Foundling (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 1) (original 2006; edition 2007)

Having grown up in a home for foundlings and possessing a girl's name, Rossamund sets out to report to his new job as a lamplighter - a soldier who protects the empire's roads from all evil. He has several adventures along the way as he meets people and monsters who are more complicated that he imagined. I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships amongst each other. I've seen it compared to Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, and I have to agree. ( )

Wow. And, um, wow again. I am seriously impressed by this book. It has many of the elements of a Proper Fairy Tale–the young hero sets out on a journey, not knowing his true identity, etc–but they are treated in such a masterful way that I never felt annoyed by them. Rossamund (the ‘u’ needs an umlaut, but I don’t know how to add them :( ), our hero, is both endearing and interesting. And the world-building! Good grief. It’s impressive in the Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell way–I found myself comparing the two several times. Cornish’s drawings are gorgeous and contribute greatly to the sense of the Half-Continent as a real place, inhabited by real people... Full review: Foundling

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I cannot possibly say too many good things about this book. The worldbuilding is incredible, as it ought to be given that Cornish spent something like ten years developing it. Rossamund is a great main character, full of pluck and determination. It’s a massive and consuming book and I oh so very highly recommend it. As an added bonus, Cornish is the author of probably my favorite quote about writing fantasy as a Christian. [2010 in books]

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FOUNDLING is a delight - strange and gnarly, with a vaguely steampunk mentality. The characters are incredibly vivid, physically and as personalities, and the worldbuilding is astonishingly deep. Cornish takes a real delight in words - his language is fussy, prickly, onomateopoeic, as absorbing and tangled as his tale.

The twist in Cornish's world, the half-continent, is that it is on the eve of a technical revolution - but while ours was mechanical, theirs is biological. It's an oddly believable theory, somewhere in between Dr Frankenstein and modern cloning techniques. The result is both fantastic and ghastly - it's hard to call this world "magical" because the magic is so gruesome.

Rossamunde is small, and weak, and used to being bullied - in FOUNDLING, he must discover his courage. It's hard to realistically transition a character from a meek beginning to a brave conclusion; Cornish does the job beautifully. By the end, the reader sees in him a strength that has little to do with blustering and grandstanding; and has great hope for the man he will become.

The book reads like a fairy tale's evil twin. Within the dreary, but safe, walls of his orphanage Rossamunde dreams of adventure - he idolizes the heroes who bravely sally forth to slay monsters and protect the realm. But once he leaves the city, he discovers a very different reality. The monsters are not all bad; and the heroes are not all good. Which is not to say that there is any possibility of peace and cooperation between humans and the creatures who inhabit the wilds. That would be too easy as well.

I thought often of Philip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy while reading FOUNDLING, and it's eerie, same-yet-different world. I think Cornish's is better. I look forward to finding out how the series evolves. ( )

Rossamund, a boy, with the unfortunate luck of having a girls name, is an orphan at Madam Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys & Girls. Foundlings are children without homes who are destitute and are destined to be vagrants roaming the streets unless they are fortunate enough to find themselves accepted at an orphanage such as Madame Opera's. Here, the children are taught suitable skills and trade that will one day enable them to be contributing members of society instead of being homeless in a world filled with monsters that threaten the civilized empires bordering the wilderness. Rossamund, despite his desire to be a vinegaroon, a life of adventure on the high seas, is called upon to be a lamplighter, in service of the High Emperor himself. Before even arriving at his post to begin his duties, Rossamund encounters death and monsters, abduction and escape, friends and foes, and choices that will alter the course of his life.

Foundling was a quick read due to the fact that one third of the book is actually an explicarium, which truly is a labour of love from the author. Filled within these numerous pages are explanations, definitions, maps, charts, and character drawings, all to expand the world of the Half-Continent. This truly is a world not like our own, with its own myths and lore, but there is a part of me that wished that some of the content that was given in the appendices had been weaved throughout the story instead. With a couple of tweaks and upgrades, this story could have easily been a fantastic adult fantasy fiction with a world filled with detailed history and a rich culture, instead of a rather watered down YA version that left me wanting that much more story. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the book enough to keep reading the next book in the series. ( )

Amazing, amazing use of language. The author has developed his own words for this novel's world (there's a 100 page dictionary in the appendices). Not only that, but he has inventively used English in a way that is very distinctive. The characters have a consistency about the way they talk that is both familiar and yet evocative of another time. And he uses some huge and less usual English words (for example, sussurus, stentorian, that, out of context, I would struggle to give you a definition for).
The story is good too. Very dark in places, but there is no overwhelming feeling of doom and darkness over the entire course of the novel. There are some gruesome deaths. There are also some beautiful lighter moments, a certain morality and a sense of hope.
Quite an amazing novel for something that is classified in our library as "junior fiction", not "young adult". I'd suggest the complexity and depth of language would suit an audience of high school students rather than any those any younger.
The author's illustrations are great. ( )