Jaclyn Moriarty

A Tangle of Gold is an immensely satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. The first two books involved some very unexpected twists, yet I was still surprised that A Tangle of Gold manages to pull together the pieces of the story so cohesively.

Because when the trilogy begins, it feels a bit like two separate stories running alongside each other. Two teenagers discover a way to send letters between their worlds - between Cambridge, England, the World, and Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello show more - and the focus is on what's going on in their lives. (Which is a lot less mundane than it might be, because Moriarty's writing is gorgeous and zany and poignant, and because neither Madeleine nor Elliot's lives are very ordinary.)

Since their first letters, Madeleine and Elliot have learnt more about themselves and their families, about science, history, the political situation in Cello and the nature of cracks between their worlds. The narrative threads tying Madeline and Elliot's stories together creep in over time - in disguise, often hiding in plain sight until something something forces them to jump out at you.

More of those threads are already out in the open by A Tangle of Gold and that amps up the pace and the intensity of the story. I couldn't put the book down. And when I reached the end, although I wished I got to spend more time with these characters - to see what happens next - it absolutely felt like the right sort of ending.

I also, somewhat to my surprise, really loved the subplot about Keira staying in the Farms, undercover as one of Elliot's friend's cousin. The problems she's dealing with are quite different to the ones Elliot and Madeleine are facing - some of what those two have to deal with is bleak and heartbreaking - and the story needed that balance.

Madeleine was wearing her mother's coat under her own. This seemed to be making her even colder. Each coat assumed the other would do the work of warming her, so both just hung there thinly, filling up with cold. show less

Lillian Velvet lives with her stern grandmother in Australia. Grandmother is not affectionate, and Lillian's life is tightly circumscribed, but on her tenth birthday, she receives a pickle jar full of gold coins. She learns that she can use these coins to visit other times and places; slowly, she begins to piece together knowledge of the Kingdoms & Empires and the Mettlestone family.

On each brief adventure, she helps someone or something: she helps Carrie rescue some Sparks from a Hurtling show more in a forest, she helps Billy by pretending to play the piano in the Mellifluous Kingdom, she finds baby Eli and Taya in the water and puts them on a raft so they grow up to become two of the Children of Spindrift, and she helps Oscar decide to attend a Mettlestone family reunion - Jacob and Ildi have returned at last, twenty years after faking their own deaths.

But Lillian cannot help a little boy about to be buried alive by gravel at a circus, no matter how hard she tries. And something seems to be targeting the Mettlestone family, sending storms to each of their homes - Emma's beloved Lantern Island, the Mellifluous Kingdom, even trapping Sophy's dragon under a fallen tree. Then Queen Alys is kidnapped! What Shadow Mages are at work, and why?

The reader knows a bit more than Lillian at first (if they've read the previous K&E books), but as Lillian herself points out, it's like getting the first chapter in lots of stories, rather than a complete story. Eventually, of course, the whole story comes out about Lillian's identity, her connection with Bronte's genie bottle, and the boy at the circus. A good addition to the canon, but perhaps not as satisfying as the more adventure/journey-focused ones, such as The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures..., The Whispering Wars, or Oscar from Elsewhere. (Also The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst but I detest Mrs. Pollock!) show less

Another swell one from Jaclyn Moriarty. One of the things I liked most about this last book in the Ashbury High series (I think it's the last, which makes me sad), is that we got a sense of the teachers through their own letters/notes/documents, and not just through the eyes of the students. I always liked Mr. Botherit, but it was mostly because his name made me laugh. Now I can add him to the list of characters that I love from this series.

Amongst all the silliness and windingly crazy show more plotlines of these books, there's something very real about these characters. They act like high school kids. They're silly, brilliant, emotional, and often make horrible decisions. I also like Moriarty's inclusion of adults in these books. They're characters rather than props, which is not always the case in young adult novels.

She was very clever, keeping the reader guessing at what the real ghost story might be. As always, I had an inkling that there was more to the story, but didn't come close to figuring it out. I wondered until the end what the point of Toby's writing as Tom was, and I started getting bored by these segments. By the end, I saw why she had written them. I still say those were the least interesting parts for me, and there could have been less of them without wrecking the overall effect.

I highly recommend this series. Books 2 and 3 are still my favorites, but they're all well worth reading. show less

Bronte Mettlestone is a self-possessed ten-year-old with perfect manners who has been raised by her Aunt Isabelle and the Butler; her parents left her on Aunt Isabelle's doorstep as a baby and haven't returned. But when the household receives word that Patrick and Lida have been killed by pirates, it puts a whole new chain of events in motion: Bronte's parents' will outlines a specific trip she must take to visit each of her aunts, delivering gifts and making certain stops along the way. The show more will is Faery cross-stitched; if Bronte does not complete the journey, her hometown of Gainsleigh will crumble.

Bronte sets off with a treasure box of gifts for her aunts, some of whom she hasn't met before or has only met a few times. She plays with cousins, rescues a baby from a river and receives a medal from the elves, befriends water sprites and gets her Aunt Emma out of jail, learns to speak (a little) Dragon and flies on one's back, befriends an aspiring acrobat on a cruise ship captained by two of her aunts, and much more. Along the way, she learns more about the history of the Spellbinders and the Whisperers, the threats against her cousin Billy - also ten years old - and her own identity.

A wonderful fantasy adventure, with occasional stops for hot cocoa and cheesecake and oranges, and a thrilling conclusion and surprise reveal.

See also: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente; Greenwild by Pari Thomson; Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell; The Swifts by Beth Lincoln; Greenglass House by Kate Milford

Quotes

"All books have magical properties." (83)

"[Your parents] probably wanted you to have adventures too? I expect that's why they used the Faery cross-stitch. So that Isabelle would have to let you come on this journey." (Aunt Emma, 116)

My parents had sent me on this journey to have adventures - small adventures, such as dining alone and trying out new foods, and digger adventures with elves, a boy with no shoes, water sprites, Spellbinders, and dragons. They had sent me on this journey to hear my aunts tell stories about my parents themselves...a basketful of memories to comfort me. (136)

I had spent so much time with grown-ups lately. They had all been very pleasant, of course, but it doesn't matter how pleasant grown-ups are, they're not children. I don't blame them for this - there's not a thing they can do about it. (139)

"Faery cross-stitch only breaks if you decide to break it. There are exceptions for accident and misadventure...Faeries are very reasonable people." (Matron, 175)

Sometimes life turns out to be exactly as you hope, only better. (with Aunt Alys, 245)

...I thought about the different ways there are of being sad. Just as there are different ways of laughing. (287) show less