![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jul. 17th, 2016 12:01 pmI liked The Scorpion Rules enough that I went looking for other Erin Bow books and found Plain Kate, which is the kind of middle-grade fairy tale that's sharper and darker than a good many adult novels.
When a mysterious peddler tries to buy her shadow in exchange for her heart's desire, protagonist Kate is very clear on the fact that it's a VERY BAD idea to make a deal with him. However, Kate's a strange-looking orphan girl who's suspiciously good at wood-carving, and doesn't have enough money to apprentice to a Guild so she can actually sell the things she makes -- which would be difficult enough if it were not a bad harvest, and people were not on the lookout for witches to blame for it. Without any options left, Kate makes the deal and trades away her shadow in exchange for some good travel and camping supplies so she can leave town.
She doesn't actually ask for her heart's desire -- not to be alone anymore -- but the peddler gives her cat the ability to talk anyway, as kind of a freebie.
And, of course, he warns her that she might want to try very hard to find people that will take her in before anyone notices that her shadow is disappearing.
Over the course of the rest of the book, Kate discovers why the peddler wants her shadow, and what he plans to do with it, and what she's going to have to do to stop it. It's not good! People definitely die! The book itself is very good, though, and works through cycles of violence and revenge with compassion for the people caught up in them. Kate spends a big chunk of the book traveling with the Roamers -- Romani or equivalent -- and although I am no expert, I liked the way they were written, as people with different customs to the rest of the country around them but generally no more or less fallible than anyone else. (Though, on another note, the peddler and one other character are both Magical Albinos.) Her most important relationships in the book are all really interesting and complex: her friendship with Drina, a Roamer girl who wants to help Kate but may be overestimating her ability to do so; her non-romantic, almost Stockholm-ish tie to the peddler; and, of course, the cat, who is SUCH A GOOD AND CATLIKE CAT.
( Spoilers for those who want to know in advance about risks to animals )
When a mysterious peddler tries to buy her shadow in exchange for her heart's desire, protagonist Kate is very clear on the fact that it's a VERY BAD idea to make a deal with him. However, Kate's a strange-looking orphan girl who's suspiciously good at wood-carving, and doesn't have enough money to apprentice to a Guild so she can actually sell the things she makes -- which would be difficult enough if it were not a bad harvest, and people were not on the lookout for witches to blame for it. Without any options left, Kate makes the deal and trades away her shadow in exchange for some good travel and camping supplies so she can leave town.
She doesn't actually ask for her heart's desire -- not to be alone anymore -- but the peddler gives her cat the ability to talk anyway, as kind of a freebie.
And, of course, he warns her that she might want to try very hard to find people that will take her in before anyone notices that her shadow is disappearing.
Over the course of the rest of the book, Kate discovers why the peddler wants her shadow, and what he plans to do with it, and what she's going to have to do to stop it. It's not good! People definitely die! The book itself is very good, though, and works through cycles of violence and revenge with compassion for the people caught up in them. Kate spends a big chunk of the book traveling with the Roamers -- Romani or equivalent -- and although I am no expert, I liked the way they were written, as people with different customs to the rest of the country around them but generally no more or less fallible than anyone else. (Though, on another note, the peddler and one other character are both Magical Albinos.) Her most important relationships in the book are all really interesting and complex: her friendship with Drina, a Roamer girl who wants to help Kate but may be overestimating her ability to do so; her non-romantic, almost Stockholm-ish tie to the peddler; and, of course, the cat, who is SUCH A GOOD AND CATLIKE CAT.
( Spoilers for those who want to know in advance about risks to animals )
