Sunday, September 14, 2008

The Seer of Shadows (book review)


The Seer of Shadows is yet another book by the renowned author Avi. It takes place in post-Civil War New York, where fourteen-year-old Horace Carpentine works as an apprentice to a lazy photographer by the name of Enoch Middleditch. When Middleditch comes up with the idea to make a "spirit photograph" for his latest customer, a wealthy lady named Mrs. Von Macht who has just lost her daughter, Horace reluctantly agrees. But when he befriends their servant, Pegg, she tells him a tale of deceit and horror that he won't forget. The Von Machts are hiding a dark secret about their "daughter", a girl named Eleanora. And Horace soon discovers that as a "seer of shadows" he can spy the ghost of Eleanora hovering about. She wants revenge, and she won't stop at anything to get it.

This book went very fast. It was perhaps the best of Avi's books that I have ever read! Unlike most ghost stories, where friendly people turn into friendly ghosts, kindly Eleanora has turned into a wicked spirit intent on murder. This book was genuinely spooky, and fans of this genre will eat it up!

Thank you, Carl, for such a wonderful book! I had a hard time saving it for RIP, but I'm glad I did because it was the perfect read for the season!

1 comment:

That70sShowFan1122 said...

I am a personal fan of ghost stores myself and this book is rigt up my alley!This story of adventure and braveness is a perfect book for young readers such as myself.I LOVE IT!Bravo avi bravo.This book is filled with surprises and leaves you breathless in the end.This is a wonderful book and I hope to see another book like this soon.