The Taker's Stone [Hardcover]

Barbara Timberlake Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1999

When fourteen-year-old Fischer accidentally uses a magic stone to summon Thistle, one of its Keepers and an agent of the Light, he must help her fight the evil Belial, who seeks to rule the world with cruel Darkness.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Pursued by the many guises of the devil Belial, three teenagers flee down a storm-swept highway in the South Dakota badlands while the world quite literally crashes down around them. Fischer, a shy and thoughtful young boy, has stolen a handful of magical red stones from their rightful Keeper to impress his blowhard cousin David. Now the earth is in deadly peril, unless they can return the stones and reunite Thistle, the 200-year-old "teenager" who is the Second Keeper, with her father within three days. Always close behind them, Belial draws on his "marked ones"--ordinary people who have given themselves to evil--to capture and deliver the young fugitives. Gradually Fischer realizes with terror that it is not Thistle, but him that Belial wants--for his theft has made him The Taker.

This mystical fantasy crackles with suspense and a pervasive sense of the demonic. Young Fischer falls in love with the mysterious Thistle and her mission, but wrestles at the same time with his secret desire to win his cold and distant father's respect by keeping the power of the stones for his own. Barbara Russell has shown her skill with similar themes in two earlier well-received novels for younger teens, Blue Lightning and Last Left Standing. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell

From Library Journal

Grade 7-10-This convoluted fantasy has a mixture of Christian, Native American, and Gypsy motifs, but it never really gels, leaving readers wondering how it all fits together. Fischer, a bookish 14-year-old, is prodded by his arrogant, self-confident cousin, David, to steal a handful of stones from a man and a girl around a campfire. In Thistle and her father's world, there are Keepers, which is what she and her father are, and there are Takers, which is what Fischer has become. The Stones he has taken have magical powers, and the Keepers must protect them from Belial, the King of Evil. When these Stones are separated, they lose their protective powers, and Thistle and the boys are in danger. It is then up to the cousins to reunite Thistle with her father. Combined with the problem of getting her from Atlanta to South Dakota is the fact that Belial is actively looking for the Stones. Eventually David drops out and Fischer and Thistle are left alone to face Belial. The story suffers from a breakneck plot that sags under the weight of too many coincidences. No problem lasts for more than a page and the way in which the three teens careen from one danger to the next destroys the tension. Also, even though Thistle insists from the beginning that Fischer must have another Stone and he maintains he doesn't, it takes a vision on a sacred mountain to goad him into checking his pocket one last time, where he finds the last Stone. It's a little too much, a little too late. Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief (Greenwillow, 1996) and David Eddings's "The Belgariad Series" (Ballantine) are far better choices for readers interested in magical stones, mythology, and adventure.
Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: DK Publishing; 1st edition (September 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789425688
• ISBN-13: 978-0789425683
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,568,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing and fast paced tale, February 21, 2000

By 

K. Siegelson (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Taker's Stone (Hardcover)

An engrossing apocalyptic tale that begins in White Horse, GA when sacred stones are stolen from a pair of vagrant "Keepers". This simple misstep drives the Taker of the stones on a harrowing journey to S.Dakota to return them before evil Belial and his minions catch up. Riveting action and quick pace drive the plot forward to its satisfying closure. Biblical overtones and verse structure the tale. Author's best and most inspired work so far. I couldn't put it down. Encore, girl!