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$8.95
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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionseBook editionsOther titles in the Monster Blood Tattoo series:Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo Book One (Monster Blood Tattoo #01)by D. M. Cornish
Staff Pick
In a world inhabited by monsters and the super-powered humans who hunt them, an young boy comes of age. Not only is the setting as well-crafted as anything by Tolkien or Rowling, but the illustrations that go along with this gripping and sometimes scary story are not to be missed. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Set in the world of the Half-Continent — a land of tri-corner hats and flintlock pistols — the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy is a world of predatory monsters, chemical potions, and surgically altered people. Foundling begins the journey of Rossamund, a boy with a girl's name, who is just about to begin a dangerous life in the service of the Emperor. What starts as a simple journey is threatened by encounters with monsters — and people, who may be worse. Learning who to trust and who to fear is neither easy nor without its perils, and Rossamund must choose his path carefully.
Complete with appendices, maps, illustrations, and a glossary, Monster Blood Tattoo grabs readers from the first sentence and immerses them in an entirely original fantasy world with its own language and lore. Review:"Highly ambitious, Cornish's fantasy debut boasts a glossary/appendix alone that is more than 100 pages long — and it makes for nearly as fascinating reading as the story itself. Rossamnd Bookchild ('a boy with a girl's name'), is an orphan living at Madam Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls, where instructors groom the orphans to serve in the Boschenberg Navy and other agencies. One day a stranger with odd eyes arrives ('What should have been white was blood red, and his irises were the palest, most piercing blue.... a leer!') and hires Rossamnd as a 'lamplighter' for the Emperor. (The boy identifies a leer as a tracker of men and monsters; the glossary offers further chilling details.) En route to his new job, he is misled into boarding a doomed boat, and winds up alone in a world where humans and monsters wage constant war. When a human kills a monster, he gets a 'monster-blood tattoo,' made from the beast's blood and bearing its likeness. Rossamnd's action-packed road story serves chiefly to build and populate Cornish's remarkable new world, the Half-Continent. Its roots were planted in a series of illustrated notebooks the author began while attending art school. His drawings endow both humans and monsters with personality, and detailed maps plus a 16-month calendar year add to readers' sense that this milieu has existed for centuries. From the pre-industrial English feel to the sprawling setting and backstory, this book feels every bit as substantial as its heft implies. Ages 10-up. (May)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Cornish gives the Dickensian orphan story an original spin....At the close, the protagonist is poised for his next adventure, with enough secrets, promises, and mystery to create impatient demand." Booklist (Starred Review) Review:"This epic fantasy...flounders under cluttered writing....Fine story and universe, but overblown, especially the 100-page glossary and largely unnecessary appendices." Kirkus Reviews Review:"The vast amount of creativity poured into the first part of this series is evident in the 100 plus pages of illustrations, definitions, and appendices. Certainly Rossamund's further adventures will be worth reading." Children's Literature Synopsis:The orphan Rossamnd--a boy with a girl's name--begins his journey through theperilous Half-Continent where the human race lives in perpetual conflict withmonsters of every shape and description. G.P. Putnam's Sons What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!Average customer rating based on 1 comment: 
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