Seven o clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again. . . . Not that anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith s world, order rules. Chaos, old gods, fairies, goblins, magic, glamours all of these were supposedly vanquished centuries ago. But Maddy knows that a small bit of magic has survived. The ruinmark she was born with on her palm proves it and makes the other villagers fearful that she is a witch (though helpful in dealing with the goblins-in-the-cellar problem). But the mysterious traveler One-Eye sees Maddy s mark not as a defect, but as a destiny. And Maddy will need every scrap of forbidden magic One-Eye can teach her if she is to survive that destiny. From the Hardcover edition. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

In Norse myth the whole world ended with Ragnar?k, the last battle, at which the gods were defeated and after which eternal winter descended. In her highly successful first children's novel, however, the author of the bestselling Chocolat tells readers what happened next. The supposed end of all things is now centuries past and the Middle World is ruled by the Order, a repressive theocracy reminiscent of the Magisterium in Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. Maddy, born with a rune of power on her hand, is deeply unpopular in her backwoods village. Thorny and imaginative, she is believed to be a witch by the locals who would have cast her out long ago if she didn't have a convenient talent for controlling the goblins that infest their cellars. Such creatures are thick in the village because of its proximity to Red Horse Hill, a place of ancient power. Then Maddy's life is transformed when she meets first One-Eye, a mysterious traveler who agrees to train her in the ways of Fa?rie, and then Lucky, the trickster captain of the goblins under the hill. Throughout, Harris demonstrates a knack for moving seamlessly between the serious and the comic, and her lengthy book moves swiftly. Playing fast and loose with Norse mythology, she creates a glorious and complex world replete with rune-based magical spells, bickering gods, exciting adventures and difficult moral issues. Maddy's destiny, readers realize, is to remake the world, but to succeed she must first remake herself into someone worthy of that fate. Ages 10-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 7 Up-In this fantasy set "five hundred years after the End of the World," after the battle of Ragnarok, as predicted by Norse mythology, anything imaginative or magical is taboo. Fourteen-year-old Maddy Smith has a strange birthmark on her hand. A wanderer called One-Eye tells her that what she has is a runemark, and he teaches her about magic and the legends of the Aesir and Vanir. When Maddy's powers awake sleeping magic, she discovers that the legends are true and that she has an important role to play in the next battle between good and evil. Aided and opposed by a variety of gods, goblins, and humans, she learns the truth about herself as she tries to find the truth about her world. Harris has created a realistic and detailed world, and the action scenes are both vivid and engrossing. Maddy's abilities develop in a logical manner while her youth and naiveti contrast strongly with the age and wisdom of One-Eye and Loki, her companions on her quest. This epic-strength novel may bring as much attention to Norse legends as Rick Riordan's "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series (Hyperion/Miramax) has to their Greek neighbors, and fantasy enthusiasts will find much to enjoy in this complex tale.-Beth L. Meister, Pleasant View Elementary School, Franklin, WI Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.