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Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge (view source)
Revision as of 11:17, 3 September 2020
, 11:17, 3 September 2020no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Cuckoo Song
|author=Frances Hardinge
|publisher=Macmillan Children's Books
|date=May 2014
|website=http://www.franceshardinge.com
|summary=From the striking and haunting front cover which has already inspired a make-up demo on You Tube, to the intricately crafted fairy tale with a twist, this book is a piece of art. Hardinge writes beautiful, lyrical, descriptive prose which makes her story come alive.
|cover=0330519735
|aznuk=0330519735
|aznus=0330519735
}}
'''Shortlisted for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal'''
Marketed as a twisted fairy tale, ''Cuckoo Song'' is so much more. Hardinge’s lyrical style sets it apart from other fantasy reads. Such phrases as ''she was weeping spider silk'' lend it a melody all of its own. At the story’s heart is the sense of wanting to belong and connect with others. It revolves around Piers Crescent’s daughter Triss who wakes up after an accident to find that her world has changed. She doesn’t feel that she is herself and starts to exhibit extremely peculiar behaviour. She is ravenous and inexplicably binge eats. For some reason her little sister Pen appears to hate her, scissors act strangely around her and her parents are anxious for her to remain ill and cosseted. She has memories from the time before she nearly drowned but she can’t visualise the actual incident.
''Cuckoo Song'' is worthy of the Carnegie long list as it challenges stereotypes. Like Chris Wooding's ""Poison"", it inverts usual fairy tale conventions and resets the boundaries. I enjoyed it and I hope you will too.
If you like elegantly crafted fantasy you should try [[The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman]], an inverted amalgam of well loved fairy tales exquisitely illustrated by Chris Riddell or for more sinister magic and menace [[Tinder by Sally Gardner]]. For a collection of fairy tale tropes such as mermaids, witches, goblins and dragons explore [[The Kingdom Under the Sea by Joan Aiken and Jan Pienkowski]] or experience the magical retelling of [[The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey]] set in 1920's Alaska. Alternatively if you would like something completely different which translates traditional fairy tales into an imaginative tour de force featuring a futuristic setting of lovelorn cyborgs and malicious moon queens why not lose yourself in [[The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder by Marissa Meyer]] and [[Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, Book 2) by Marissa Meyer]]. You might also enjoy [[Impossible by Nancy Werlin]].
{{amazontext|amazon=3305197350330519735}}{{amazonUStext|amazon=3305197350330519735}}
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[[Category:Fantasy]]
[[Category:Teens]]