From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up–Evocative descriptions and elements of Celtic folklore add much to this tale of a young woman's search for a place that feels like home. Margot lives a Cinderella-like existence in the midlands with her father, King Philip, and her stepmother. Her mother was believed to be tainted with magic and an unnatural knowledge of water, and it is assumed that Margot, too, is tainted. When a group of holy men visits from the westlands, Margot, intrigued with their leader, King Orrin, returns home with them. On the journey, she and Orrin are betrothed, and she hopes that she will finally fit in once they reach his lands by the water. Her mother's
Book of the Sea begins to reveal more and more of itself to her as she travels toward the ocean. When Orrin discovers that she has been hiding it from him, he becomes enraged. Margot is called into an undersea world by a mysterious light, but finds that she is no more at home with her mother's sea family than she is with the westlanders, and she decides to make her own way in the world. The real strength of this book is the descriptive language, which evokes the settings quite clearly and beautifully. Margot's struggle to make a place for herself is well realized. However, the other characters are not well developed, and the plot is a bit choppy. Readers are likely to prefer Mollie Hunter's
A Stranger Came Ashore (1977) and
The Mermaid Summer (1988, both HarperCollins).
–Cheri Dobbs, Detroit Country Day Middle School, Beverly Hills, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* Gr. 6-9. An outcast at her father's court and a misfit in her rigidly patriarchal society, 15-year-old Princess Margot longs to find a home with her mother's people in the Western Isles. King Orrin, a westlander and holy man, takes Margot under his protection, but when he demands that she hand over the magical book that has been hers since her mother's death, Margot refuses and finds herself in peril. Her developing magical powers enable her to visit a kingdom beneath the sea, but even there she is an outsider. When she is forced to rely on herself, she discovers her hidden strengths as well as an unexpected ally. Margot is a vulnerable, stubborn, sympathetic heroine, and readers will find themselves caught up in the memorably unsettling story of her first love and her disillusionment with the three convincing, well-realized kingdoms she encounters, each one more original and magical than the last. Although good and evil seem clearly defined at first, the characters increasingly reveal different points of view that eventually lead to widely diverse choices and actions. With political undertones as well as riveting personal drama, this fantasy will leave many readers looking for a sequel.
Carolyn PhelanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
