Fun Reads Friday: The Clockwork Crow

             If you’re ready to leave the summer heat behind and spend some time playing in the snow, I have just the story for you.  The Clockwork Crow, by Catherine Fisher, is an absolutely magical book. Seren has been passed around from  parents (now deceased), to an orphanage to a great aunt (now deceased), until now she is finally going to the grand home of her godfather in Wales. But while waiting for the train, a thin man with a newspaper-wrapped package says that They are searching for him, and he must see if They followed him. Would she please watch the package and not let Them get it? And if he doesn’t come back, she is not to leave the package. When her train comes, she has no choice but to take the mysterious package with her. What follows is a delightful Gothic story of a missing child, secret passages, and a clockwork crow who claims to be a cursed prince.

            There were many places in this book that felt like a Christian allegory and gave a wonderful layered feeling to the story. One of the most notable moments was when, trying to get into a magical land that is blocked by a glass dome, Seren must give a drop of blood and a tear in order for the magic to work. She pricks her finger, and the pain and sacrifice of the action brings a tear to her eye and the blood and tear create a door for them to enter through. There is also a definite analogy of listening to the voices of evil and following them to our own demise. I’m looking forward to reading it again with an eye for these moments.

Overall, this was a fantastic book and now I must get the sequels to continue the story. I sped through it because I was so eager to find out what happened, and I’m looking forward to reading it again and savoring it this time. The descriptions are rich, the characters are interesting, and I was locked into this world the whole time. Seren and Tomas are similar to Mary Lennox and Colin Craven in The Secret Garden mixed with the Snow Queen fairy tale. It is at once familiar and new all at the same time. I highly recommend this book to all ages!