Children of the Revolution

Throughout the course of the year it does seem at times that what I've been doing at work has been reflected in what I read. Partly this is coincidence and a result of working a reasonably varied number of topics (largely history-based for some time now), though it is also partly due to choice. My Yankophilia from earlier in the year seems to have faded a bit, but as one project ends, another begins and while my knowledge of the French Revolution was pretty much non-existent a couple of months ago (and it's far from encyclopaedic now), it happens to be something I've worked on recently. Oh, and also the backdrop for my latest read.

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner is a young adult novel set in late eighteenth-century Paris and largely has everything you'd want from such a book. A pinch of magic, a swirl of romance, a healthy dose of swashbuckling, a fine cast of heroes and villains – all of the ingredients are there. The story rattles along, doing a successful job of painting the city, though would perhaps have benefitted at times with some explanations of things – I feel that someone with no knowledge of the period would be a bit lost amongst some of the terms and that a lot was assumed. Similarly, the workings of the magical powers wielded by the protagonist and antagonist, how they acquired and controlled them, what their limits were, etc. were all a bit vague and I would have appreciated some further knowledge of these. Admittedly in hindsight it seems this was a sequel to a previous story, in which some of these issues were addressed, but a little recap or first-time information wouldn't have gone amiss.

I enjoyed the fact that the villains were both sinister and blunt and not overly clichéd. Likewise, the heroes were interesting enough and while not finely sculpted creations, they were not caricatures. The real strength of the book though was in the narrative and drive, which told a tale for the most part very well. My biggest complaint is that the climax was, well, somewhat anticlimactic and seemed a little hurried, but all loose ends were tied up in true adventure style and I can't complain too much about that.

Book number: 76
Title: The Silver Blade
Author: Sally Gardner
Category: Books with colours in the title