When Malena PR asked me if I'd do a Halloween special review, of course I said yes. Halloween is my favorite holiday, and stories containing ghosts, vampires and the like are my specialty.
I wasn't sure what to think, however, when I saw that the novel they sent me, Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow, was published by Scholastic. Young adult/kids' books featuring horror elements can be hit or miss. This was a HIT!
The pinch of Westmost has people, predominantly females, train to be experts in a particular craft: storytellers, rangers, bonesetters (doctors) and binders.
The people of their line have been casting wards and binding their dead with yarn for many moons, never since their old binder, Mad Spider, had bound her mother, Hare, when she died. But Mad Spider hadn't realized that, in binding her mother too tightly, she had created a monster known as the White Hand.
If the White Hand touches a living person, that person has only nine days to live before they are either murdered by their friends to save them...or turn into Hands themselves.
Otter is the youngest of the line to be a binder. Her friends Kestrel and Cricket (the only male storyteller) are okishae, their version of married. When Otter's mother, Willow, casts her out of her craft and hires a new girl, Otter moves in with her friends and tries to see what kind of new lfe she can make for herself.
But when Willow is touched by a White Hand and Fawn is killed by a too-strong ward, it is up to Otter to stop White Hands once and for all...but will it be too late?
Sorrow's Knot is by far one of the best books I've never read. Adults, fear not the labelng of "young adult"! This books can be enjoyed by all, though I'd caution younger readers, as there is quite a lot of death throughout.
The characters are all important in their own way, and all are so lively you feel as if you know them and are in the story with them. When they cry, you are sad. When they are frustrated, you will feel it. When they fall in love, you'll smile for them.
The dead are everywhere in this story, lurking in the shadows, ready to strike, but there is also light behibd the shadiws, as this books teaches you. It's intriguing, it's unique and it will keep you interested right up until the last page.
5/5--amazing!
Purchase Sorrow's Knot via the following:
Amazon (ebook & paperback)
Barnes & Noble (ebook & hardcover)
Scholastic
Find Erin Bow via the following:
Official Site
Goodreads
Find Malena PR via the following:
Website
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