The Feverbird's Claw

May 3, 2004
This fantasy may be slow-moving, but at the end, Kurtz (The Storyteller's Beads
) rewards readers with simple yet profound insights about the workings of societies. As the novel opens, a young trainee in the fighting yard of the ancient Delagua City is hooded in a cloak to conceal that she is a girl. It is the eve of her entrance into temple service with her "awa clan" (other girls of her age), but what transpires there remains a mystery. During an errand in preparation for the celebrations, Moralin slips through a trapdoor and out of her walled city into a seemingly less civilized world. She is captured and must travel with the Arkera, an age-old enemy of her people. Along her journey, she befriends a boy named Song-maker, a translator whose people believe the world belongs to everyone, and, eventually, her personal foe, the girl Figt, who has lost her brother to the Delagua. With the mystical guidance of a revered Great One, and her unusual physical strength, Moralin escapes. She and Figt find their way back to Delagua, only to uncover its dark secrets: rather than being chosen by the Great Ones, their city's outward treasures depend upon the toil of imprisoned girls to make its famed silk cloth. Avid readers of fantasy who stay with the measured storytelling will reap the payoff when, in the final pages, Moralin chooses her own path. Ages 10-up.

May 1, 2004
Gr 5-9-Kurtz has created an elaborate fantasy world filled with danger, beauty, and conflict. The story's underlying adventure focuses on Moralin, who has been secretly trained in the art of combat by her grandfather, Old Tamlin. Moralin is one of the highborn Delagua people who live securely in a walled city. Her need for friendship makes her join three other girls on a forbidden journey beyond the city walls on the eve of their entry into temple service, a transition into womanhood. This decision catapults her into life-threatening adventures. Once outside the safety of the city walls, the girls are captured by the Arkera, the enemies of the Delagua. Kurtz spins an intricate yarn with one danger leading to another. Old Tamlin's wise teachings bolster Moralin's courage as she pretends to cooperate while planning her escape. She forms an alliance with Figt, a girl charged with watching over her, and the two eventually become true friends, willing to risk their lives for one another. Philosophical underpinnings show the selfish goals of each society without regard to the world as a whole. As Moralin's spiritual guardian, Cora Linga, has said in a dream, "humans hardly ever get it right." Though often confusing and with emphasis on plot over rich character development, this intriguing story with its strong heroine will appeal to fantasy fans.-Renee Steinberg, formerly at Fieldstone Middle School, Montvale, NJ

Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2004
Gr. 5-8. After girl-warrior Moralin ventures outside her walled city on a dare, she is kidnapped by the Arkera, a clan she has been taught to fear and despise. She escapes, although not before her participation in the life of the clan begins to erode her prejudices against her kidnappers. Grappling with "feelings . . . tangled as thread," Moralin allies with an Arkeran girl on a mission to rescue her brother, who has been enslaved by Moralin's own people. The pace of Kurtz's first fantasy is a bit uneven, involving long stretches of grueling travel intended to highlight Moralin's mental and physical stamina. However, the theme of questioning entrenched assumptions will resonate with readers, as will Moralin's gradual embrace of her broadening horizons: "Wasn't it strange how you could see the most wonderful things in the world, but if your heart wasn't open to wonder everything looked no better than mud?"(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)