Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | YA Fic Tomlinson, H. 2008 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Once upon a time, three children and a little river dragon were the best of friends--until a promise was broken. Now they are almost grown up and barely speaking to one another. Of the four, it is Princess Aurelie who feels the loss the most. How can she prevent a war when she can't even make her friends get along? Heartsick at losing her dearest companions, Aurelie finds comfort in the beauty of fairyland. But a princess can't hide from her duties forever. Her country needs her, and so do her friends, whether they know it or not. Aurelie is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Author Notes
HEATHER TOMLINSON has taught English in Paris and French in the United States. She lives on a houseboat in and around Southern California with her engineer husband and their three cats.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7-9-In an old world where the lives of humans and Fae often intersect, the coming-of-age tale of Princess Aurelie and her friends of both species unfolds. Gifted as children by their young river drac friend, Loic, humans Aurelie, Garin, and Netta have grown up and gone their separate ways, no longer engaging with the Fae. As often happens in the move beyond childhood, the world becomes more complicated and difficult choices must be made. Aurelie is to inherit her father's kingdom and, as the heir apparent, must travel to a rival country-Skoe-in order to prevent war. Netta, cruelly blinded for revealing the sight, hides herself from her old friends. Garin is deeply enmeshed in a struggle for power in his own country of Skoe. Loic has also grown and realizes that the time has come to take a bride. He longs for the hidden Netta, but will settle for Aurelie. With little help from the adults in their lives, these fascinating young people (and one river drac) must find ways to overcome not only their own problems, but also the troubles brought about by greed and distrust. Political intrigue, star-crossed lovers, and the intermingling of two distinct worlds make for an exciting and intricate tale. The many characters and situations are fully realized and spellbound readers will be hoping for a sequel.-Sharon Grover, Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, WI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
(Middle School) Jocondagne is a land beset by mischievous Fae, from pixie-ish lutins to more dangerous river drac. Three children -- Princess Aurelie, fosterling Garin, and seamstress's daughter Netta -- are friends with Loic, a young drac who gives them the power to see the immortal creatures in their midst, a secret they keep for years. Then Netta is blinded by a vengeful Fae, and the friendship dissolves: Garin returns to his native Skoe amid preparations for war; Princess Aurelie to her duties in the Jocondagne capital; Netta to her uncle's farm; and Loic, hurt by the others' unexplained abandonment, to the land of the Fae. As part of a peace envoy to Skoe, Aurelie searches for Garin, whom she loves; later Loic reappears and courts Aurelie, a painful situation for Netta, herself in love with the drac. Tomlinson has given her novel an uncommon structure: the peace envoy plot has its own narrative arc that ends before the second half; likewise, the romantic misadventures resolve themselves separately from the main thrust of the action. The result is a successful, mildly disorienting fantasy in which readers' expectations are upended -- particularly well suited to a tale on the borderland of human and Fae.From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Princess Aurelie and her two closest friends, Garin and Netta, grew up playing with Loic, a river drac, and have the gift of being able to see the Fae, on the condition that no one should ever know. Netta's inadvertent slip has resulted in their blindness, and with Garin returned to his original kingdom--now at odds with Aurelie's Lumielle--royal diplomatic duties bring Aurelie little joy. Tomlinson immerses readers in a world of intrigue and magic with surprisingly clarity. As the possibility of war looms and her hand in marriage seems to be the only value she possesses for achieving peace, Aurelie's difficulties multiply with Loic's wooing, Netta's subservience and Garin's Jocandagnian heritage. Sharply realized characters abound in both magical and human form; the narration shifts focus from character to character, Netta, Garin and Loic voicing their own accounts in the third person while Aurelie's takes a third-person limited form. Vivid descriptions and intricate plot twists convey that most traditional element of all faerie stories--the misunderstandings between humans and the Fae despite the best intentions. (Fantasy. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* This intriguing fantasy is set in a well-developed, vaguely northern European land where humans coexist with supernatural beings largely indifferent to their concerns. From their childhood friend Loic, a shape-shifting river drac, humans Netta, Aurelie, and Garin are gifted with the ability to see the Fae fairy creatures who inhabit a mesmerizing world. As they grow older, though, the devoted friends grow apart: Netta is blinded, Aurelie becomes heir to her father's kingdom, and handsome Garin returns to his own country. Graceful prose leads the reader through a complex chronological narrative and a Shakespearean tangle of love stories. Aurelie's struggle to unite her friends and her world provides the novel's anchor, but her coming-of-age story, told in third-person accounts, alternates with first-person reports from other characters, who are all well developed. Tomlinson paces her tale well, building suspense both in the political arena, through increasing hostilities between families, and in personal relationships; Loic courts Aurelie, for example, even though each prefers another. It is the power of childhood friendship that overcomes the barriers of nationality and species to unite the characters. Readers will be left hoping for a sequel after completing this stirring read from the author of The Swan Maiden (2007).--Isaacs, Kathleen Copyright 2008 Booklist