Alphabet of Thorn – Patricia A. McKillip
Like Harry Potter for grownups.
Nepenthe is an orphan who was taken in by the libarians of a magic kingdom. At sixteen, she is gifted at deciphering dead languages; when confronted from a manuscript of a language whose written alphabet resembles thorns, she becomes enmeshed in its mystery. At the same time, a new queen is taking over the kingdom and danger threatens. And of course, the destinies of both Nepenthe and the queen are interwoven.
I don’t want to give too much away, because I would highly recommend reading this simply for the language and sprightly imagination McKillip displays, but I have to say that the ending was a little too neatly tied up.
Comments
[...] Following on the tail of Alphabet of Thorn, I grabbed this other McKillip title when I saw it on the shelf. It wasn’t nearly as good. Really, don’t bother with this one. It lacked a spark. [...]
[...] Funnily enough, I read somewhere this was a good book (actually, a trilogy in one volume), checked it out, never got around to it, unknowingly reading some other books by the same author, realized who it was by, and then checked it out again. [...]