The Star Shard: A winning children’s fantasy

The Star Shard by Frederic S. Durbin

The Star Shard, by Frederic S. Durbin, is a winning children’s fantasy with an intriguing setting, albeit a bit implausible. The main character, Cymbril, is a young orphan girl-slave who lives on the Thunder Rake, a mind-bogglingly massive wagon that claws its way on seven-story wheels through the countryside to trade with the world’s cities, towns, and villages. It is basically a market town on wheels that goes where the customers are. Cymbril’s job is to sing to attract and keep the crowds that will fill the market’s coffers, much to the delight of her owner, Rombol. The book’s precipitating event is when Rombol purchases another slave, this one a young Fey boy named Loric. Cymbril finds herself unaccountably intrigued by Loric and the two, to no surprise, eventually plot an escape attempt. Along the way, Cymbril learns more not only about Loric, the Fey, and magic, but also about her own self and her past, as well as the history of the city she’s called home (though it was not her first home).

The plot is a bit predictable, though there are a few nice surprises to spice things up a bit. The characters a bit stock, though Cymbril especially is fully developed and sharply drawn. Loric is less complete and many of the side characters seldom rise above their roles as plot points, though a few do here and there. The setting, despite some built-in logic issues, is vivid and intriguing and though we spend most time on the Rake (which is fine given its creativity), we do see a bit of the outer world as well, enough to whet our interest for more. We also get some hints as to other characters that tease us with tantalizing glimpses and imply we’ll see them at some point in a later book perhaps.

I found The Star Shard a charming and quick read, the setting relatively unique (with hints of Phillip Reeve’s MORTAL CITIES to it), and the story suspenseful enough to carry me along happily. My ten-year-old son, whom I started it aloud with, liked it so much that after a few read-aloud sessions, he snuck down one night, stole it off the table without my noticing, and finished it that night (and he had a ways to go). Not only that, but he didn’t tell me for a few days of continued read-alouds, which meant he liked it enough to read it twice. That’s probably a better gauge of a book for young readers. It is for young readers though, I’d say, as older teens would probably find it a bit pale for the most part. Recommended on my part for younger teens and readers and clearly highly recommended by my ten-year-old.

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BILL CAPOSSERE lives in Rochester NY, where he is lately spending much of his time trying to finish a book-length collection of essays and a full-length play. His prior work has appeared in Colorado Review, Rosebud, Alaska Quarterly, and other journals and been recognized in the "Notable Essays" section of several Best American Essay anthologies. When he's not writing, reading, reviewing, co-writing the Malazan Empire re-read at Tor.com, or working as an English adjunct, he can usually be found with his wife and son on the frisbee golf course, the ultimate frisbee field, or trying to keep up with his wife's flute and his son's trumpet on the clarinet he just picked up this month.

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