The Kiss of Death
By marcus sedgwick
Blurb
In this second book Peter is still intent on capturing the Shadow Queen but for much of the book he is not present. The bulk of the book focuses on a young boy named Marcus who has headed to Venice searching for his father. Little does he realise that his search will lead him to an army of the undead built by the Shadow Queen herself.
Our Review
The Kiss Of Death is the sequel to My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick. Although I still enjoyed this book it did have a bit of a different feel to it than the first book. I felt it was aimed at a slightly younger audience, but still one that could be classed as young adult.
In this second book Peter is still intent on capturing the Shadow Queen but for much of the book he is not present. The bulk of the book focuses on a young boy named Marcus who has headed to Venice searching for his father. Little does he realise that his search will lead him to an army of the undead built by the Shadow Queen herself.
The book begins in the style readers will have grown to love during the course of My Swordhand is Singing, a tone of atmospheric creepiness.
“Death can come in many forms, but in Venice, death comes by water.”
Marcus is travelling to Venice in search of his father and at the behest of his mother who cannot leave her other children to search for him. Marcus is in possession of a page from a violently worded letter, a letter unlike anything he would expect his father to write but nonetheless written in his hand. Attached to the letter was a note from an S Bellini stating that his father was missing and could someone please come to Venice to help.
The Captain of the ship that brings him into Venice warns him to be careful of the city and takes pity on him by helping him to find his destination and meeting place. Once there Marcus is surprised to see the person he is meeting is a girl around his age.
The girl is equally surprised and disappointed to see Marcus as he is far from what she hoped to get when she asked for help.
Back at her house we learn that he father has some kind of mysterious illness that sent him mad and also that he was the last person to see Marcus’ father.
Together that set out to find a way save her father and find Marcus’ father, but their journey will bring them into contact with the undead.
One of my favourite things about this book was the tale of the origins of the Shadow Queen. Told in the style of a fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm, in particular it’s dark nature.
Our Final Rating...
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