Sunday 3 February 2008

My Swordhand Is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick

After finding the Book of Dead Days and The Dark Flight Down very enjoyable, I was glad to see this book in the library.

Peter lives with his father, Thomas, in a little village somewhere deep in the forests of eastern Europe way back in probably the 13th Century or sometime like that. Thomas is a drunkard who is supposed to be the woodcutter for the village, but Peter has to do all the work for him.

The story begins with a gruesome death. A man is killed by someone who is supposed to be dead. Gypsies come to the village to speak to Thomas, but he refuses to speak with them. When more people die and start to come back to life, Peter realises that his father is not who he claims to be and the mysterious object in the box that his father never shows anybody may be the key to stopping the undead from walking amongst the living.


My Swordhand is Singing is a very good vampire story, but it feels to me like something is missing all the way through. Parts, I felt, were rushed and others were laboured. I did, however, think the characters were spot on and the bit at the end explaining all the names for vampires was rather unexpected and appreciated.

Rating: 3 out of 5

1 comment:

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