keilexandra: Adorable panda with various Chinese overlays. (Default)
Keix ([personal profile] keilexandra) wrote2008-02-26 11:23 pm

The Shamer's Daughter, by Lene Kaaberbol

The Shamer's Daughter
by Lene Kaaberbol
235 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy/YA

This is Book 1 of the Shamer's Chronicles, and that fact alone nearly turned me away. But I checked it out from the school library on a crazy whim, and it seems my library-luck is holding firm. Although The Shamer's Daughter has classic characteristics of the first-in-a-series syndrome--especially the incomplete ending--it is short, quick, and satisfying.

Dina Tonerra, age 11, has inherited her mother's gift--or curse--as Shamer. She can look anyone in the eye and see their darkest secrets, rouse their conscience and sense of shame. But when her mother is called to Dunark Castle to investigate murders of the highest degree, Dina is drawn into a far different world from her tiny village hometown--a world of conspiracy, deception, blood and dragons. The Shamer's gift is not infallible, and there are (as expected) societal consequences attached.

The character development here is sketchy but interesting; the plot is political but also necessarily simplistic. Dina is only a girl, after all, not even a teenager; keep her age in mind, especially considering that half of the supporting characters are adults. I had issues with the unfinished, loose ending, but I've also come to expect such things from YA series. I liked how the magic wasn't all-powerful, or even a omnipresent--there are only extraordinary people, and dragons. Ultimately, despite my complaints, I'll be on the lookout for the next volume of the Shamer's Chronicles.

[identity profile] wolfpurrs.livejournal.com 2008-02-27 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
That's an interesting idea. I think I'll look into that too.
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[identity profile] coffeeandink.livejournal.com 2008-02-27 11:24 pm (UTC)(link)
This is, ironically, the only one of the series I haven't read yet -- originally I picked up Bk 2 from the library. I wasn't expecting much because it looked very generic, but I found it unexpectedly deep and thoughtful about power, lack of power, and consequences.
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[identity profile] coffeeandink.livejournal.com 2008-02-28 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
There are four books in total, all out. There could be more, I suppose, but the fourth does make a natural endpoint.

[identity profile] ww2b.livejournal.com 2008-02-28 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
Looks interesting, I guess. What exactly does a Shamer do besides that though?
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[identity profile] shikonsapphire.livejournal.com 2008-03-03 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
I read this book a couple years ago, and liked it. 4th or 5th grade or something. P: Then I spent another 3 years trying to remember what the series/book was called, and ... well, now that I look at it, it's so.. generic fantasy. ; o; Can't stand this stuff anymore. XD;

They have 2, 3, and 4 at the Newark Library. And they're almost always just sitting there, too. 8O

(Anonymous) 2008-03-12 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I hate u