When Valentine starts noticing odd things are vanishing from New York City, she unknowingly summons a wizard from Sorcery Hall who enlists her help in his fight against a dreaded monster of darkness.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Charnas's enthralling story is related by Valentine (Tina), a schoolgirl who lives a New York apartment house with her divorced mother. Tina's first intimation of looming dangers is an explosion at a subway stop and inexplicable disappearances of awesome proportions. The enormous statue of the warrior Jagiello astride his steed vanishes from Central Park, for example, along with things from Tina's home. An encounter with an old man, Paavo, reminds the girl of her grandmother's tales of the Norwegian Kraken, the monster that Paavo says is thrusting up from underground to devour the world. Later meetings with the old man involve Tina with Joel, a teenager mesmerized by the music Paavo plays on the violin. It isn't, as he pretends, the fiddling of an amateur for coins, but the performance of a gifted maestro. Its magic conquers, momentarily, the punks who obey the kraken's orders, posing as muggers on the subway and the dark streets. Tina escapes their clutches only to learn that the monster has grabbed Joel. Blind and paralyzed, he's below the tracks where only Tina can find and save him. The tensions and startling switches in developments, as well as the author's realistic evocations of metropolitan life, result in an unforgettable novel.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-8 Tina is a plucky young teen who lives in New York City with her divorced mother. Her somewhat humdrum school and home life are disturbed when she unknowingly becomes involved in preventing a potentially deadly attack by the evil, monstrous kraken. The kraken has gained entry into the New York subway system by displacing the bronze statue of King Jagiello in Central Park, and Tina is drawn into the desperate efforts to recover the statue so that the kraken can be subdued. In the course of this adventure, she becomes allied with Paavo, an aging, magical violinist and young Joel, an aspiring musician. Tina and Joel have a stormy relationship, but Tina comes to love Paavo and is devastated when he gives up his life in the fight against the kraken. The cover art is tantalizingly ominous, but unfortunately, the book doesn't quite deliver. While the segments of the encounter with the kraken are indeed suspenseful, the momentum isn't sustained. Further, Tina isn't developed fully as a charactershe never comes alive. This falls short of being a real "page-turner" but is adequate as an optional purchase for fantasy lovers. Cynthia Percak Infantino, Ela Area Public Library, Lake Zurich, Ill.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magic, Mystery and Mayhem on the streets of NYC,
By
This review is from: Bronze King,the (Mass Market Paperback)
This is one of the books I keep as a treasure. A young girl makes a wish in a river--and gets a surprising answer. Together, three people must work to save NYC from a monstrous kraken that has worn down the protections of the city. This is a heart warming story with plenty of teary-eyed moments. I started this series with the second book, but this is my favorite of the three. It's a coming of age story, with adventure and magic mixed in. For those girls who've read Harry Potter and want something a little older and more female focused, this might be just your thing.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN AMAZING SUSPENSE BOOK,
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Bronze King,the (Mass Market Paperback)
The Bronze King by Suzy Mckee Charnas . The Bronze King did not win an award even though it should have in my opinion. This book is about a fearsome enemy called a kraken who tries to eat New York. Only a wizard named Pavvo and his friends Tina and Joel can stop it. I really think this book should win an award because of descriptive text like"Something reared up out of the water up,up and up.It was huge and glistery wet in the moonlight, black as ink and roaring. Water steamed off it and its eyes were hot red sparks set high in its towering shape".
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Childhood Favorite..,
By "melanie436" (Hampton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Bronze King (The Sorcery Hall Trilogy, Book 1) (Paperback)
This book is what every fantasy should be like. It's perfect, exciting, funny and thoroughly wonderful. All fantasy fans and fans of New York City should read this book!
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