The Whatnot
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4.6 • 7 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
The Whatnot is the acclaimed international bestseller and sequel to Stefan Bachmann's riveting debut novel, The Peculiar, which Publishers Weekly called "an absolute treat for readers of any age," and which the Los Angeles Times compared to "Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, and more recent classics, such as J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events."
Twelve-year-old Pikey Thomas is missing an eye, a family, and friends of any sort. One day, running from bigger boys set on bullying him, Pikey finds himself in front of a grand, beautiful house. There he meets and helps a black-winged faery who is injured. It's a small gesture of kindness and bravery in steam-powered Victorian London, where faeries, now banned, are on the run or imprisoned; where the human armies are preparing for war; and where the changeling Bartholomew Kettle, aided by Arthur Jelliby, still searches for his missing sister, Hettie. This is the epic, dark, imaginative, unforgettable, and ultimately hopeful sequel to Stefan Bachmann's acclaimed debut novel, The Peculiar.
"An enthralling read . . . Bachmann combines the pleasures of a Dickensian cast of characters with the eldritch qualities of British faerie lore and adds a touch of steampunk to entice readers into an alternate universe in which the English are on the verge of war with the fay. The breathtaking beauty of his prose is coupled with a plot that also leaves his audience breathless."—School Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this exhilarating, violent sequel to The Peculiar, Bartholomew, a half-fairy changeling, and Pikey Thomas, a penniless 12-year-old street boy with a magical eye, wander a steampunkish Victorian London in search of Bartholomew's kidnapped sister, Hettie. Bartholomew, Hettie, and Pikey seemingly mere pawns in the heated dispute between fairies and the English all have the potential to influence the approaching war. Bachmann writes with a skill that belies his youth. His imagination tends toward the surreal, and he has a genius for envisioning fairy magic and architecture, as in his description of a vast, fluctuating fairy house that Hettie explores: "Sometimes she would step into a hallway that was being reconstructed and would discover a wall behind her where seconds before there had been a door, or that all the panels had been flipped and what had looked like a regular corridor before, now looked like a deep forest of red and rust-colored mushrooms." Readers will want to start with The Peculiar, and immediately dive into this fine tale. Ages 8 12.
Customer Reviews
Eccentric and Awesome... ♥️ it‼️
For those of you who like a world full of: unique magic, interesting characters and conflicts, and good books, The Whatnot is a must read. 🎭♠️♣️♥️♦️☮️🍰🌹🐞
Brilliant writing!
Keep your eye on this writer, he knows how to shock, titilate and intrigue his readers and this book is no exception.