My Swordhand Is Singing

Starred review from November 12, 2007
Sedgwick’s (The Foreshadowing
) grim, atmospheric tale, set in 17th-century Europe, brings fresh blood to the vampire mythos without once using the word “vampire.” Peter and his father, Tomas, are woodcutters who travel from town to town, Tomas seemingly on the run from something. Tomas carries a wooden box, which Peter is forbidden to examine, but when word circulates through the village that sheep and cattle are being attacked and a dead man has come out of his grave, secrets from both the box and Tomas’s past are revealed. The father/son dynamic is particularly well-wrought, with Tomas a violent drunk who is nonetheless a decent man, and Peter an introspective and bold youth whose budding relationship with a gypsy tempers the doom encroaching upon the village. As with the best vampire/zombie fiction, there is a note of sympathy for the creatures who, after all, never chose this “life.” Several scenes have the visceral, visual impact of cinema, such as a “Wedding of the Dead,” in which a young girl weds a man who has been murdered, and the villagers’ painting tar on their windows to ward off evil (“Somewhere among the trees the path that led directly to God had gone astray. It had got lost among the folktales and superstitions and the hushed talk of the fireside”). Sedgwick knows his way around a gothic setting, and readers will likely devour this bone-chiller. Ages 12-up.

November 1, 2007
Gr 6 Up-The "Miorita" is a song of death, and its meaning is hidden throughout this novel of gothic superstitions and ghastly murders that's set amid the desolate, wintry forest of early-17th-century Eastern Europe. Tomas, a churlish sot, a woodcutter by trade, and his gentle teenage son, Peter, build a hut surrounded by a purposefully designed moat on the outskirts of Chust where a menacing presence lurks among the uneasy villagers. A grisly murder sets off rumors of the "undead" roaming the area at night. When a band of Gypsies arrives, Peter becomes mesmerized by the beautiful Gypsy princess Sofia, whose people prevail upon Tomas to relinquish the contents of the mysterious wooden box he has kept buried and forbidden along with his past. It is through this act that Tomas is offered the redemption that makes this story complete. Sedgwick has captured the malevolent beginnings of the timeless vampire myth. When Tomas discloses the secret in the box, he reveals a silver sword and the key to his vampire-slaying past. In a bone-chilling, breathless conclusion, he passes the skill and the sword to his son with his dying breath, "my swordhand is singing," and Peter takes up the challenge. This is an outstanding tale of suspense and horror with detail enough to produce shivers, and it's also a story of father and son, and loss and restoration, with a satisfying conclusion."D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2007
In yet another stop in a long line of hasty relocations, Peter and his haunted father, Tomas, settle in to work as woodcuttersin a remote village.Soon, rumors of recently deceased townsfolk rising from their graves escalate into a full-fledged undead scourge on the village, and Peterfinds that he mustconvince Tomas to confront his past and unveil the vampire-killing sword he has kept hidden for years. Horror maven Sedgwicks creepy, multilayered take on the gothic vampire tale moves quickly from scary to exciting to puzzling, and then to really scary, exciting, and puzzling. Though drawn fromfolkloric vampire sources, his undead moreclosely resemble zombies, forced from their graves by hunger for the living, and the result is as dark and chilling as a foggy midnight. Some fumbled (but still intriguing) backstory and the decisionnot to delve into the hinted-at deeperevilthat drivesthe undeadseem to be the novels biggest flawsthough they mightjust portend a sequel. Standing alone, however, doesnt diminish the shivers in the least.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)