Title: Igraine the Brave
Author: Cornelia Funke
Igraine lives in Pimpernel Castle with her mother, her father, her older brother and her talking cat, Sisyphus. Her parents, the Fair Melisande and Sir Lamorak the Wily (or the Witty), are magicians, and her brother Albert is training to be one too. Igraine, though, unlike her family, is uninterested in magic. She wants to be a knight, like her great-grandfather Pelleas.
Pimpernel, built by one of her ancestors, was often besieged before Igraine was born. The motive? Igraine's family owns the Singing Books of Magic. The castle has few neighbours, the closest being the Baroness of Darkrock, whose two pleasures in life are horses and drinking spicy mead.
The day before her twelfth birthday, as Igraine tells Sisyphus that life at Pimpernel is a bit boring, the master of horses at Darkrock, Bertram, rides to the castle. He has bad news. Osmund the Greedy, or Osmund the Magnificent (it depends on who's talking), the nephew of the Baroness, has arrived unexpectedly at Darkrock. Rumour has it that he wants the Books of Magic.
Melisande and Sir Lamorak are not worried. They assure the anxious Bertram that they can take care of Osmund.
However, they make a little mistake while finishing Igraine's birthday present...and both are turned into pigs. Talking pigs.
Meanwhile, Osmund is coming. The Baroness has disappeared.
Igraine's parents, now being pigs, can't work magic. And that means that they can't get rid of Osmund and his army until they turn back into humans. For that, they need giant's hair. Unfortuntely they're out of stock.
Osmund and his castellan, the Iron Hedgehog, a.k.a Rowan Heartless, show up outside Pimpernel and warn Albert and Igraine that if the Singing Books are not handed over to Osmund the next day, the castle will be beseiged.
As it is an emergency, the books agree to help Albert hold off Osmund until Igraine returns from the journey she has volunteered to go on- to the hills in the west to get giant's hair.
She succeeds, and meets the Sorrowful Knight along the way, who helps her. And then she learns that the cure will take an hour during which none of Pimpernel's magical defenses will work.
Will Sir Lamorak and Melisande turn back into people without losing Pimpernel? Will Osmund get what he deserves? Will the Sorrowful Knight become happy? And finally, will Igraine become a knight?
Maybe it's below my age group. But even though I'm a teenager, I enjoyed it. And if you like knights, smart girls, magic and twists in the story, I think you will too.
Igraine lives in Pimpernel Castle with her mother, her father, her older brother and her talking cat, Sisyphus. Her parents, the Fair Melisande and Sir Lamorak the Wily (or the Witty), are magicians, and her brother Albert is training to be one too. Igraine, though, unlike her family, is uninterested in magic. She wants to be a knight, like her great-grandfather Pelleas.
Pimpernel, built by one of her ancestors, was often besieged before Igraine was born. The motive? Igraine's family owns the Singing Books of Magic. The castle has few neighbours, the closest being the Baroness of Darkrock, whose two pleasures in life are horses and drinking spicy mead.
The day before her twelfth birthday, as Igraine tells Sisyphus that life at Pimpernel is a bit boring, the master of horses at Darkrock, Bertram, rides to the castle. He has bad news. Osmund the Greedy, or Osmund the Magnificent (it depends on who's talking), the nephew of the Baroness, has arrived unexpectedly at Darkrock. Rumour has it that he wants the Books of Magic.
Melisande and Sir Lamorak are not worried. They assure the anxious Bertram that they can take care of Osmund.
However, they make a little mistake while finishing Igraine's birthday present...and both are turned into pigs. Talking pigs.
Meanwhile, Osmund is coming. The Baroness has disappeared.
Igraine's parents, now being pigs, can't work magic. And that means that they can't get rid of Osmund and his army until they turn back into humans. For that, they need giant's hair. Unfortuntely they're out of stock.
Osmund and his castellan, the Iron Hedgehog, a.k.a Rowan Heartless, show up outside Pimpernel and warn Albert and Igraine that if the Singing Books are not handed over to Osmund the next day, the castle will be beseiged.
As it is an emergency, the books agree to help Albert hold off Osmund until Igraine returns from the journey she has volunteered to go on- to the hills in the west to get giant's hair.
She succeeds, and meets the Sorrowful Knight along the way, who helps her. And then she learns that the cure will take an hour during which none of Pimpernel's magical defenses will work.
Will Sir Lamorak and Melisande turn back into people without losing Pimpernel? Will Osmund get what he deserves? Will the Sorrowful Knight become happy? And finally, will Igraine become a knight?
Maybe it's below my age group. But even though I'm a teenager, I enjoyed it. And if you like knights, smart girls, magic and twists in the story, I think you will too.
No comments:
Post a Comment