Read-a-thon # 10: The Folk Keeper, by Franny Billingsley
Things Corinna Stonewall likes:
1. Power.
2. Secrets.
3. Rain.
4. Lurking in cold, damp, pitch-black cellars.
Things Corinna Stonewall doesn't like:
1. Sunlight.
2. People.
Corinna is a Folk Keeper, assigned to live in a cellar and feed, ward off, and placate the hungry, spiteful, dangerous Folk, who otherwise will eat the animals and destroy the crops. An orphan, at age eleven she decided that she was sick of doing boring housework, and so cut her hair, disguised herself as a boy, and learned to be a Folk Keeper. She has spent five years lurking in a cellar. Then she gets taken to a new estate overlooking the ocean, where everything changes...
This was GREAT. The language is gorgeous, Corinna's voice and character are prickly and funny and wonderful, the characters are all vivid, and the story is full of twists and cleverly used folklore motifs. I saw the most important surprise coming, but didn't catch about three others.
If you liked Billingsley's Chime, you will almost certainly like this. It has some similar motifs and virtues, but is shorter, simpler, and less dark.
The Folk Keeper
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/1005934.html. Comment here or there.
1. Power.
2. Secrets.
3. Rain.
4. Lurking in cold, damp, pitch-black cellars.
Things Corinna Stonewall doesn't like:
1. Sunlight.
2. People.
Corinna is a Folk Keeper, assigned to live in a cellar and feed, ward off, and placate the hungry, spiteful, dangerous Folk, who otherwise will eat the animals and destroy the crops. An orphan, at age eleven she decided that she was sick of doing boring housework, and so cut her hair, disguised herself as a boy, and learned to be a Folk Keeper. She has spent five years lurking in a cellar. Then she gets taken to a new estate overlooking the ocean, where everything changes...
This was GREAT. The language is gorgeous, Corinna's voice and character are prickly and funny and wonderful, the characters are all vivid, and the story is full of twists and cleverly used folklore motifs. I saw the most important surprise coming, but didn't catch about three others.
If you liked Billingsley's Chime, you will almost certainly like this. It has some similar motifs and virtues, but is shorter, simpler, and less dark.
The Folk Keeper
Crossposted to http://rachelmanija.dreamwidth.org/1005934.html. Comment here or there.