Customer Reviews

Ten Thousand Charms

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Ten Thousand Charms transports the dark mood of a Grimm fairytale to upstate New York, but, as is the case with many fairytales, the narrative remains slight. Roddy is a young boy sold as an indentured servant to a rope factory, where he turns the crank as a rope monkey. When an ousted Germanic king and his three pretty daughters purchase a farm down the road, the paths of the family and Roddy begin to intertwine. The eccentric king is obsessed with "charms" - odd occurrences and omens. A gathering of crows provides the impetus for a series of threatening events involving Roddy, the king, and the king's treasured second daughter Thea.

The book is a mishmash of literary echoes. Queed, the despotic ropemaker, is a direct descendant of Dickens's Mr. Squeers, the cruel schoolmaster in Nicholas Nickleby. Thea's courage and beauty, as compared to the laziness of her sisters, are qualities lifted straight from Beauty and the Beast. Roddy, like so many heroes, is a virtual orphan, with the same naiveté of a David Copperfield. The strange thing with yellow eyes that lives in the woods and assumes many forms has, unfortunately, already been eclipsed by Rowling's description of the slithering Voldemort.

Many of the plot twists seem peripheral to the mood that Watts has created. In fact, the book's strengths lie in the way Watts weaves the reality of early America with the mythic sensibility built up in Europe over thousands of years of history. Roddy, Thea, and the king's inner workings are never fully explained, which fits with the dialogue, firmly planted in folktale. The plot's denouement, while atmospheric, was a little flat, and some of its elements (a ring, fire, and taking care of minor villains) had a Lord of the Rings feel.

Watts's book, which has a lovely lyrical rhythm in parts, may have been better served by a shorter story, omitting superfluous characters and descriptions and focusing on the mix of a dark tale with prosaic folk life in the Genesee Valley. Watts is the not the first to try this combination (Washington Irving can be heard muttering "Crane" from his grave), but it remains an intriguing premise.

I loved this novel. Watts's writing is lyrical and lovely, and the story evokes a dark fairy-tale feel that I really enjoyed. Mysterious, romantic, compelling... I look forward reading to his next book!

Book was not what my teenager expected, but she said it was okay. Definitely would NEVER purchase from wonderbookandvideo again. When there was problem, they operate from a mode of denial that they are slower than other vendors. Additionally, they do not have integrity when it comes to actual dates that they shipped, etc.

An old German king without a kingdom sets sail for America with his three daughters in tow. The King knows no English, he had no desire to rule his country; his only interest is in "charms," the unexplained mysteries that he finds in the world: mysterious objects, unexplained events, archaic remnants. In America he meets a boy named Roddy, a young ropemaker's apprentice who seems to be surrounded by the charms that fascinate King Ivars. Ivars, Roddy, and Princess Thea are pulled into a web of mystery, darkness, magic, and fear when one charm, the Parliament of Crows, comes to town. Ten Thousand Charms is a young adult book with very short chapters, an impersonal writing style, and a distinct gothic charm. It is a promising novel with a number of interesting underlying concepts, but it feels unfinished and leaves the reader unfulfilled. I like the idea and the style, but I don't really recommend this book. There are better YA novels out there, although it would be nice to see more with the dark, mysterious aspects that this one offers.

I have a longstanding love for young adult fiction. Because children, more than adults, are willing to indulge mystery and miracle, young adult fiction tends to be more magical without being bogged down with excuses and apologies for the magic. Furthermore, YA novels are often coming of age stories (it is, after all, the issue of the age), and a good coming of age novel is rewarding, heartening, and comforting. They reaffirm choices, character, and the rocky but rewarding journey toward maturity. Watts starts in with a sense of magic and opens up a coming of age story, but neither reach fruition in this novel. In Ten Thousand Charms, the magical basis is there--the reader is thrown into a story where strange events happen, crows gather in the thousands, and one main character lives among these events while another actively seeks them out. The coming of age story begins when Roddy begins for the first time to look at his ability to interact with these mysteries as a gift rather than a curse.

The plot then gets absorbed with Thea's marriage to a magical dark prince of the forest. Roddy and the King are almost forgotten, and even thought they arrive to rescue her they never again become interesting characters. The magic is there but the book doesn't delve into it very deeply; Roddy's coming of age is returned to briefly at the end of the book but his story seems truncated. It's as if this is merely the briefest of introductions into a non-conformist, gothic, sharp-edged magical story about growing up. If there were more it would be really interesting, but as it stands it's disappointing, teasing, unfulfilling, even frustrating for the reader. Watts has the right idea and I commend that, I even hope to see his style and ideas in a longer work, but I don't recommend this book. There are other YA novels out there to read instead, and, even if it's short, this one isn't worth picking up.