The Crowfield Curse
The Crowfield Curseby Pat Walsh
It's 1347 and fifteen-year-old Will, an orphan boy, lives at Crowfield Abbey. Sent into the forest to gather wood, he rescues instead, a creature from a trap - a hob, who shares with Will a terrible secret. Somewhere in the forest behind the abbey where he lives, is a grave. And buried deep in the snow is an angel. But how can an angel die? What has it to do with the monks of the Abbey? When two hooded strangers arrive at Crowfield asking questions about the angel's grave. Will is drawn into a world of dangerous Old Magic. (goodreads.com)
DISCLAIMER: Until I can figure out how to create cover images like I have been (using Paint Shop Pro) on my Macbook, I guess they will just have to be boring. I know you, the reader, probably don't care very much, but I DO! I hate this! I am currently fighting with a trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 to see if I can create something similar to my normal photo-frame book cover image, but I can't seem to figure it out. I am SO SAD. I don't WANT to just post book covers, it's not the way my blog should look! (And yes, I am that OCD about aesthetics!) If anyone reading this is a) familiar enough with Elements to help me figure this out or b) knows a free (cheap) program that is similar to PSP with frames, etc, please leave me a comment. I am dying on the inside here. I know it's not a big deal to the rest of the world, but it is TO ME!!!And now on to how awesome this book was. (Even if it's depicted as just the boring ol' cover.)The Crowfield Curse is yet another book that came highly recommended by the lovely Michelle Harrison (author extraordinaire of the 13 series!) Yet once more I was not let down by her recommendation either.I can't tell if this book is YA or MG, and to be honest, I thought Will was about 10-12 years old in the story and not 15 as it mentioned in the summary up there. Either way, the creepy, forrest, 1300s, Abbey setting was just fantastic. Will himself is a very likeable character and you feel for him as he goes about his day doing chores or being treated poorly by the Monks and the mysterious guests of the Abbey. You feel like you're living day to day with Will as everything happens to him. I was completley on his side the entire story.I especially loved Brother Walter, the hob, even though I am still not entirely sure what a hob is supposed to be, nor what he looks like. Either way, I loved him. Brother Walter reminded me of a much more intelligent and less annoying Dobby from Harry Potter. ;)The strangers to the Abbey are delightfully creepy and I even ended up liking Shadlock a Seelie fey, who didn't seem all that great when he first appeared on scene. I like that he took care of Will even though he had no care what happened to humans. He seemed to protect him throughout the quests he made him do. I liked the pairing of Will and Shadlock. It helped that Brother Walter was along for the ride as well.An honourable mention goes to Brother Snail. Of all the Monks at the Abbey he was the most endearing and truly cared for Will when the rest of them just saw him as free labour. Will was comfortable enough to take his curious questions and problems to Brother Snail and I liked that there was an adult involved in the dealings even if he was supposed to be young(ish). I guess in 1347 a 20-year old man is considered old. (My goodness! I must be ancient!!)I am fairly certain there will be more adventures with Will and Brother Walter with the way the story ended and if there are I NEED to read them. I was completely enthralled by the creepy world that Crowfield Abbey was a part of. Highly entertaining and exciting fantasy/suspense story with quite a few dark elements tossed in.