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Summary
Summary
An enthralling adventure set in a strange world on the high seas.
Petrel is an outcast on the ancient ship, an icebreaker, that has been following the same course for 300 years. In that time, the ship's crew has forgotten its original purpose and broken into three warring tribes. Everyone has a tribe except Petrol. Nicknamed the Nothing Girl, Petrel has been ostracized ever since her parents were thrown overboard as punishment for a terrible crime.
But Petrel is a survivor. She lives in the ship's darkest corners, and trusts no one except two large gray rats - that is, until a mysterious boy is discovered barely alive on an iceberg, and brought onto the ship. He claims to have forgotten even his name. The tribes don't trust strangers, so Petrel hides the boy, hoping he will be her friend. What she doesn't know is that the ship guards a secret - a secret the boy has been sent to destroy.
Author Notes
Lian Tanner is the author of the Keepers trilogy (Museum of Thieves, City of Lies, Path of Beasts), winner of numerous awards around the world, including the Aurealis Award for Children's Fiction. She lives in Australia.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tanner (the Keepers trilogy) offers an unusual take on the post-apocalyptic genre with this chilly tale of life board a massive ship that has been traversing the frozen seas for three centuries, ever since the Anti-Machinist movement caused the collapse of society. Having long forgotten their original purpose, the residents of the icebreaker Oyster have separated into three tribes that exist in an uneasy state of low-level conflict. Bullied and shunned, 13-year-old Petrel belongs to no tribe, but when the Oyster finds a mysterious boy stranded on an iceberg, she helps to protect him; they become unlikely allies as the ship descends into chaos and open warfare. Tanner's portrayal of a culture that has lost its way, as well as conflicts between science and faith, provides a complex, thought-provoking backdrop to Petrel's tale of self-reliance and Fin's crisis of loyalties. These interior journeys are just one part of a fast-paced adventure featuring talking rats, a rusting mazelike setting, and growing tension, which leaves things wide open for the next installment of the Hidden trilogy. Ages 9-12. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary Management. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
When Petrel, an orphan with no place or position in an isolated ship-bound society, saves a strange boy from the ice, she unwittingly destabilizes a truce among the ship's three "territories" while also putting it in danger from a machine-hating brotherhood. Character development and sinister agendas add interest, while the broader messages about trust and friendships (lost commodities in this world) provide deeper meaning. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
The voyage around the southern ice cap has lasted 300 years. During that time, three antagonistic tribes have evolved aboard the icebreaker: the officers, the cooks, and the engineers. Only the outcast girl Petrel doesn't belong to a tribe and has no friends except for two sentient rats, Mister Smoke and Missus Slink. This is the way it has always been, but things begin to change when a nameless boy with a secret is discovered on an iceberg and brought on board. Who is he, and who or what is the demon he seeks? Can Petrel trust him, and will the two become friends and maybe even allies? The questions are tantalizing and the answers elusive in this first volume of a proposed trilogy. The novel is not perfect: credulity is often stretched to the breaking point, and problems are sometimes too neatly resolved. Nevertheless, the story is suspenseful, satisfying, and sufficiently well imagined, so many readers will eagerly look forward to the next installment.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2015 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-In a postapocalyptic world, 12-year-old Petrel, nicknamed the Nothing Girl, lives on a huge icebreaker ship called the Oyster. The ship has been sailing the same course for more than 300 years, and in that time, the crew has forgotten its original mission. Civil war has divided the crew into three uneasy tribes, and Petrel is the only person on board who doesn't belong to one. When a boy found stranded on an iceberg is brought onto the ship, Petrel befriends him and names him Fin. Fin is not as innocent as he seems, however, and his presence makes the tribes even more wary than usual. Petrel works frantically to help restore order to the ship while Fin secretly plots to destroy it. Despite the large cast of characters, narrator Anne Marie Gideon expertly narrates this production. She uses different voices for each character, and her pacing never wavers. VERDICT This title is the first in a planned trilogy, and listeners will welcome the next offering. ["Tanner's evocative prose allows readers to feel every dark, noisy crevice of the ship as well as the chill of the frozen wasteland that surrounds it": SLJ 6/15 starred review of the Feiwel & Friends book.]-Anne Bozievich, Friendship Elementary School, Glen Rock, PA © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Scientists hide a secret aboard a ship headed for the farthest reaches of the Earth in the hopes of saving a remnant of modern technology and knowledge from the Anti-Machinists, a group of zealots determined to throw the world into another Dark Age. The crew of the Oyster is entrusted with guarding the hidden treasure until the crisis is over. But after 300 years and a shipboard civil war that has destroyed all record of their original mission, the only memory of their charge is a vague hope that a sleeping captain will awake and save them when their need is great. Time and war have divided the crew into reluctantly interdependent factions, but the 12-year-old orphan Petrel belongs to no tribe. When she sees a boy stranded on the ice, her loneliness prompts her to seek his rescue. Unfortunately the boy is not the innocent he seems. This new trilogy will bait readers with its intriguing premise, hook them with its starkly beautiful setting, and reel them in with its fascinating characters. While others look toward the revival of technology to save them, Petrel's humanity in the face of brutal ideology makes her the perfect heroine. Two talking ship's rats make splendid companions for Petrel; Tanner's knack with vivid names and textured dialect help to complete the intriguing worldbuilding. An artfully crafted adventure that's equal parts thought-provoking and thrilling. (character list) (Science fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
