Publisher: Egmont USA
Market: General
Genre: Juvenile; Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Pub.
Date: April 28, 2015
Description (from Amazon):
Saville despises the bolts of velvet and silk that her father
loves- he's always prized them more than he's ever loved her. Yet when he's
struck ill, she'll do anything to survive, even donning boys' clothes and
begging a commission to sew for the king.
Piecing together a fine coat is far simpler than unknotting court gossip about an army of giants led by a man who cannot be defeated. And they're marching toward Reggen to seize the throne. But Saville knows giants are just stories, and no man is immortal.
Then she meets them, two scouts as tall as trees. She tricks them into leaving, but tales of the daring tailor's triumph quickly spin into impossible feats of giant-slaying. And mere stories won't deter the Duke and his larger-than-life army.
Now only a courageous and clever tailor girl can see beyond the rumors to save the kingdom again.
Piecing together a fine coat is far simpler than unknotting court gossip about an army of giants led by a man who cannot be defeated. And they're marching toward Reggen to seize the throne. But Saville knows giants are just stories, and no man is immortal.
Then she meets them, two scouts as tall as trees. She tricks them into leaving, but tales of the daring tailor's triumph quickly spin into impossible feats of giant-slaying. And mere stories won't deter the Duke and his larger-than-life army.
Now only a courageous and clever tailor girl can see beyond the rumors to save the kingdom again.
My Review:
This
book was provided to me free of charge by the publisher via NetGalley in
exchange for my honest review.
Apparently
this book is a modern retelling of The
Valiant Tailor by the Grimm Brothers.
I had no idea about that until I looked at Goodreads after reading. And I’ve never read the original story. So I will be making no comparisons between
the two.
I
requested the book based solely on the cover and a recommendation from
NetGalley (since I had just joined). So
I really had no expectations going into it other than it was a fantasy story
aimed at young adult readers.
The
book got off to a slow start for me. I
was not very interested for at least the first quarter of the book, but it
picked up some from there. So I was glad
to have stuck with it. I really enjoyed the
last quarter plus of the book when the action started moving along.
Saville is a girl wise beyond her years. Her mother has passed away, and she is being “raised” by her father, the Tailor. The Tailor receives no sympathy from me because as clearly stated numerous times, he loves his fabric far more than his daughter. Yet she is still faithful and true to him.
When
push comes to shove and things both at home and for the city of Regen get dicey,
Saville shines. She has both wit and
wisdom. She had compassion and is able
to connect with those around her. And
she had no problem putting the pieces together to figure out what is really
going on. Kudos to her as there were
things that I didn’t see or put together until they were revealed in the
text.
Even
the supporting characters – while initially seeming more caricatures – are fleshed
out by the end of the story. They all
develop and change throughout the telling.
This
is clearly a fantasy story complete with evil duke and human eating
giants. There is even a love story that
slowly unfolds. It stays chaste with just
a few embraces and kisses.
The
few supernatural or spiritual elements present in the story are really more
make believe than realistic. Which I
think is perfectly understandable for this genre. They are also very secondary to the rest of
the story.
As
far as questionable content goes, well, the giants eat humans and wreak
havoc. While unappealing it is to be
expected of giants and the eating is not ever described in detail, just mentioned
as fact. There is also legend of a man
who cannot be killed. The super
conservative reader might take issues with these items, but they are all far
tamer than anything Disney offers (and I’m sure more so than the Grimm’s
original).
I
would put the target audience for this novel at upper elementary/young middle
school readers. My 6th grader
would like this story about a girl who has adventures. It would mainly appeal to tweens more than
older teens who have cut their teeth on the edgier Hunger Games and similar fare.
While the main character is an older teen, the story itself is appropriate
for younger kids, and there is nothing objectionable to label it otherwise.
At
its heart, it is a simple story of a girl with great courage, wit, and wisdom.
Pros: inspiring young female character; character
growth all around
Cons: story drags at the start
My
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (good)
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