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Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Bunce, E. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Sixteen-year-old Digger thrives as a spy and sneak-thief among the feuding religious factions of Llyvraneth, dodging the Green men who have banned all magic from the city. But when a routine job goes horribly wrong and her partner and lover tegan is killed, she has to get out of the land, fast, and hides herself in a merry group of nobles to do so. Accepted as a lady's maid to shy young Merista Nemair, Digger finds new peace and friendship at the Nemair stronghold-as well as plenty of jewels for the taking. But after the devious Remy Daul catches her in the act of thievery, he blackmails her into becoming his personal spy in the castle, and Digger soon realizes her noble hosts aren't as apolitical as she thought... that indeed, she may be at the heart of a magical rebellion.
Brilliantly combining the richness of fantasy with the twists and turns of the besy spy stories, StarCrossed proves Elizabeth C. Bunce is a writer who's here to stay.
Author Notes
Elizabeth C. Bunce won the William C. Morris YA YA debut award and an ALA Notable citation for her novel A Curse Dark as Gold. She lives near Kansas City, Missouri.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-Though slow to start, this fantasy quickly gains momentum and clarity. Hiding a bloodied packet of letters after their theft turned deadly for her partner-in-crime, a 16-year-old girl attempts to evade the king's soldiers and flee Gerse. When a quartet of "nobs," nobility-class young people, invites her aboard their river boat, she grabs the opportunity. An experienced liar and thief, Digger takes on the guise of Celyn, a girl escaping her brother's ploy to send her to convent school. She is soon drafted as companion to Merista Nemair and accompanies the group to the Nemairs' remote castle. Merista's parents are returning from diplomatic exile following their involvement with Sarists, the losing opposition in a recent war and worshippers of the outlawed goddess of magic. The family hunkers down in the winter-locked mountains to prepare for Meri's coming-out celebration. Trapped in her role as Celyn, Digger is blackmailed into spying for a villain named Daul, a supposed family friend who is actually seeking evidence of treachery and the illegal use of magic among the Nemair. A mysterious wounded man hidden beneath the stillroom, the dangerous glimmers of magic that Digger sees around Meri, and her own growing affection for the people who may be planning a rebellion complicate matters considerably. If readers forgive the difficulties the plot has in taking off, they will be rewarded with a complex and satisfying adventure story and will look forward to its sequel.-Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
On the lam after a failed theft, 16-year-old runaway Celyn bluffs her way out of the city with four young nobles. She finds refuge as maid to one of them, Lady Merista, in a snowbound mountain castle. When Lord Daul discovers Celyn's thieving tendencies, he forces her to spy for him. Delving even deeper into the castle's secrets than she reveals to Daul, Celyn's eyes are opened to the myriad secrets and schemes of its many guests and occupants. In choosing her path, she confronts her own past, uncovers a rebellion that could lead to civil war, befriends a prince, contemplates religious persecution, and faces betrayal. She also encounters long-forgotten magic and comes to understand the mystical aptitude that ruined her life and set her on her path of crime. Couching her characters and setting in top-notch writing, Bunce (A Curse as Dark as Gold) hooks readers into an intelligent page-turner with strong themes of growth, determination, and friendship. Celyn's journey will leave readers asking for more, especially as the first-rate story neatly sets up a sequel. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
This captivating yarn set in a romantic, snowbound fortress takes place in a pseudo-Renaissance period, ornamented with Dutch, English, German, and Spanish flourishes, with nods to Shakespeare, Tamora Pierce, and Robin McKinley. Escaping from the murderous police after a botched robbery, Digger disguises herself in an elegant gown and is rescued by a boatload of young nobles. Identifying herself as Celyn, daughter of a respectable jeweler, she's taken on as lady's maid to Merista Nemair, whose parents establish Celyn in their home. But as friends gather to celebrate Merista's coming-of-age party, Celyn's past as a thief catches up with her. She's blackmailed into spying on the family, and soon realizes that they're not only users of magic and science, which is illegal, but that they're planning an uprising against the oppressive ruling monarch. A mixture of bunkum ("Silence, wretch!...You presume to question...? Begone before we...") and more vivifying prose -- including the highly quotable "nobody likes a whiny prince" -- this is satisfyingly stuffed with plots and subplots, towers and hidden chambers, genteel pastimes and death-defying feats. Celyn is a strong, imaginative heroine -- more than the generic "feisty girl," and the rest of the female cast also show noteworthy fortitude and inventiveness. An entertaining lark. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
An adolescent thief threads a treacherous labyrinth of politics and sorcery in this fine series opener. Digger knows the rulesStay Alive, Don't Get Caught, Don't Get Involvedbut they're tricky to follow when a job gone sour lands her with a dead partner, brutal Greenmen on her trail and a cushy hideout as an aristocratic lady's maid. Blackmailed into spying on her kindly employers, she's soon juggling a dizzying tangle of plots, betrayals and lies, desperate to preserve the most dangerous secret of all...her own. The narrative plunges immediately into action with a daunting barrage of arcane names, places and concepts, but determined readers are rewarded with an enthralling yarn of magical intrigue, all in Digger's irresistible voiceclever, cynical, cocky, with an undercurrent of aching loneliness. Given that everyone in one faction is warm, generous and wise and their opponents uniformly vicious, spiteful and cruel, it's not hard to guess which way Digger will jump; it's downright impossible not to follow wherever her quick tongue, nimble fingers and itchy feet will carry her next. (Fantasy. YA)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Bunce's William C. Morris YA Debut Award winner, A Curse Dark as Gold (2008), was a fictional retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, and in her second novel, she moves from fairy tales into classical, high-fantasy traditions. In the pulse-pounding start, Digger, a teenage orphaned thief, is on the run after a botched job ends in a violent ambush. Desperate lies help her escape with some young aristocrats, who take her to their remote mountain estate. While posing as Celyn, a ladies' maid, Digger meets a visiting lord who blackmails her into uncovering dangerous political secrets that implicate everyone. A glossary of people and places is appended, but readers may still struggle to track the densely woven particulars of the story's intricate world. Bunce combines irresistible elements, though: a snowbound castle outfitted with trapdoors and tunnels; herbal lore and rare, forbidden magic; crackling banter and poetic description; and memorably nuanced characters, especially lock-picking, bold Digger, whose search for clues leads to a larger understanding of history, politics, friends, and families that teens will connect to their own lives.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2010 Booklist