The Counterclockwise Heart
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE 2023 MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD FOR MIDDLE GRADE LITERATURE
“Entertaining, fast-paced and thoughtful.”
—The New York Times Book Review
In this thrilling fantasy novel from an award-winning author, a prince and a mage must untangle the riddles from their shared past to save the future of the empire--or risk seeing everything they both love destroyed.
Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .
Time is running out in the empire of Rheinvelt.
The sudden appearance of a strange and frightening statue foretells darkness. The Hierophants—magic users of the highest order—have fled the land. And the shadowy beasts of the nearby Hinterlands are gathering near the borders, preparing for an attack.
Young Prince Alphonsus is sent by his mother, the Empress Sabine, to reassure the people while she works to quell the threat of war. But Alphonsus has other problems on his mind, including a great secret: He has a clock in his chest where his heart should be—and it’s begun to run backwards, counting down to his unknown fate.
Searching for answers about the clock, Alphonsus meets Esme, a Hierophant girl who has returned to the empire in search of a sorceress known as the Nachtfrau. When riddles from their shared past threaten the future of the empire, Alphonsus and Esme must learn to trust each other and work together to save it—or see the destruction of everything they both love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Prince Alphonsus, who has brown skin and was adopted as a foundling by the empress of Rehinvelt and her wife, has an ornate clock embedded in the middle of his chest instead of a human heart—and he soon discovers that it's running backward and beating "in perfect time" with a similar clock in the Onyx Maiden, a statue of unknown origin that looms over a nearby village. Alphonsus's path soon crosses that of pale-skinned, magic-wielding Esme, 12, who has been sent, on behalf of the reclusive Hierophant Collective, to kill the sorceress Nachtfrau, ensuring the Collective's survival. Together, Esme and Alphonsus must save the empire, uncover the Onyx Maiden's true purpose, and defeat a jealous, power-hungry royal advisor. Farrey (The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse) steadily draws in readers with a solemn, brisk tone and a setting reminiscent of classic fairy tales, adroitly working in complex issues, including the price that magic demands and the need for compassion and forgiveness, even in the face of evil. Ages 8–12.
