The Bird of the River

May 3, 2010
Fans mourning Baker’s death earlier this year will be comforted by this gentle conclusion to 2009’s The House of the Stag and 2010’s The Anvil of the World. Teen Elissa is left orphaned and guilt-ridden when her addict mother dies in a diving accident. She supports herself and her younger half-brother by odd-jobbing on a huge river barge, visiting colorful towns on their way upstream. As Elissa gradually becomes invaluable to the Bird’s crew by spotting dangerous river snags, she also learns to see through human subterfuge while accompanying Krelan, lesser son of an assassin family, who’s investigating the murder of one of his family’s wealthy clients. Satisfyingly exotic local color, a boatload of convincing characters with a captain touched by the supernatural, and a realistic treatment of young love make this an unusually sensitive growing-up tale.

Starred review from May 15, 2010
From Baker, who died in January 2010, a third fantasy set in a world inhabited by red-skinned Children of the Sun, green-skinned, forest-dwelling Yendri and tusked, barbaric demons (The House of the Stag, 2008, etc.).

At the urging of her children, teenaged Eliss and ten-year-old, half-Yendri Alder, drug-addicted diver Falena signs on the huge river-maintenance barge of the title for the long voyage up and down a vast unnamed river. All divers are female, and their primary job is to secure"snags," trees caught underwater that cause navigation hazards. Once recovered, snags are a source of valuable timber—the Yendri don't take kindly to the felling of live trees. Then when diving for a snag, Falena confronts a headless corpse, suffers a heart attack and is dead before she can be hauled back aboard. Eliss finds gainful employment as masthead lookout, a job she's very good at. Joining the vessel as a busboy is Krelan, whose family works for the aristocratic Diamondcuts and whose purpose is to find and return the missing head. Alder tires of jibes about"greenies" and runs off into the forest to find his father. The barge works its way up the river, calling at towns that have been or are about to be attacked by curiously well-organized and well-informed bandits. A vivid setting, then, with minimal fantasy elements, agreeably complemented by solid plotting, mysteries, surprises and characters that grow in the telling.

A sparkling farewell from a writer whose illustrious career proved all too brief.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 15, 2010

Teenage Eliss and her half-breed brother Alder become part of the crew of a large river barge after the drowning death of their addict mother. When Krelan, a professional assassin despite his youth, joins the barge to find a dead nobleman's head for proper burial, life for Eliss becomes complicated. Pirate attacks begin to form a pattern as the barge plies the river, and Eliss gets caught up in Krelan's search and in discovering the reason behind the attacks. The author of the popular sf series about The Company sets her latest work in the fantasy world of The Anvil of the World and The House of the Stag, illuminating yet another facet of this remarkable setting. VERDICT Compact plotting provides an antidote to the fantasy meganovel without sacrificing depth of character or quality of detail. A worthy final work by a master storyteller. Baker died January 31.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
Bakers even, fluid writing perfectly complements this sensitive tale set in the same universe as The Anvil of the World (2003) and The House of the Stag (2008). Half-siblings Eliss and Alder encourage their drug-addict mother to sign on as a diver with the river maintenance barge, the Bird of the River. Although their mother dies before they can settle in, they stay with the barge, and Eliss quickly finds her place as an invaluable lookout. Her observational skills are particularly handy in aiding Krelan, a young assassin working undercover to find the murderer of a Diamondcut noble. Alder, however, longs to pursue his Yendri heritage and jumps ship as soon as he is able. As the barge travels upstream, Eliss and Krelan run afoul of bandits who seem to be one step ahead of the port towns they sack. With authentic characters, subtle romance, and convincing dual mysteries, a wandering life on the Bird of the River is a satisfying one indeed. Those mourning Bakers death in January will be moved by this addition to her legacy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)