Wild Blood (Switchers) [School & Library Binding]

Kate Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up | Series: Switchers

Shortly before she turns fifteen and loses the power to "Switch," Tess spends time with her cousins in the Irish countryside trying out different animal forms, but when her cousins disappear in the woods she must face her fears to save them.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-Tess is coming up on her 15th birthday and will lose the power to "switch" into other kinds of creatures at will. As she tries to decide which form she'll want to retain for the rest of her life, she helps out on her aunt and uncle's farm and tries to savor the last few days of being a kestrel, a goat, or a rat. Her friend Kevin arrives from Dublin, not only to support her as she makes her decision, but also to make some money leading away the rats that have infested the farm. As her birthday draws nearer, she finds herself trying to fathom the secrets of the mysterious woods above the farm, and the strange behavior of her cousins and her Uncle Maurice. The plotting is even, with enough hints at the secrets to keep the tension running high. Tess's worry over her future and choosing wisely will resonate with many young people, and her ability to be anything she wishes is a universal dream. As in Switchers (1998) and Midnight's Choice (1999, both Hyperion), Thompson does a great job of creating the world from a rat's point of view. The Pied Piper and fairie world connections are unique to this book and effectively contribute to the trilogy's satisfying conclusion. This book can be read independently, but it will be best enjoyed by readers of the earlier titles, if only to add depth to the drama of Tess's choice.
Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Thompson closes the trilogy begun with Switchers (1998) by bringing young shapeshifter Tess to her pivotal 15th birthday, after which her ability to change into any animal will be lost. Or maybe not, as she discovers. An unhappy visitor to relatives in rural County Clare, Tess agonizes over which shape to take as her permanent one. The plot thickens when three cousins vanish into the same eerie patch of woods that swallowed an uncle 20 years before. In tracking them down, Tess learns not only that a pale remnant of the fairy folk still exists in their underground fairy sidhes but also that their blood runs in her veins. Suddenly, her decision becomes even tougher, for with just a bite of fairy food her powers will remain and expand--at the cost of losing her connection with time, humanity, and the natural world. Plainly a devil's bargain. The story develops slowly compared to the first two installments, and stands alone only by virtue of repeated back filling, but readers will see how tempting each of Tess's options are, and how her previous experiences influence her eventual choice. Tess's forays into animal worlds and realms of magic thread this coming-of-age tale with humor and melodrama. (Fiction. 11-13) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• School & Library Binding
• Publisher: Topeka Bindery (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613749707
• ISBN-13: 978-0613749701
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,423,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wild Blood, October 27, 2000

By 

THE_ANIMORPHER_85 (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wild Blood (Switchers, Volume 3) (Hardcover)

This book was nothing short of WONDERFUL! Afdter reading the first 2, this one set it off with an excelent conclusion to the trilogy! This is the finale about the life of a switcher named Tess. Every switcher has a powers goes away with the dawning of the sun on their 15th birthday. Then, they have to choose a form tha tthey would like to stay in for the rest of theri life. Tess, who's birthday is right around the corner discovers more about her gift. I suggest that if you are interested in readin this book, read the first two first. Those books are:

Switchers by Kate Thompson

Midnight's Choice by Kate Thompson

Happy reading!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little bit of a disappointing end to the trilogy., May 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Blood (Hardcover)

Tess's fifteenth birthday is almost here. Soon she will have to decide her future -- and she must decide what form of an animal she will be for the rest of her life. When her parents send her to stay with her cousins for the summer on a rural farm out state, she realizes that she'll have to make her decision while she's there. But something is disturbing her, and it's something that has to do with the mysterious woods near the farm. As she tries to solve a dark mystery and avoid the rage of her tyrant Uncle Maurice, she becomes involved in ancient web of mystery and intrigue, and soon she is in utter danger. She has to keep herself from danger, but at the same time she has to make the biggest decision of her life. Her powers as a Switcher are almost up, and time is dwindling away. What animal will she choose to stay in forever? And will she ever get to see her fiteenth birthday? The final installment in Kate Thompson's fantastic fantasy Switchers trilogy, Wild Blood, was a little disappointing, and a bit boring. The story was just weak and not very suspenseful, and the plot kept repeating itself through the chapters. But I congratulate the author on writing this novel very well, and she constructs her paragraphs very beautifully. But, I had higher expectations in the conclusion of this wonderful trilogy. I recommend the Switchers trilogy to all fans of the Animorphs series, but the though you may find the plot similiar, this trilogy is actually very different, and unique in its own way.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Do You Believe in the Good People?", April 11, 2005

By 

R. M. Fisher "Raye" (New Zealand = Middle Earth!) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Wild Blood (Switchers) (Paperback)

"Wild Blood" is the final book in Kate Thompson's "Switchers" trilogy and deals with the inevitable choice that her young heroine Tess has to face: at the age of fifteen her Switcher powers come to an end, and she can choose either to remain human or to become any one of the animals that she can transform into permanently. To make things worse, her parents are going on holiday without her, and have sent her to stay with her Uncle Maurice, Aunt Dierdre and three cousins.

Life on the farm isn't too bad considering Tess now has a huge environment to explore, but she misses her fellow-Switcher Kevin who she needs to help her make a final decision. Furthermore, there are strange things happening at the farmhouse: odd-looking animals, shadowy figures in the woods and suspicious activity from her bad-tempered uncle and three secretive cousins. There is a mystery concerning the disappearance of Uncle Declan, and no one in the family is eager to talk about it.
And there is even more at risk - Uncle Maurice seems set to sell of the beautiful forest land to developers, and threatens to call up exterminators to rid the house of all the rats. Since Tess is on familiar terms with these rats, and since Kevin has finally gotten hold of her, she comes up with an ingenious way to save the rats, but a plan that has terrible consequences.

In the previous books "Switchers" and "Midnight's Choice" I was always rather confused at the emphasis that Thompson places on the rats, but now with a wonderful reworking of "The Pied Piper of Hamilton", it all makes sense. Thompson uses a wonderful blend of old folklore and fairy myth in order to create an interesting story that is superior to "Midnight's Choice," though not quite up to par with "Switchers". Although the final conflict and choice between opposing factions of the story are brought to quite an easy solution (even an abrupt one), readers who have followed Tess's story will get their questions answered.
For the first time I felt that I could relate better to Tess: she was rather distant in the previous books, but now finally she and Kevin come across as understandable, three-dimensional characters. Likewise, Uncle Maurice and the cousins Brian, Orla and Colm are interesting enough, but if you were a fan of Lizzie you'll be disappointed: she appears in the first couple of pages, imparts some more cryptic advice and then is gone. But she does better than Martin, who doesn't appear at all, and though Thompson does give us an update on his condition I was hoping for more character development on his behalf.

There are some components of the book that just don't work, namely the "Star Wars" references to the droids C3-PO and R2D2. Within the book there are Switching characters that turn into these droids, and visualising this borders on the ridiculous. How can one appreciate the mood of the Tuatha Da Dannan when there are science fiction characters from an entirely different story running around? All the instances in which they appear is extremely jarring, and often just plain silly: like when C3-PO tries to subdue a bear. I hope George Lucas doesn't sue.

Likewise, toward the end of the book the origins of the Switching powers are revealed, and as you may have guessed, it derives from the "wild blood" that is passed down from the Tuatha Da Dannan to their descendants. This is all very good and well, but in the first book "Switchers", Thompson establishes the fact that *all* children are born with Switching powers, though only a few discover and retain them. So what are we meant to believe? Are all children descended from the Tuatha? I highly doubt it, and therefore Thompson has contradicted the fundamental component of her trilogy.

Of all the Switchers books, I recommend the first installment - the next two never measure up to it, and may in fact leave readers disappointed and/or confused. It's up to you.