From Barnes & NobleNewbury Honor award winner Gail Carson Levine delivers an enthralling fantasy about a young girl acting for a life, a shape-shifting ogre villain, and a dragon detective of extraordinary cleverness. And that doesn't even mention the cats, the four-legged thieves, or the eccentric royals. A feast of the imagination for young readers.
Publishers WeeklyIn this fairy-tale whodunit, country girl Elodie's parents scrounge up fare to send her to the city of Two Castles, with instructions to find a weaver willing to take her on gratis for a 10-year apprenticeship. (Elodie, intent on joining a theatrical troupe, has other ideas.) Alas, months earlier the guilds abolished 10-year apprenticeships; now everyone must pay, and Elodie's one copper is stolen (by a cat) the moment she draws it from her purse.
