Skip to main content

The Battle of the Sun

By

by Jeanette Winterson
Bloomsbury, 2010. 388 pgs. Fiction.


Jack Snap, son of the pirate Roger Rover's housekeeper, is kidnapped at noon on his twelfth birthday, August 14, 1601. Soon Jack finds himself in the home of the Magus, an alchemist and sorcerer determined to transform the entire city of London into gold. Jack, it turns out, is key to his project, the Radiant Boy whose power must be joined with the power of the Magus to bring his plan to pass. When Jack's mother follows him to save him, the Magus turns her partly to stone and promises Jack he will restore her only if Jack joins with him to turn the land to gold. What choice does Jack have? But the Magus does not keep his promise. Only fear and uncertainty can keep Jack and his friends (the Keeper of Tides, Mother Midnight, Crispis the Sunflower) from defeating their formidable enemies (Master Wedge and Mistress Split--male and female halves of one bottle-born person; the dreaded Eyebat, and the Magus himself), but fear and uncertainty are plentifully available. Three-quarters of the way through this truly delightful narrative, the reader learns that it is the sequel or a companion volume to Winterson's earlier Tanglewreck, and that young Silver of that story will come back through the ages to help Jack. The Battle of the Sun is charming, memorable reading all on its own, but to know a bit better what is going on, best to read Tanglewreck first.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

By
If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.
Post a Comment
Read more

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

By loo
Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more