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Fisher, Catherine
15 Reviews
(4)
YA
Obsidian Mirror series.
Two men kidnap Jake and bring him through the mirror; Sarah, stumbling upon the scene, secretly goes through with them. Now, the rest of the crew must figure out who the kidnappers are, why they've committed the crime, and where in time they've gone. Vivid imagery brings the different time periods to life; constantly shifting perspectives, while sometimes confusing, move the plot swiftly.
Reviewer: Sian Gaetano
(4)
YA
Mythical King Bladud builds a shrine to ancient Bath's healing waters; architect's apprentice Zac is blackmailed into sabotaging the construction of the King's Circus in eighteenth-century Bath; teenager Sulis is in witness protection in modern-day Bath because of a mysterious murder. Though the three stories don't form a satisfying whole, Fisher adeptly uses apt symbolism and oblique connections to eerie effect.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam
(4)
YA
While Jake uses the Mirror to search for his father in the past, Sarah seeks a coin that can save the future. Meanwhile, Venn resists the Faerie Queen's temptations. Blending genres and constantly shifting between characters' perspectives, this second installment feels crowded and confusing. Still, it asks thoughtfully: can time-travelers really care about any time period but their own?
Reviewer: Amy Bennett-Zendzian
(2)
YA
First in a projected trilogy, this plot-driven time-travel fantasy compensates for its unremarkable prose with sheer copiousness--in wintry descriptions of its setting and allusions to multiple mythologies. Fisher's sentences are short, propulsive, and transparent, emphasizing the visual. The story is amply punctuated with narrow-escape scenes and hints at thinking about how acts of the present impinge on the future.
Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2013
(2)
YA
Victorian girl Sarah, scion of a once-proud family, sells her soul for ownership of her birthright, Darkwater Hall, for a hundred years. At the close of that century (Sarah hasn't aged) she befriends (present-day) fifteen-year-old Tom; the two hurry to prevent the imminent loss of Sarah's soul. Plot and characters are skillfully developed and greatly enhanced by the aura of malevolence in Fisher's Faustian novel.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2012
(3)
YA
Relic Master series.
In these third (Coronet) and fourth (Margrave) series entries (first published in Britain over a dozen years ago), Galen and Raffi continue their quest to seek out and harness the relics' powers. Solid plotting, interesting characters, and provocative themes should provide a pleasant diversion for ardent Fisher fans. Review covers these Relic Master titles: The Hidden Coronet and The Margrave.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt
(3)
YA
Relic Master series.
This series, published in Britain over a dozen years ago, makes its American debut. Relic Master Galen, with his apprentice, Raffi, investigates reports of a newfound relic. The pair is drawn into a series of quests, each more perilous than the last. Solid plotting, interesting characters, and provocative themes should provide a pleasant diversion for ardent Fisher fans. Review covers these Relic Master titles: The Dark City and The Lost Heiress.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt
(3)
YA
Relic Master series.
In these third (Coronet) and fourth (Margrave) series entries (first published in Britain over a dozen years ago), Galen and Raffi continue their quest to seek out and harness the relics' powers. Solid plotting, interesting characters, and provocative themes should provide a pleasant diversion for ardent Fisher fans. Review covers these Relic Master titles: The Hidden Coronet and The Margrave.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt
(3)
YA
Relic Master series.
This series, published in Britain over a dozen years ago, makes its American debut. Relic Master Galen, with his apprentice, Raffi, investigates reports of a newfound relic. The pair is drawn into a series of quests, each more perilous than the last. Solid plotting, interesting characters, and provocative themes should provide a pleasant diversion for ardent Fisher fans. Review covers these Relic Master titles: The Dark City and The Lost Heiress.
Reviewer: Jonathan Hunt
(1)
YA
Finn is a Prisoner, trapped in the sentient prison Incarceron. Claudia, daughter of the Warden, has been raised to privilege in a technologically sophisticated society that has chosen to artificially re-create a simpler, seventeenth-century-esque "Era." Fisher's dystopic future, in which technology and decay coexist in a dazzling kaleidoscope of images and time periods, is brilliantly realized in this elegant, gritty, often surprising novel.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2010
(2)
YA
Finn (Incarceron) must prove his identity against a well-schooled imposter. Meanwhile, Finn's prisonmates steal Sapphique's Glove, an artifact that, according to legend, connects the wearer with the mind of Incarceron. Like a master builder constructing a monumental edifice, Fisher lays and levels each narrative block with care, alternating events inside the steampunk-style prison with those in the lushly textured outside society.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2011
(2)
YA
The author blurs the line between supernatural occurrences and mental illness in this retelling of "The Fisher King." When Cal stumbles into a sumptuous castle helmed by an ailing king, he worries that he's developing his mother's schizophrenia. Arthurian England shares space with a depressingly industrial modern setting; the author handily exploits the Fisher King's motifs of sacrifice, self-discovery, and healing.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2006
(2)
4-6
The Two Lands of The Oracle Betrayed still face a drought, so the new Archon, Alexis, a ten-year-old boy with an ageless god within him, determines to cross the desert to put right an ancient injustice. This canny story of politics and religion ends in resounding success, but will keep readers hungry for the third installment in the projected trilogy.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2005
(2)
YA
Set in a frozen Nordic land, in a time when only a thin line separates superstition and magic, this three-part fantasy features a young enchanter fighting to remain uncorrupted by his power. The story starts out slowly, but once the stakes are established, Kari's struggle between needing his power to defeat his mother and fearing it will make him evil like her gains readers' sympathies.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2004
(2)
YA
An idealistic young girl taking a stand against human corruption and lust for power and the god who both assists her and needs her help form the conflict at the heart of this tale. The story, set in a fictional ancient culture, starts slowly but soon picks up, and the complex, fully realized setting comes into its own. Thoughtful readers will delight in the interplay of the allegorical with the literal.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2004
15 reviews
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