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Description
'Electrifying . . . breathtaking.' The Times 'Truly stunning and original.' Kirkus 'Highly original, multidimensional tale.' Booklist 'Richly emotional and lavishly written.' TLS This stunning Carnegie-winning tale takes us to a world of darkness and ice, where a shaman and a prince fight for their freedom. In the darkest hour of a freezing Midwinter, a night-walking witch adopts a newborn baby and carries her off in her house on chicken legs. She names her Chingis and teaches her the Three show more Magics. She grows into such a powerful witch that she rouses the jealousy of Kuzma, the bear-shaman. The Czar of this cold realm fears his newborn son, Safa, will out do him, and so imprisons the baby at the top of a tall tower, to live and die there without ever glimpsing the real world. Loneliness and confinement drive him to rage and despair until Chingis hears the crying of his trapped spirit and frees him. But now their enemies unite against them, with steel and deadly magic. Chingis and Safa's quest for freedom will take them even through the Ghost World into the Land of the Dead. A timeless and atmospheric tale of fierce magic. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A very cool and interesting children's/YA fantasy book that uses elements of Russian folklore. Evil Czars, a prince locked in a tower, a story-telling cat, good witches, and bad shamans. Think Howl's Moving Castle but make it Siberia and darker. I loved it.
The Ghost Drum is a Russian folklore-inspired tale about a shaman's apprentice and her relationship with a prince. There's an evil Czar, and a house with chicken legs a la Baba Yaga, and an Iron Wood in a ghost world. The heroine is clever and compassionate, and her prince is a slow learner. My favorite part is when he goes back to the distraction-free palace tower and realizes that he has learned something after all. He's the original ADHD patient :)
A rather drawn out rendering of witches and shamans and Czars with a cat as indirect narrator adding exactly nothing but and unfortunate voice to the whole.
Ratings
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Lists
1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up
774 works; 100 members
Carnegie Medal Winners In Order
85 works; 1 member
Author Information
65+ Works 1,254 Members
Susan Price has always loved reading and telling stories. At the age of sixteen she published her first book, the Devil's Piper. Since then she's written more than thirty books. Ms. Price lives in the Black Country in the heart of England
Awards and Honors
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Ghost Drum
- Original title
- The Ghost Drum: A Cat's Tale
- Original publication date
- 1987
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Children's Books, Tween, Fantasy, Young Adult
- DDC/MDS
- 823.914 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English fiction 1900- 1901-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ7 — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 87
- Popularity
- 367,447
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.13)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 2
