Starred review from June 15, 2024
What happens when an unlikely hero must transport the Dead to their final destination? Fourteen-year-old Milo's not cut out to work with dead people, or so his father is quick to tell him. Though his dad is the Ferryman, entrusted with taking the newly deceased by ship from their island, Merlank, to the Island of the Broken Towers, where they can move on, Milo lacks the right disposition. But right or not, that's precisely what he'll have to do when his father is slain by a man working for the Lord of Merlank, who's desperate to keep his daughter in the land of the living. What follows is a chase across the sea. In the front is Milo, piloting his father's ship, the Evening Mare, and trying to remember all the rules involved in this voyage. In hot pursuit are the lord and his magicians, all attempting to keep one dead girl from leaving. Hardinge treads a delicate line between horror and hope. Milo's abilities shine through his doubts, even as he faces trial after trial. The result is part fairy tale, part contemplation of life, death, grief, and the comfort that comes when others listen. Accompanying Hardinge's poignant prose, Gravett's pen-and-ink art taps perfectly into the book's tone, highlighting moments both big and infinitesimally small. Most characters have skin the white of the page. A deftly told, bittersweet story of loved ones lost and remembered, tinged with hope and courage. (Fantasy. 7-12)
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2024
Milo's father has a vital role to play on the island of Merlank: he's the Ferryman, responsible for transporting the Dead to a place where their spirits are free to depart, no longer hampered by Merlank's clingy mist. Otherwise, the Dead would linger, blighting the land and killing others with their fatal gaze. Thus, when the grieving Lord of Merlank causes Milo's father's death, Milo must become the Ferryman and sail the Evening Mare, despite what his father always deemed the dangers of Milo's sympathetic, imaginative spirit. Don't listen to them; don't look at them, was his father's self-protective way with the Dead. But when the Lord's daughter writes a poem on the deck, desperate for her words to go on living despite her early demise, Milo realizes that listening, recording, and sharing can also be part of the Ferryman's job. Gravett's spectacularly misty, atmospheric illustrations, all in shades of indigo, heighten what is most elusive and poignant about Hardinge's story -- the sorrow of endings, the significance of last messages, and the inexorability of mortality. Hardinge's own poetic language (most clearly visible in the girl's poem: "The gnats sing the sun to sleep / Over the lake the air cools / Twinned birds fly through two pink skies") brings multiple shimmering layers to both plot and imagery in this melancholic, fantastical tale. Deirdre F. Baker
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from July 8, 2024
Fourteen-year-old Milo sails a ship of souls to the realm of the dead in this elegiac fantasy from Hardinge (Unraveller). On Merlank, the dead linger until Milo’s father, the Ferryman, can deliver them to the Island of the Broken Tower, from which they can ascend to the afterlife. The dead are drawn to the shoes they wore in life, so after the death of the Lord of Merlank’s daughter, his wife gives the Ferryman the girl’s favorite pair to help lead her aboard his boat. But the grieving Lord has other plans; he tries to reclaim the shoes so his magicians can attempt to resurrect his daughter. He kills the Ferryman and captures Milo’s brother, but Milo escapes with both the girl’s shoes and his dad’s boots, determined to make the journey to the Broken Tower himself so that the girl and his father can pass on peacefully. Though the Lord gives chase, he is the least of Milo’s concerns along the mystical trials separating him from his destination. Using spare, evocative prose, Hardinge weaves a nuanced and affecting tale about grief, compassion, and the importance of living life fully. Gravett (A Song of Gladness) enhances the otherworldly tone with black, white, and light blue illustrations that are by turns bold and ethereal. All characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 10–14. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency.
August 1, 2024
Grades 3-7 This illustrated novella follows Milo, son of the Ferryman, a local figure tasked with collecting the shoes of the dead and through those items helping souls along to the Island of the Broken Tower, "the passing place of the dead." When the daughter of a lord dies, the distraught father employs magicians to extend her life through twisted arts. In an attempt to reclaim her shoes, they kill the resistant Ferryman, and Milo finds himself in a race to complete his father's work, fleeing by ship with the girl's shoes--as well as those of his father, whose own spirit now shadows him. There's an intense quiet about Hardinge's controlled prose that perfectly suits Milo's character and circumstances, well complemented by Gravett's illustrations, which are by turns heavy with black inks and ethereal with light washes of blue. The moody story, with all the feel of a real folktale, deftly manages to be both a thrilling sea chase and a touching story of loss and coming of age. Sweetly macabre.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
July 1, 2024
Milo's father has a vital role to play on the island of Merlank: he's the Ferryman, responsible for transporting the Dead to a place where their spirits are free to depart, no longer hampered by Merlank's clingy mist. Otherwise, the Dead would linger, blighting the land and killing others with their fatal gaze. Thus, when the grieving Lord of Merlank causes Milo's father's death, Milo must become the Ferryman and sail the Evening Mare, despite what his father always deemed the dangers of Milo's sympathetic, imaginative spirit. Don't listen to them; don't look at them, was his father's self-protective way with the Dead. But when the Lord's daughter writes a poem on the deck, desperate for her words to go on living despite her early demise, Milo realizes that listening, recording, and sharing can also be part of the Ferryman's job. Gravett's spectacularly misty, atmospheric illustrations, all in shades of indigo, heighten what is most elusive and poignant about Hardinge's story -- the sorrow of endings, the significance of last messages, and the inexorability of mortality. Hardinge's own poetic language (most clearly visible in the girl's poem: "The gnats sing the sun to sleep / Over the lake the air cools / Twinned birds fly through two pink skies") brings multiple shimmering layers to both plot and imagery in this melancholic, fantastical tale.
(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Starred review from January 10, 2025
Gr 4-8-Hardinge's latest read delivers suspense, adventure, mystery, and fantasy all in one beautifully illustrated novel. Milo never imagined that he would be the one to fill his father's big shoes of being the Ferryman, taking their island's departed souls to the afterlife. Being a Ferryman required the ability to focus and to stay unmoved by death, and his father made it clear that Milo's older brother was his top choice. But when his father is killed and Leif is kidnapped, Milo knows it's up to him to ferry the spirits and their shoes across the seas to their final resting place on the Island of Broken Tower. Hot on his heels are two malevolent magicians, hired by the Lord of Merlank who believes they can revive his dead daughter. As he races to complete his seafaring journey on his father's terms, Milo falters in the rule to not communicate with the dead but learns a lot about grief and loss in the process. Readers will root for Milo as the plot thickens and he makes some exciting discoveries about his new role. Stunning black, white, and light blue illustrations pepper the pages of this nail-biter that has action and tenderness in equal measure. Characters pictured are white, and their clothing seems indicative of the Renaissance era. VERDICT A perfect read for fans who love fast-paced unconventional stories with good triumphing over evil and a feel-good ending.-Tracy Cronce
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