Thsi book was REALLY GOOD! i HAD BOUGHT THE BOOK (301 PAGES) and i sat on the couch for about 5 hours. because I could not stop reading it! TRUE STORY The one death as posted above was to a bandit that held the main character and threatened to kill her, he fell off a cliff, (no blood at all)So as like most comments I would say everything about the book, that will be a spoiler. So I could say is GET THIS BOOK NOW!
I love this book! It has all the best things a book could have: action. romance (not yucky stuff), and you can understand how the characters feel! This book is by far one of my faves!
I have read this book twice for two different book clubs and thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't worry about the "girl power" stuff just enjoyed a book where the main charachter has to figure out her role in life. Miri is a a typical teen young woman who has doubts in some areas and confidence in others. I loved that she came from a family that loved each other instead of the usual "family in crisis" stuff usually included in modern fiction.
In an age where "princess" almost always equals a Disney-esque rendering of royalty, I was at first hesitant about selecting this book for my two girls but am SO glad we gave it a shot. We all thoroughly enjoyed it.
It also provides a great contrast to the highly commercialized princess stories/fairy tales, which often incorporate a "love at first sight" aspect to the story line and can lead to good, age-appropriate discussions about the whole "knight in shining armor" myth.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is considering reading it!
The book is full of negative messages that are disguised as positive ones.
I know its a weird thing to say about a book, but its very true. This book is like a how-to for bad judgement. The hero, Mirri, just having learned to read that week, decides that she now has the keys to all problem solving. She doesn't question the idea that maybe just because she has read one book she doesn't have all the answers. The best example; She doesn't understand things like demand, and supply, but she learns that this weird rock that they get from the mountain is expensive. So she now "knows" that the traders are cheating her village, and can somehow stop them. Ok? How about the cost of hauling this rock through a mountain? She has no idea what that costs the traders. She has no idea if anyone out in the wider world even wants this rock at a given time. Maybe no one even is building a palace in the lowlands. So how exactly would she be able to force the traders to change their prices? She can't take the rocks to the cities herself. Maybe the traders simple can't afford to give a better price even if the price of the rock is theoretically high. UGH. There is nothing worse then an idiot with a teeny bit of knowledge. Thats Miri in a nutshell.
Worse yet, she is exactly the same with rules. Miri thinks that she is the best qualified to know if a given rule is just or not. Im sorry? Maybe I think drugs should be legal. Does that mean I can act on it? You don't just break a rule because you don't like it. Only a sociopath does that. Maybe thats a very good point actually. Miri is as shallow and as egotistical a person as I could imagine. I doubt she will grow out of it. Do not give this book to a kid. They will not learn any good lessons, and plenty of bad ones.
Nice book but, worried about the younger kids understanding!
From a teen/tween point of view this book is awesome. For a parent's point of view (I am not a parent) this book relly doesn't teach a lesson, but, it has a lesson in it. I don't think that it is for 9 year olds because at that age some girls might have a problem understanding the romance, trading, complicated words, and also the quarry speech. For a 14 year old some things took me a little while to put together but I got it. This book is a book that you would say uses "Girl power" as i would say!
i only say eight and up because younger kids may have a hard time understanding it, not because of the content. If you have a six or seven year old who loves to read, this book is great! I remember picking this up in the book store and loving it after reading the first chapter!