I found this book interesting but now readily grabbie. I mean I found getting really into it slow. A book to read when you have nothing else. To avenge his fathe mitt joins in a plot to assassinate the tryannical earl hadd But when the plot goes wildlu awry he finds himsefl fleeing on a storm tossed sea alone among his enemies-except for the figure of Drowned Ammet...
Takes place at the same time as the previous novel, but with different characters.
In South Dalemark, after their landlord conspires to throw his family off their farm, a boy named Mitt must struggle to fit into town life, as his mother works hard (but uses her money spendthrift-ly) and his father gets involved in an illegal revolutionary movement.
When the political group is betrayed, Mitt, with the encouragement of his mother, devotes himself to becoming a double agent involved with his fathers group, but secretly bent on betraying those inside the group that he believes sold out his father. His allegiances are difficult, as one of those men treats him like a son, and in addition, his stepfather seems to offer him a respectable, straight-and-narrow path. But Mitt is obsessed with his plan to blow up the Earl during the festival of Ammet and to blame his radical compatriots for the crime.
But nothing turns out quite the way he planned, and Mitt finds himself on a sea voyage with two rich kids, and with the involvement of two pagan/folk-type supernatural figures, Ammett himself and the fertility goddess(?) Libby Beer, Mitt will have to grow, face some truths, and make some hard decisions about his path.
In South Dalemark, after their landlord conspires to throw his family off their farm, a boy named Mitt must struggle to fit into town life, as his mother works hard (but uses her money spendthrift-ly) and his father gets involved in an illegal revolutionary movement.
When the political group is betrayed, Mitt, with the encouragement of his mother, devotes himself to becoming a double agent involved with his fathers group, but secretly bent on betraying those inside the group that he believes sold out his father. His allegiances are difficult, as one of those men treats him like a son, and in addition, his stepfather seems to offer him a respectable, straight-and-narrow path. But Mitt is obsessed with his plan to blow up the Earl during the festival of Ammet and to blame his radical compatriots for the crime.
But nothing turns out quite the way he planned, and Mitt finds himself on a sea voyage with two rich kids, and with the involvement of two pagan/folk-type supernatural figures, Ammett himself and the fertility goddess(?) Libby Beer, Mitt will have to grow, face some truths, and make some hard decisions about his path.
Diana Wynne Jones' books are as fabulous and inventive as any young adult fantasy novels. I recommend them all.
