I remember reading that one particular blogger was very disappointed by this book as the cover suggested to them that it contained a story about samurai. Although perhaps not disappointed, I too thought this book was about samurai until I read Rhinoa's review . However I was undeterred and read it regardless, as I have long enjoyed Sedgewick's elegant style of writing.

My Swordhand Is Singing is an imaginative spin on the vampire/zombie myth based on Eastern European folklore and legend. Set in the forests of seventeeth century Romania, the story revolves around two nomadic woodcutters, the young Peter and his troubled father Tomas. After settling somewhat outside a small village, Peter begins to make a life for himself, only to discover something sinister at work. The dead are rising and Peter finds himself, his father and his beloved Agnes in grave (groan) danger, but some secrets may be much closer to home.

I really enjoyed this story and the legends behind it. Sedgewick is masterful at suspense, unnerving the reader at every turn. This is far from the over the top horror I have seen of late, with Sedgewick invoking the same amount of menace and chill, with the mimimal amount of prose. Having said that, I did find it hard to really care much about the characters. Perhaps Sedgewick was too minimalistic and left some of his characters undeveloped, and thus did not win over this particular reader. Don't get me wrong, I would heartily recommend this story to any fan of horror, suspense or vampire literature, but perhaps the most lasting impression for me was a desire to know more about the legends that inspired this story, rather than the story itself.

An enjoyable read, though perhaps not one that will stick in the mind for long.

Reviewed by Natalie Tsang for TeensReadToo.com

Marcus Sedgwick's MY SWORDHAND IS SINGING is a dark novel with a heavy emphasis on thick, snowy forests of Eastern Europe, gypsies, and superstitious town folk. It is the perfect setting for a scary story, but it is also much, much more.

Tomas and his teenage son, Peter, are a pair of traveling woodcutters with a mysterious past that settle down in the village of Chust one winter. Before long a string a deaths strike the village. Peter is perturbed by the villagers' strange reactions to the occurrences. When he asks Tomas about them, his father brushes away his questions as silly folk lore. However, Tomas is also doing his own share of strange things, like digging a trench around their home and filling it with moving water. When Agnes, a girl Peter likes, is symbolically married to a dead man and shut up in a remote hut, Peter tries to rescue her and runs into a monster.

Sedgwick takes pains to distance his tale from the gentleman bloodsucker that Anne Rice and authors like her have embedded into pop culture. The word "vampire" is never mentioned and the vampires, themselves, have varying appearances throughout the novel. He does a great job at weaving various and sometimes seemingly paradoxical pieces of folk lore. This gives the story a great sense of immediacy and realism. Sedgwick also shifts the focus from vampires to people who have to deal with terrifying occurrences at home. The buildup of the growing atmosphere of fear and denial will have readers biting their fingernails.

Marcus Sedgwick seems to take a lot of risks in writing this atypical, historically rich vampire novel. Central to the story line is not the relationship between a human and vampire or a girl and a boy (a la Buffy and Angel), but a wounded relationship between father and son. While this may seem terribly uncool, the realism of this relationship is what grounds the novel and makes the more fantastical elements more believable and scary. ( )

It was very interesting, and if you’re into magic and mythical creature, type books, this is one for you. Finding out what’s behind the terrorizing of the town was compelling. Had a different take on vampires, so it wasn’t like most others I have read. AHS/CW

A tale that swiftly makes a bite into your imagination, but definitely not for the faint-hearted to read in the wee small hours! For those braver souls you may not make it to school on time the next day as this gripping story of a most courageous young woodcutter will keep you turning pages. Save for the weekend and devour in one sitting.

Read either before or after The hunger games or The knife of never letting go. Great stuff!

Also check out Marcus Sedgwick's Floodland. Use AccessIt to reserve any of these books, ( )

Set in 17th century Poland, in huge, snowy forests, My Swordhand is Singing is a lot more than just a simple scary tale.
Woodcutters Peter and his drunkard father, Tomas, have moved - yet again - suddenly, with no explanation from Tomas. Peter has never known why they are always moving, and he also doesn't know what is in the long, thin wooden box his father protects all the time and doesn't say a word about.
They settle down in the remote village of Chust one winter, and not long after they get to work and start to make money, there is a series of mysterious deaths the...
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