Foundling by D.M. Cornish (Part 1 of the Monster Blood Tattoo)
Not all monsters look like monsters. Some everyday folk are the worst monsters of all …
Doesn’t that line conjure up images.
In this opening book of a trilogy DM Cornish creates a wonderful set of characters, monsters and all. His main character, Rossamund is a boy living in an orphanage. Yes he has a girls name. Character building isn’t it. At the start of the book Rossamund is chosen for an apprenticeship in service to the Emperor. And so begins an adventure including monsters, theives, and even some everyday folk (who may be monsters).
Cornish has created a wonderful fantasy world in the classic style, filled it with adventure and good characters and written a book of over 400 pages that many 10-14 year olds will find hard to put down. So often it is hard to create a world, populate it and set up an adventure without everything getting bogged down and unreadable. But Cornish manages to keep the excitement up and the story captivating.
