3 out of 5 stars
Lidi is a brilliant magician, but she has yet to master one
trick: the rope trick. And there is only
one person in the world who can teach her it: the elusive, legendary
Ferramondo. As she travels across a
medieval Italian countryside, she meets many new friends to help and hinder her
on her way: Daniella, an orphan girl who can tell the future; Julian, a
handsome outlaw; a troupe of dancing pigs.
But when the evil baron who made Julian an outlaw kidnaps Daniella,
their journey takes on new priorities.
As with many of Alexander’s works, there is an episodic
nature to the story, aided by the fact that as a travelling magician Lidi can
be in a different town every night. But
there is also a real strength of each adventure building on the previous,
growing to a climax and creating an enjoyable whole.
The characters are lively.
Each episode has new and different challenges so the story is always
fresh. As this was Alexander’s last book before his passing, one would think he
was still at the top of his game.
And then there was the ending. Everything was progressing nicely through the
climax and then the dénouement came out of left field. I do not know what happened. I mean that literally. I don’t know what was going on in that last
chapter. I have some theories, but it
was completely unexpected and not explained clearly. As such, it soured the reading experience.
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