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Jump to navigationJump to searchShamanka by Jeanne Willis (view source)
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|date=March 2007
|isbn=978-1844286492
|cover=1844286495
|aznuk=1844286495
This something for everyone only goes so far, however, as the heroine failed to engage with me. Sure, I had sympathy for her stereotyped fairy tale beginnings, but the quest was not so urgent for me. Feel free to simplify things by saying I'm not Jeanne Willis's target audience, but I feel that the supporting cast are so strong and varied, and the back-story of such concern that Sam herself does not come across as well as she might.
Also, akin to an unfortunate regularity in pace leading to the climax, is the suggestion that the world of performers and psychics is just too - I don't know what, to justify such an adventure, - argumentative? There seems not so much of a plot-twist as a minor set-back when one entry into the world of the arcane doesn't seem to work, only for yet another one to be just round around the next corner.
That said, this is certainly a recommendable book, and not for those of an age akin to Sam's twelve years. There are still those ignorant of the ability for teenage fiction, genre material or not, to do what 'adult' fiction just will not, or cannot, do. For those people, I would recommend them dabbling in a book such as this - no pretence, just good writing, no major scheme of things but still with the ability to deliver a fable regarding good and evil, family and inheritance, magic and reality, dreams and fantasy...
The book is very pleasantly presented too - apart from shoddy proof-reading. Each chapter is prefaced with a new magic skill to learn, from palming coins to teleportation. The whole book has this attention to detail, and the way the whole gamut of psychic skill and mystical performance is featured must surely leave no scope for a sequel, and reminds me if anything of an orgiastic Neil Gaiman.
I would recommend this certainly for its target audience, who would surely need to go to the fortune-teller's tent or the circus quite soon after. For those of a more mature bent, I would recommend this for dabbling into the world of children's fantasy.
I would like to thank the publishers for sending a copy for the Bookbag to read. We also have a review of [[Penguin Pandemonium - Christmas Crackers (Awesome Animals) by Jeanne Willis|Penguin Pandemonium - Christmas Crackers]] and [[Supercat vs the Pesky Pirate (Supercat, Book 3) by Jeanne Willis|Supercat vs the Pesky Pirate]], both by Jeanne Willis.
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