Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J FICTION PAV | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | J FICTION PAV | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
An action-packed new series set in the mysterious, dangerous Bronze Age
Young Hylas--goatherd, Outsider, thief--is hunted by powerful warriors who want him dead and have kidnapped his sister. Hylas is forced to flee his home, but not before a mysterious stranger gives him a bronze dagger. While on the run, Hylas must use his skill and wits to survive a shipwreck and a great white shark attack, befriend a dolphin, and help Pirra, the runaway daughter of a High Priestess. Together with Pirra, the dolphin, and the valuable bronze sword, Hylas fights to discover why he's being hunted and find his sister before the warriors find them.
Author Notes
Michelle Paver is an avid researcher who tirelessly investigates the worlds she writes about. All based on real times and places, Michelle's novels bring those historical periods to life in exciting and thought-provoking ways. The final book in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in the UK.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-Paver brings her intense research skills to Bronze Age Greece to tell the story of Hylas, a young man who is an Outsider and is not allowed in the clan village. He suddenly finds himself being hunted by fierce warriors he knows only as the Crows, who seem bent on destroying him and all the remaining Outsiders. Hylas takes refuge in a tomb where he discovers a dying man who gifts him with a bronze dagger and some cryptic words about the answer being found in the sea. With help from his friend, Telamon, who is the village chief's son, Hylas makes his way to the sea. There he is befriended by a dolphin named Spirit that leads him to an island where he finds Pirra, the daughter of the High Priestess, who has escaped to avoid a forced marriage to Telamon. While initially antagonistic toward each other, Hylas and Pirra must work together not only to stay alive, but also to discover the truth behind the dagger and why Hylas is being pursued. The added element of Hylas's friendship with the dolphin adds a surreal quality to this story already filled with adventure and danger. Paver brings this mysterious period of history to vibrant life in a compelling realistic narrative with some fantasy flourishes. Who knew the Bronze Age could be so fascinating?-Tim Wadham, Puyallup Public Library, WA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Paver (the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series) tells the engrossing story of 12-year-old Hylas, a poor goatherd in Bronze Age Greece, who is attacked, along with his fellow outcast Outsiders, by the Crows, black-garbed soldiers led by the warrior Kratos. When Hylas makes a desperate bid to escape by sea, he is saved by "an enormous fish [that] burst from the waves in a rain of blue fire-but it wasn't a fish, it was a dolphin." Washing ashore on the mysterious Island of the Goddess, Hylas meets Pirra, the daughter of a high priestess, who is also on the run, in her case from a forced marriage. Working through mistrust and misunderstandings-and aided by a dolphin, Spirit-Hylas and Pirra work to survive the island's perils and defeat Kratos. Hylas and Pirra are engaging heroes, and Spirit stands out as an especially intriguing character. First in a planned series, Paver's story should appeal easily to lovers of historical fantasy (and, of course, Percy Jackson fans) with its polished blend of action, ancient history, and myth. Ages 10-up. Agent: Peter Cox, Redhammer. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In Mycenaean Greece, young goatherd Hylas and priestess Pirra are on the run from the same enemy. The pair is forced to join together to accomplish their own goals. Along the way, they learn to trust each other and eventually become friends. Bronze Age gods, fierce warriors, and heroes-in-the-making take center stage in this action-packed story. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Hylas starts off running and never slows down; his sister Issi is missing, and warriors are pursuing him. Hylas is an Outcast, and Outcasts are being killed to subvert a prophecy about a bronze dagger a dagger that Hylas has in his possession. Telamon, the chieftain's son, can't help, so Hylas escapes to the Island of the Fin People, where he receives aid in the strangest of forms: from Pirra, the runaway daughter of a High Priestess, and a dolphin called Spirit. Using multiple points of view, including Spirit's, Paver explores a very detailed setting the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age along with the rituals and beliefs of people who worship elemental gods, all the while keeping readers on the edge of their seats with plenty of death-defying action and adventure. Although each character is given time to develop, Spirit is the most fascinating. This first book in a new series will have natural appeal to fans of Rick Riordan's books as well as Paver's earlier Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series.--Osborne, Charli Copyright 2010 Booklist
