Using her shape-changing, hypnotic powers, a shaman's apprentice whose homeland is plundered by the Czar's empire infiltrates the palace and wins favor as his ""Black Angel,"" but makes a terrible enemy in the process.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Price (The Ghost Drum; Ghost Song) again crafts a rich, vivid fantasy about spirits and ghosts and the realms through which they travel. Set in a fictional region that resembles northern Russia during medieval times and narrated by a mystical cat, the story focuses largely on Shingebiss, an apprentice shaman. A shapechanger, she seeks to keep the evil Czar from spoiling the natural beauty of the Northlands, but first she must contend with his deceitful English wizard, Master Jenkins. While Shingebiss ultimately deposes the Czar, the price is steep-the country is thrown into political chaos, and Jenkins's timid assistant is killed. The sweeping, almost poetic descriptions of the netherworlds and the interactions between spirits and humans are both haunting and compelling, and although the climax is a bit crowded, the story is charged with dramatic momentum. A writer with an impressive range and an expansive imagination, Price has truly mastered her idiom. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10-From the author of Ghost Drum (1987) and Ghost Song (1992, both Farrar) comes another unusual, unsettling tale set in the snowy north. Moved by reports of people being enslaved and killed and of destruction to the land, Shingebiss, an apprentice shaman, sets out to confront the evil Czar. Believing she is a sign of divine favor, he welcomes her as his "Black Angel." However, Shingebiss soon finds that she must become a real shaman in order to gain power over him, and to do that she must travel into the ghost world of the dead. Price's poetic language brings this shadowy tale to life. Shingebiss can change her shape, and some of the most memorable passages show her flying as a gyrfalcon or taking the form of a bear. The author does not spare her readers; like the northern folktales this story resembles, it is not for the faint of heart. Brief comic relief is provided by the court magician who disguises his assistant as a devil, but their tale ends in tragedy. The general tone of the novel is dark, illuminated by the beauty of the writing. While not a sequel to the two previous titles, readers will find that Ghost Dance is woven from the same cloth.
Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
On the day I was born, my Dad was given a typewriter. My Dad also signed my first contract, because I was too young to sign it - I was 16.
It was Dad who gave me the First and Second Jungle Books and the Just-So Stories for my seventh Christmas present too - and I still love them. But it was my mother who did all she could to teach me to read and to love books.
I've written 55 books, from Nursery Stories to things like 'The Bearwood Witch' and 'The Sterkarm Handshake' which are criticised for being 'too adult'.
Recently, I've joined the kindle revolution. I plan to publish most of my backlist on kindle, and I have joined together with several other writers to form Kindle Authors UK - see the blog feeds below. Look me up in the Kindle Store!
I also give talks in schools, and am RLF Fellow at De Montfort University in Leicester.
My website can be found at www.susanprice.org.uk
It was Dad who gave me the First and Second Jungle Books and the Just-So Stories for my seventh Christmas present too - and I still love them. But it was my mother who did all she could to teach me to read and to love books.
I've written 55 books, from Nursery Stories to things like 'The Bearwood Witch' and 'The Sterkarm Handshake' which are criticised for being 'too adult'.
Recently, I've joined the kindle revolution. I plan to publish most of my backlist on kindle, and I have joined together with several other writers to form Kindle Authors UK - see the blog feeds below. Look me up in the Kindle Store!
I also give talks in schools, and am RLF Fellow at De Montfort University in Leicester.
My website can be found at www.susanprice.org.uk
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ghost Dance: The Czar's Black Angel (Hardcover)
This and Susan Price's two other novels, Ghost Drum and Ghost Song, are compelling for both adults and kids. They are bleak, there is cruelty and the outcomes are not straightforward, but I have used these books in classrooms with children aged between 10 and 12 and the class was totally engaged throughout, despite language difficulties. Susan Price is a thoughtprovoking writer with a style which works like a Shaman's spell on the reader. I cannot recommend them too highly as introductions to the darker aspects of human nature. Terrific.
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