The Thief Who Sang Storms
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
An extraordinary tale of unity and friendship from the award-winning, internationally-bestselling author of The House With Chicken Legs
The Island of Morovia is shaped like a broken heart. The humans live on one side of the island, and the alkonosts -- the bird-people -- live on the other. But it wasn't always this way...
Linnet wishes she could sing magic, like her father, Nightingale -- and bring the two sides of her island together again. For her land has been divided by a terrible tragedy, and Linnet has been banished with her father to the deepest swamps, leaving behind her best friends, Hero and Silver.
So when her father is captured, Linnet must be brave and embark on a treacherous journey. Through alligator pools and sinking sands, she finds new friends. Yet without her singing magic, Linnet discovers something even more powerful. Something that could save her father, and heal the broken heart of her island once more...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shaped like a broken heart, the floating Island of Moravia is home to two species—birdlike, magic-singing alkanosts, and humans, long ago shipwrecked on the island. The groups lived in harmony until a tidal wave three years back claimed a ship and the groups' respective queens. Blamed by Captain Ilya, a human royal guard who holds singing magic responsible for the event, the alkanosts are persecuted: forbidden to use their abilities, banned from public spaces, and forced to live in a swamp. Among them is Linnet, 13, whose mother also went down with the ship; though her magic has yet to manifest, Linnet believes that her song will eventually oust Captain Ilya and reunite the islands' inhabitants. When her father is arrested, Linnet gathers allies, including former human friend Hero, now a member of the royal guard, to free her unjustly imprisoned dad and others. Drawing upon a Russian folk poem for inspiration, per an author's note, Anderson (The Castle of Tangled Magic) uses Linnet's hopeful first-person narration to flesh out imaginatively wrought beings and landscapes throughout a quietly magical folk telling that examines themes of injustice, prejudice, and unity. Alkanosts' feathers and skin change color during molts; Hero has light brown skin. Ages 8–12.
