Knox, Elizabeth. Mortal Fire. Macmillan/Farrar Strauss
2013
436p
ISBN 978-0-374-38829-4 hs
Hardback
VG
Magic
This beautifully written but somewhat
confusing story has a background theme of controlling and using magic. Canny, who has been a math
whiz,
visits the Zarene Valley in Southland (somewhere in the South Pacific). She has the ability to draw the runes that
control magic, a feat no one outside the Zarene clan has ever been able to
do. What she discovers scares her, and she runs
away. She becomes quite ill, as do all bearers of the magic. Rediscovering her own
rune, she returns to the valley to complete her plans. In the process she makes some startling discoveries about her past
and family background.
This book is exquisitely written. The language is beautiful. Just as the main character, Canny, does not understand all that is going on, so the reader is left with many unanswered questions. Everything is not neatly wrapped up at the end. It is recommended for high school due to the sophistication and confusing concepts of the magic involved.
Summary: Set somewhere in the South Pacific in the 1980’s and 1942, this story features a girl with a photographic memory and mathematical ability meeting people who live in
isolation and practice magic. Here she
learns more about her past.
Magic-Fiction,
South Pacific-Fiction --Joan
Theal
1 comment:
1959! Latest date in the book is 1963
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