Rating
Summery
Being a spellgrinder's apprentice is dangerous work, and being in the cellar with magical stones, their skin acquires an eerie pale sparkle. It's practically impossible for an apprentice to escape this prison. Tommo somehow managed to break free. But his escape has attracted the interest of someone far more terrifying than the hangman...
Review
The Spellgrinder’s Apprentice sat unread on my shelf for years. I picked it up from a Library bookstall while I was at university and, for some reason, never quite managed to pick it up. Which, now that I have read it, seems ridiculous.
Browne weaves a remarkable adventurous stand-alone story with a fully developed world and interesting characters. It’s a story that is unpredictable and thus keeps you guessing what will happen next. This unpredictability sent me spinning a few times with the twists woven into the story.
At points, I found that time seemed to unexpectedly jump forward, which I found a bit confusing. One of my biggest pet peeves in books is when time is unclear and jumps about. I find that it pulls me out of the story while I try and figure out when we are and what just happened.
This is a relatively short book at 298 pages, and there is nothing terrible about that, but it’s one of those books that I wish had been longer because I enjoyed it so much. I wanted to know more of the history of the world and character backstories and just, in general, more so that I could spend more time soaking it all up. I would happily read more set in Tommo’s world. There was so much about it that had me thoroughly intrigued.
This is a beautiful Middle Grade/Young Adult book that I highly suggest giving a chance.
I believe that it is also called The Silver Boy.
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