Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale by Donna Jo Napoli

Melkorka is a fifteen year old princess in Medieval Ireland. During a Viking raid on her kingdom of Downpatrick, she and her sister Brigid must flee to a nearby village. But all is lost when both girls are kidnapped by Russian slave traders. Now powerless under bounds and gags, Melkorka takes on a vow of silence-- much to the fascination and bewilderment of her captors.

I was disappointed in this book. I thought the idea sounded really interesting, so I kept reading even though I couldn't get into the story. It was just so boring and the writing was really sparse (not unlike the writing in Wake by Lisa McMann, but at least I enjoyed that story). Half-way through the book, I just wanted to put it down and stop reading. And I could do that without caring about what happened. That was the problem: I didn't care about Melkorka or what happened to her as a slave. So instead I just skimmed the last fifty pages. And it was a good thing too, because I didn't miss much. The ending was kinda dumb, so I'm glad I didn't waste anymore time reading this book. And it's a shame too, because the cover is gorgeous.

4 out of 10.

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