SORROW'S KNOT is one of my top reads for 2013. I hadn't gone 3 pages before I was drawn in and held spellbound by Erin's dark tale of love, friendship and madness.
Backdrop
Backdrop
Westmost is a small isolated village at the western edge of known civilization. We aren't told how the eastern places are ruled but Westmost is governed by women. In fact, the only males there are children. (The boys, when they are old enough, leave and go down the river with the men who come to trade with the settlement.)
Westmost exist there because of the binders. These are women who have the strength and knowledge to weave the knots that bind the evils outside. And the danger isn't wild animals, as you'd think; but the dead. Shadowed creatures that take two forms.
The first type of dead are small and have always been. They hide in the forest and in the earth and grasses and they inflict pain and hurt, but are easily killed and defended against. Newer though are the White Hands. These are terrible human-dead that are capable of engulfing souls and turning people's minds to madness so that they too become evil shadow creatures.
Background
Otter (girl & main character), Kestrel (girl), and Cricket (dude) are best friends. They have grown up together and now they are coming of age. Kestrel wishes to take training as a ranger, like Otter's grandmother. These are women who roam the forest hunting and gathering. They are also the ones that kill the dead.
It is expected that Cricket will leave. That come spring he will follow the men who come to trade when they turn back home. Then he will seek out someone strong in the magic of storytelling to apprentice to.
Otter desires nothing more than to begin training with her mother to be a binder. It's the most important role in the community, because it is the binders who weave the spells that keep the dead out. And it has been clear for some time that Otter has the skills to do this.
Story
Life in the little community begins to spin out of control when Otter's mother is touched by a White Hand, for the community has no ready defense against the corruption of it's own Binder.
SORROW'S KNOT is beautiful. A dark fantasy that combines horror with beauty and wonder. The narrative has a fairytale feel, but the subject matter deals with love and death and the difficulty of letting go of our grief.
What I love about this book –besides the excellent writing and characters – is that it manages to be both epic in nature, and yet very personal. It was utterly important to find out how White Hands were created. But painful to see the task fall to these three friends.
I HIGHLY recommend SORROW'S KNOT to readers who are in the mood for stylized narrative that will transport them to somewhere else.
Westmost exist there because of the binders. These are women who have the strength and knowledge to weave the knots that bind the evils outside. And the danger isn't wild animals, as you'd think; but the dead. Shadowed creatures that take two forms.
The first type of dead are small and have always been. They hide in the forest and in the earth and grasses and they inflict pain and hurt, but are easily killed and defended against. Newer though are the White Hands. These are terrible human-dead that are capable of engulfing souls and turning people's minds to madness so that they too become evil shadow creatures.
Background
Otter (girl & main character), Kestrel (girl), and Cricket (dude) are best friends. They have grown up together and now they are coming of age. Kestrel wishes to take training as a ranger, like Otter's grandmother. These are women who roam the forest hunting and gathering. They are also the ones that kill the dead.
It is expected that Cricket will leave. That come spring he will follow the men who come to trade when they turn back home. Then he will seek out someone strong in the magic of storytelling to apprentice to.
Otter desires nothing more than to begin training with her mother to be a binder. It's the most important role in the community, because it is the binders who weave the spells that keep the dead out. And it has been clear for some time that Otter has the skills to do this.
Story
Life in the little community begins to spin out of control when Otter's mother is touched by a White Hand, for the community has no ready defense against the corruption of it's own Binder.
SORROW'S KNOT is beautiful. A dark fantasy that combines horror with beauty and wonder. The narrative has a fairytale feel, but the subject matter deals with love and death and the difficulty of letting go of our grief.
What I love about this book –besides the excellent writing and characters – is that it manages to be both epic in nature, and yet very personal. It was utterly important to find out how White Hands were created. But painful to see the task fall to these three friends.
I HIGHLY recommend SORROW'S KNOT to readers who are in the mood for stylized narrative that will transport them to somewhere else.
Pam~
SORROW'S KNOT
by Erin Bow
Reading Information:
Word Count: 80,337
Page Count: 368
Accelerated Reader: 4.9 / points: 12.0
AR quiz: 162051
Lexile: HL620L
--sample pages and reviews available
Sneak Peek: Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow (Excerpt)
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