Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 1)

By this point I think the nation's readers of children's fantasy novels have hit a kind of boredom plateau. You get a new fantasy on your desk and you have to tick off the requirements. Alternate world? Orphaned hero or heroine? School for the extraordinary? To a certain extent, a lot of these tried and true stand-bys are essential to a good book. There's a reason they exist, after all. But after reading a bunch of them, reviewers like myself get a little jaded. Kids think everything's new, so they're more inclined to love the newest sparkly cover that comes down the pike. For us, finding something that is truly original and truly unique is almost impossible. I mean, it's not as if Harry Potter was the first boy to go to wizarding school even. So imagine my surprise when I encountered a truly rare and amazing fantasy world. A place so thoroughly thought out, planned, meticulously recorded, and imagined that it feels less like a fantasy novel and more like the factual memoirs of an alternate world. I'm not exaggerating here. Aussie D.M. Cornish has spent (according to his bookflap) "the last thirteen years bringing the Half-Continent to life." The result is a book that feels like the first true successor to Tolkien I've ever found. His name is Rossamund Bookchild. Bookchild because he is an orphan raised by a Marine Society and given the same last name of all the children there. Rossamund, normally a girl's name, because that was the name pinned to him when he was left on the steps as a babe. Growing up reading exciting pamphlets recounting daring deeds, Rossamund has a dream of someday becoming a sailor (or vinegaroon) on the vinegar seas where high adventure awaits. He dreams of someday seeing the vicious monsters that constantly do battle with man around the country and must always be kept at bay. Yet instead of a glorious life on the seas, Rossamund is told that he is to be apprenticed as a lamplighter, lighting the roads of the Half-Continent. It's a disappointing blow, but on the way to his new job Rossamund hops the wrong boat and finds himself facing monsters, rever-men, teratologists, bogles, leers, wits, and a host of other characters and dangers. Moreover, has Rossamund always been told the truth about the monsters people fight, or is there more to some bogles than meets the eye? Normally when an author wants to introduce you to a new fantasy world, the hero is a kid from our mundane universe who is pushed through extraordinary circumstances into a peculiar realm. Rossamund, however, inclines far more closely to the Bilbo Baggins mode of adventuring. He has led a nice sequestered life in Madame Opera's Estimable Marine Society and his journey turns out to be very much a series of adventures, both good an ill, that are new to him simply because he has only read about the wider world and has not yet lived in it. Yes. Fine. Our hero is an orphan as per a million fantasy novels before. But never have I had

"Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling" is being pushed by its publishers as a great original: "fantastical without conforming to the generally accepted notions of fantasy" (by which they mean that it isn't peopled by wizards and unicorns living in a vaguely European, mock-medieval setting.) The book certainly achieves this goal, although fantasy readers will probably take offense at the insinuation that the genre has nothing but princesses and dragons to offer. Even if this isn't the first fantasy world you encounter with "tri-corner hats and flintlock pistols", there is no denying Cornish's originality. The Half-Continent is a world at war: humans and monsters have been fighting for centuries. Biotechnology supplies light, engine power and even, in some cases, superhuman powers. Our hero, Rossamund, leaves the protected, if not fully comfortable, world of the orphanage where he was raised to start a career as a lamplighter outside the city walls. Early in his travels he is diverted from his true path and we discover the Half-Continent and its inhabitants through his adventures. The world is rendered with thoughtful and convincing detail, complemented by the author's own illustrations and an extensive set of appendices (the "Explicarium".) In truth, "Foundling" is more of a first act than a first book: characters are introduced, mysteries are suggested, the scene is set; but the arc is not complete. I, for one, eagerly await, Act II.

It's very difficult these days to write a good fantasy novel. So many of the traditional themes have been so thoroughly thrashed out it takes a truly inspired imagination to come up with anything even remotely original. It would seem D.A. Cornish has that kind of imagination. From the moment I picked up Monster Blood Tattoo I found myself in a world both utterly convincing in its every detail and completely different to anything I have encountered before. The Wizards wern't invited, it seems. They stayed at home with the Orcs and the Dragons and the Dark Lords. Instead I found Fulgars and Factotums, Foundlings and Skolds, Shrewds and Grinnlings, each living in a world of Flintlocks, Bothersalts, Thrice-Highs and, one of my favourites, "Small Beer". Every aspect of this fascinating new world is described with a masterly hand, from the cities to the lowliest flower, by an author who obviously knows its every blade of grass. The characters are complex, interesting, and totally convincing, from the adventurous Rosammund with his unfortunate name, to the dangerous and deep Europe, the cheerful and dependable Fouracres, and the host of other characters, minor and major who fill the world. It's all real, it's all new, and it's an absolute joy to read. My congratulations to this first time author. I can't wait to read of our new Lamplighter's first day.

This is the book I've been waiting for. Extremely fun and entertaining. Scary and exciting. A coming of age tale with high adventure, lessons and some great action sequences. I enjoyed this book more then the Harry Potters. The characters are well thought out and very well detailed. The best part is the author detailed the world with maps, pictures and a lexicon at the end of the book. I'm hooked! Can't wait till the second installment of this amazing new series!

Picked it up a day or two after it came out. I didn't realize that it was a childrens book, but really enjoyed it. It was a quick read and has set up an interesting world. I must praise the author for his creativeness and can't wait till the next one. I'd even start to say that it compares to Harry Potter but it seemed more complex and more entertaining. A nice summer read for anyone.