Staff Picks Blog
I’m love-love-loving this Young Adult fantasy series even though this second book was gigantic (715 pages). A great high-fantasy tale with a gripping plot and characters that are more than just Harry Potter -slash- Tolkien spinoffs. Lamplighter two finds bookish Rossamund beginning his apprenticeship lighting the lamps that keep the Emperor’s highways somewhat safe from roaming bands of monsters (bogles). He’s joined in this new book by a headstrong girl and meets up with old friends from the first story as well.
I would recommend starting with the first book, Foundling, even though it is a little slow at times. Lamplighter has much more action, heck, someone is torn apart by monsters in the first few pages! Rock!
My only real complaint here is the excessive use of Cornish’s new fantasy terminology to describe everything (hats, coats, weapons, horse-drawn coaches, etc…). It wasn’t as annoying as say Eragon’s sad tribute to Tolkien-speak, but it was still distracting for the first quarter of the novel. Cornish’s amazing drawings are again sprinkled throught which made the characters really come alive in my mind. A bit of a cliff-hanger semi-surprise ending made me anxious for book three! Recommended for fans of John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series.
