The Hollow Bettle
The
Poisons of Caux Trilogy
Susannah
Appelbaum
Knopf (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-375-85173-9 (0375851739)
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-85173-5 (9780375851735)
Publication Date: August 2009
List Price: $16.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): There's little joy left in the kingdom of Caux: the evil King Nightshade rules with terrible tyranny and the law of the land is poison or be poisoned. Worse, eleven-year-old Ivy’s uncle, a famous healer, has disappeared, and Ivy sets out to find him, joined by a young taster named Rowan. But these are corrupt times, and the children—enemies of the realm—are not alone. What exactly do Ivy and Rowan’s pursuers want? Is it Ivy’s prized red bettle, which, unlike any other gemstone in Caux, appears—impossibly—to be hollow? Is it the elixir she concocted—the one with the mysterious healing powers? Or could it be Ivy herself?
Review: “A
very long time ago, a girl was poisoned ... [and her father] the king
turned his back on Caux and doomed his people to a life of misery under
the Deadly Nightshades.” So begins Susannah Appelbaum’s
first book in The Poisons of Caux series, The Hollow Bettle. Poisons have
become a way of life in the kingdom of Caux, and without a proper
taster, people are dying left and right. However, eleven-year-old Ivy
Manx is worried about a lot more than simply being poisoned. Cecil, her
uncle who has loved and cared for her since her birth, has disappeared.
Cecil is not just an ordinary may–he is the last apotheopath
healer in the entire kingdom–an outlawed profession by the evil
King Nightshade. Ivy makes it her quest to return her uncle to the
safety of their home. Little does she know there is a greater quest out
there for her, and there are evil people that are looking to destroy
her chances of success–and possibly even destroy her in the
process. With the help of her newfound friend, Rowan–a failure of
a taster–Ivy begins the adventure of a lifetime.
The Hollow Bettle is a
well-crafted novel filled with plenty of adventure, humor, and a
fantastical setting that is enhanced with interesting characters. Ivy
is a wise girl who is a gifted student of apotheopathy but prefers to
concoct poisons instead. At her side is Rowan, an accredited taster who
manages to kill an entire group of sentries by incorrectly approving a
poisoned soup. And, there is the evil Verjouce who ripped out his eyes
so his other senses would be enhanced. Leading the country is Queen
Nightshade who poisons her entire staff for fun and King Nightshade who
has a bizarre urge to break into poetry at any given moment as is seen
in this exchange:
“‘What kind of thoughtless buffoon do I have in my service?
Are you even qualified to dispense this advice? Perhaps you have a
diploma, then? From the school of Quackery? Who even authorized you to
speak, you vulgarian?!’ The king looked around the room, fuming.
He paused theatrically. He felt a poem coming on–and
instinctively, everyone in the room cringed.”
The struggle with The Hollow Bettle
is not with the story itself, for it is very well written and crafted.
However, I am not entirely confident that it will reach the intended
audience. According to the publisher, “(The Poisons of Caux
series is) the perfect way to introduce young readers to the magical
world of middle grade fiction.” This is supported by the age of
the main character, Ivy, who turns 11 early on in the book. Typically,
children enjoy reading books about characters that are slightly older
than themselves. With that in mind, it can be assumed that the series
is intended for children who are 9-10 years old. The story is very
appropriate for that age group–and may in fact at times be seen
as trite by older readers. However, the vocabulary the author uses,
particularly in the first half of the book, is very challenging. For
example, the author describes Verjouce in the following:
“Even if Verjouce weren’t such a frightening apparition,
his glowering countenance and vicious tongue were enough to give
children nightmares. He stood head and shoulders above his cowering
subrectors, with a mane of long hair parted severely down the center of
his scalp–its shade one that was hard to pinpoint, almost devoid
of color, as if the pigment were somehow leached out of it.”
This excerpt demonstrates a fairly typical vocabulary, though there are
several more complex words–most of which seem to be associated
with apotheopathy, which itself appears to be a profession fabricated
specifically for this series. Unlike the Lemony Snicket series to which
The Poisons of Caux has been compared, the author does not consistently
offer definitions of complex words, and does not always supply enough
context clues to help the early-middle school reader decipher
unfamiliar words. For this reason, The
Hollow Bettle is probably best suited for gifted readers, for
whom the vocabulary may quite possibly still pose a challenge.
Nonetheless, Appelbaum has done a commendable job with her first book
in the series, and assuredly many children will look forward to her
second installment.
Special thanks to Margo Nauert for contributing her review of The Hollow Bettle and to Random House for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — Margo Nauert — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission
Have you read The Hollow Bettle? How would you rate it?
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The Hollow Bettle
Knopf (Hardcover), August 2009
ISBN-10: 0-375-85173-9 (0375851739)
ISBN-13: 978-0-375-85173-5 (9780375851735)
Omnimystery keywords for The Hollow Bettle ...
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