and fans of the first book will have a similar experience with the second. The Half-Continent remains the same vast and intricate setting, although Cornish forgos a bit of world-building for plot-building, a welcome change. The wonderful ambiguity of the first book—where the divide between humans and monsters is not as clear as it once seemed—carries through and expands into a foundational aspect of the story. Unfortunately, this sequel has a different sort of plot: in Foundling, Rossamünd set out to begin his career but his journey was waylaid; it had known end point, and so his journey had purpose and direction. Lamplighter, on the other hand, is open-ended, and without a known ending the plot seems to go nowhere. Compounded by the length—600 pages given to the story, the other 100 to the appendix—the book feels unfocused and overlong.
Nonetheless, Lamplighter is a fun read. The reader may not know where the story is headed, but each step forward is engaging. This is a much darker and more violent sequel, but the violence serves a purpose and death is treated with solemn respect. Even with less world-building, the Half-Continent remains intricately imagined and detailed. The large cast of characters are vivid, each faulted, ambigious, and likable in turn, many brought to life by Cornish's illustrations. (Human villains, on the other hand, are a frustrating, unrealistic sort of evil for the sake of evil, and their presence drags on the rest of the book.) Best of all is Rossamünd—young and foolish, goodwilled and clever, he is a likable, admirable protagonist and his journey and growth is a joy to read. Lamplighter builds on the series's ambigious separation between good and bad, human and monster, to foreshadow a great revelation for Rossamünd; older readers may find it predictable by the time it arrives, but this revelation makes for a strong conclusion and creates a bold beginning to the final book in the trilogy.
Monster Blood Tattoo is not the best children's/young adult fantasy series, but with a magical world as detailed as our own, colorful characters who stand slightly larger than life, and an ambigious nature that challenges both character and reader preconceptions, the series so far is imaginative, enjoyable, and well worth picking up. Without the strong opening of an introduction or the strong conclusion of a finale, Lamplighter suffers a bit as the middle book in a trilogy, but it holds reader interest and builds up to a huge revelation which sets the stage for the final book. I look forward to that conclusion, and I recommend this series. Lamplighter doesn't stand alone, so begin with Foundling and introduce yourself to the complex, marvelous, threatening world of Monster Blood Tattoo.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
See also: Book review for Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book One).
Author and Illustrator: D.M. Cornish
Published: New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 717
Total Page Count: 58,692
Text Number: 168
Read For: continuing the series, checked out from the library
Short review: Following his adventures in Foundling, Rossamünd is now a lamplighter apprentice, accompanying his fellow Prentices and a new arrival, a haughty young woman, as they learn the tools of their new trade. But all is not well: the number of monster attacks is on the rise, and Rossamünd begins to suspect some nefarious scheming within Wintermill, home of the lamplighters. Unlike Foundling, this book does follow a quest or journey, and the plot is weaker for the lack of direction. A darker, grittier sequel, peopled by vivid characters (many wonderfully complex, but a few simplistically evil), and foreshadowing changes and revelations to come—Lamplighter suffers a bit from middle book syndrome, but it remains an engrossing and enjoyable read. I look forward to the final book, and I recommend both the series and this installment.
As a sequel, Lamplighter is in many ways similar to Foundling, and fans of the first book will have a similar experience with the second. The Half-Continent remains the same vast and intricate setting, although Cornish forgos a bit of world-building for plot-building, a welcome change. The wonderful ambiguity of the first book—where the divide between humans and monsters is not as clear as it once seemed—carries through and expands into a foundational aspect of the story. Unfortunately, this sequel has a different sort of plot: in Foundling, Rossamünd set out to begin his career but his journey was waylaid; it had known end point, and so his journey had purpose and direction. Lamplighter, on the other hand, is open-ended, and without a known ending the plot seems to go nowhere. Compounded by the length—600 pages given to the story, the other 100 to the appendix—the book feels unfocused and overlong.
Nonetheless, Lamplighter is a fun read. The reader may not know where the story is headed, but each step forward is engaging. This is a much darker and more violent sequel, but the violence serves a purpose and death is treated with solemn respect. Even with less world-building, the Half-Continent remains intricately imagined and detailed. The large cast of characters are vivid, each faulted, ambigious, and likable in turn, many brought to life by Cornish's illustrations. (Human villains, on the other hand, are a frustrating, unrealistic sort of evil for the sake of evil, and their presence drags on the rest of the book.) Best of all is Rossamünd—young and foolish, goodwilled and clever, he is a likable, admirable protagonist and his journey and growth is a joy to read. Lamplighter builds on the series's ambigious separation between good and bad, human and monster, to foreshadow a great revelation for Rossamünd; older readers may find it predictable by the time it arrives, but this revelation makes for a strong conclusion and creates a bold beginning to the final book in the trilogy.
Monster Blood Tattoo is not the best children's/young adult fantasy series, but with a magical world as detailed as our own, colorful characters who stand slightly larger than life, and an ambigious nature that challenges both character and reader preconceptions, the series so far is imaginative, enjoyable, and well worth picking up. Without the strong opening of an introduction or the strong conclusion of a finale, Lamplighter suffers a bit as the middle book in a trilogy, but it holds reader interest and builds up to a huge revelation which sets the stage for the final book. I look forward to that conclusion, and I recommend this series. Lamplighter doesn't stand alone, so begin with Foundling and introduce yourself to the complex, marvelous, threatening world of Monster Blood Tattoo.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
See also: Book review for Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book One).
