The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby

Amid the several highly anticipated children's and YA works this year by big names such as Suzanne Collins and Rick Riordan, one can be forgiven for missing the entry onto the stage of Matthew Kirby’s first novel, The Clockwork Three. Forgiven, but no longer excused, for among all those much more hyped releases (though they are often justifiably hyped), this stands out as among the best. There. Now you know. You should get it.

The Clockwork Three follows, no surprise, three characters. One is Giuseppe, a young busker sold off by his uncle in Italy to America where he is forced to give over the nightly coins he receives for playing his fiddle... Read More

Icefall by Matthew Kirby

Last year I wrote this about Matthew Kirby’s novel The Clockwork Three:

“Amid the several highly anticipated children's and YA works this year by big names such as Suzanne Collins and Rick Riordan, one can be forgiven for missing the entry onto the stage of Matthew Kirby’s first novel, The Clockwork Three. Forgiven, but no longer excused, for among all those much more hyped releases (though they are often justifiably hyped), this stands out as among the best. There. Now you know. You should get it.”

One might imagine, therefore, that Kirby’s second novel, Icefall, would have a difficult time matching the quality of the first. Darned if he didn’t just do it though. Before I’d even finished it, Icefall was already on my list of top ten children’s novels for 2011 and by the ti... Read More

Icefall by Matthew Kirby

And how I fear that day, for I know that when I look into my betrayer’s face, I will see someone I thought I knew. And I will still love them.

A Nordic king has gone to war. To protect his three children while he is away, he has sent them, with a small household, to a remote steading. Later, just before the fjord freezes over and shuts the steading in for the winter, he sends reinforcements: a force of berserkers who exist uneasily alongside the others who dwell there.

Our heroine is Solveig, the middle child of the king. Her beautiful older sister Asa will bring a great alliance when she marries. Her younger brother Harald will be a warrior and become king one day. Solveig, plain and seemingly unremarkable, feels overlooked by her father. She is, however, a talented storyteller, and the king’s skald, Alric, takes her under his wing and begins teaching her the art. This training... Read More