The 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
Apr. 16th, 2009 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
While visiting her grandmother’s house, Tanya discovers an unsolved mystery. Fifty years ago, a girl vanished in the woods nearby – a girl Tanya’s grandmother will not speak of. Fabian, the caretaker’s son, is tormented by the girl’s disappearance. His grandfather was the last person to see her alive, and has lived under suspicion ever since. Together, Tanya and Fabian decide to find the truth. But Tanya has her own secret: the ability to see fairies. Can it help them to unravel the mystery? Soon they are facing terrible danger – could the manor’s sinister history be about to repeat itself?
12 year-old Tanya can see fairies, and they don’t like it. They’ve played tricks on her all her life and she has to take the blame. With her mother unable to cope, Tanya is sent to her grandmother’s house, an ancient mansion near the gossipy village of Tickey End that’s home to dark secrets. In addition to her emotionally distant grandmother, the mansion’s inhabited by Fabian (an annoying boy keen on scientific experiments), his father Warwick (the surly housekeeper) and Warwick’s father Amos (an insane old man who haunts the attic). Plus the mansion is infested with fairies.
Things change when Tanya finds an old book in her grandmother’s library, a book that tells her how to beat the fairies at their own game. As she tries out the techniques, she learns more of the mansion’s history, including the disappearance of a teenage girl 50 years earlier, which Amos was implicated in. When Fabian and Tanya think they see the girl in the woods, they resolve to solve the mystery but doing so draws them both into the fairies’ world and put them both in danger.
At times reminiscent of THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, there’s a bit of a mis-mash feel to this book. Tanya’s dilemma is interesting and there’s a sinister element to the scenes where the fairies warn her never to talk about them. Yet Tanya never shows any interest in trying to find out more about them until she finds the book by accident and even then, there’s a curious lack of urgency to her search. Similarly the mystery element feels a little tacked on and the investigation is almost by default.
The changeling element to the story is well handled, particularly the introduction of Red, a teenage girl who tells Tanya about the Seelie and Unseelie Court. However the 13 treasures themselves are a red herring (being a charm bracelet used to set up some of the backstory) and don’t play a significant part in the proceedings.
A slightly open ending leaves the way open for a sequel and although Harrison is a little too keen on telling rather than showing, the writing’s pretty good and the situation interesting enough to see how it develops.
The Verdict:
Not quite as good as I was hoping, children aged 9 – 12 should find it an interesting read and there are some genuinely creepy moments. I’d be interested in seeing what else Harrison does.
While visiting her grandmother’s house, Tanya discovers an unsolved mystery. Fifty years ago, a girl vanished in the woods nearby – a girl Tanya’s grandmother will not speak of. Fabian, the caretaker’s son, is tormented by the girl’s disappearance. His grandfather was the last person to see her alive, and has lived under suspicion ever since. Together, Tanya and Fabian decide to find the truth. But Tanya has her own secret: the ability to see fairies. Can it help them to unravel the mystery? Soon they are facing terrible danger – could the manor’s sinister history be about to repeat itself?
12 year-old Tanya can see fairies, and they don’t like it. They’ve played tricks on her all her life and she has to take the blame. With her mother unable to cope, Tanya is sent to her grandmother’s house, an ancient mansion near the gossipy village of Tickey End that’s home to dark secrets. In addition to her emotionally distant grandmother, the mansion’s inhabited by Fabian (an annoying boy keen on scientific experiments), his father Warwick (the surly housekeeper) and Warwick’s father Amos (an insane old man who haunts the attic). Plus the mansion is infested with fairies.
Things change when Tanya finds an old book in her grandmother’s library, a book that tells her how to beat the fairies at their own game. As she tries out the techniques, she learns more of the mansion’s history, including the disappearance of a teenage girl 50 years earlier, which Amos was implicated in. When Fabian and Tanya think they see the girl in the woods, they resolve to solve the mystery but doing so draws them both into the fairies’ world and put them both in danger.
At times reminiscent of THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, there’s a bit of a mis-mash feel to this book. Tanya’s dilemma is interesting and there’s a sinister element to the scenes where the fairies warn her never to talk about them. Yet Tanya never shows any interest in trying to find out more about them until she finds the book by accident and even then, there’s a curious lack of urgency to her search. Similarly the mystery element feels a little tacked on and the investigation is almost by default.
The changeling element to the story is well handled, particularly the introduction of Red, a teenage girl who tells Tanya about the Seelie and Unseelie Court. However the 13 treasures themselves are a red herring (being a charm bracelet used to set up some of the backstory) and don’t play a significant part in the proceedings.
A slightly open ending leaves the way open for a sequel and although Harrison is a little too keen on telling rather than showing, the writing’s pretty good and the situation interesting enough to see how it develops.
The Verdict:
Not quite as good as I was hoping, children aged 9 – 12 should find it an interesting read and there are some genuinely creepy moments. I’d be interested in seeing what else Harrison does.
