The Red Necklace

wizardgirl2501 - ( i'm only on chapter, what? one...two-ish...something like that...judging by the cover...the girl on the front might be Sido....and the streak across her neck tells me there will be blood...) Setting: France (around and near Paris) Year: 1789 So far: the main character ('clever and head-turningly attractive, fourteen-year-old[and mind-reading] Yann') is an orphan who works for the magician Topolain, with a dwarf guy, Tetu, who had a squeaky voice and could many languages, and move objects with his mind. Tetu made a doll to go along with Topolain's act, which made them famous. one day, Yann hears a girl's voice saying in Romany ( a language he & Tetu spoke among themselves) "The devil's own is on your trail. Run like the wind" Soon after, Topolain gets invited to preform at the chateau of the Marquis de Villeduval ( a very rich guy on the verge of bankruptcy who borrows money from Count Kalliovski [another rich guy.])

Starred review from May 26, 2008
Set during the French Revolution, Gardner's (I, Coriander
) epic and tautly plotted tale engages readers from the start with its combination of romance and history, mystery and magic. Yann Magoza, an orphan, travels with entertainers who use supernatural powers in their act; Yann himself can read minds. As the novel opens, Yann and his companions are brought to a marquis's chateau, where Yann has a brief but fateful meeting with the foolish and cruel marquis's brave daughter, Sidonie, and where the marquis's associate, a scheming count, brutally but cleverly murders one of the magicians. The pace retains this thrilling momentum all the way through the heart-stopping climax. As Gardner slowly discloses Yann's and Sido's heritages, she ratchets up tension about the marquis's and the count's plans for Sido. She lards her story with intriguing details, like the red garnet necklaces left like signatures with a series of murder victims, and “threads of light” that make Yann's magic possible. The novel also paints vivid, convincing pictures of the Revolution: characters glimpse the massed thousands of Parisian women marching to Versailles, pitchforks in hand, demanding bread, and mobs setting upon suspected aristocrats. Suspenseful, complex and haunting. Ages 12–up.

May 1, 2008
Gr 7-10-As the first embers of the French Revolution begin to burn, Yann Margoza, a 14-year-old voice thrower and mind reader, watches his simple life as a magician's assistant disappear before his eyes. During one fateful midnight performance at the chateau of an overindulgent, debt-ridden marquis, a string of irreversible events unfurls. Jolted from the only world he's known, Yann becomes inextricably intertwined with the marquis's 12-year-old daughter and lecherous, treacherous Count Kalliovski. Yann struggles to make the right choices while coming to terms with his origins and unique abilities in order to save those he loves. Gardner deftly plays out the same brand of intrigue, romance, and murky intentions beautifully rendered in recent period magician films, "The Prestige" and "The Illusionist". Readers will root for Yann and Sido as they struggle toward adulthood amid the political and social turmoil surrounding and sometimes endangering them. At the book's end, Gardner provides further historical background on late-18th-century France, though most readers will find themselves wishing simply for a sequel to continue this engrossing tale."Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2008
A Gypsy boy, Yann, and the dwarf who has raised him are caught up in drama on and off the stage, where they work with a magician and his automaton. Outside their Parisian theater, revolution is beginning to boil. Inside, the magician is murdered by the villainous Count Kallovski, who has Yann in his sights as well. So begins afinely craftedtale that crosses years and crisscrosses countries, as Yann becomes a young man with a mission: to save the lovely Sido from her heartless father, even as hestruggles with the extraordinary gifts bestowed upon him by his Gypsy heritage. If the success of historical fiction depends on how well setting and story mesh, this is a very successful book, indeed. Gardner sweeps readers into a turbulent time, dissecting eighteenth-century French society and the evolution of the revolution, from a yearning for liberty to a chaotic bloodbath. The history becomes personal when seen through the eyes ofan astoundingly rich, carefully drawn cast, whose lives are interwoven like pieces of string in an elaborate cats cradle. Scores are waiting to be settled on every page; this is a heart-stopper.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)