Fantasy/Sci-Fi Lovin' GIVEAWAYS!

Hello, all! I’m new here so it might take me a couple reviews before I really get the swing of things. That being said – thanks to SMD for passing along this book to me and to everyone else for the chance to do this! I hope I don’t disappoint.

Foundling, by D.M. Cornish, begins a planned trilogy called Monster Blood Tattoo published by the Penguin Group. D.M. Cornish has created a world called the Half-Continent that’s almost as rich and complex as anything by J.R.R. Tolkein or Frank Herbert, however it doesn’t read like anything quite so fantastical. This work is rooted in period maritime romances (not in the lovey dovey romance sort of way either) like Treasure Island or the Horatio Hornblower adventures – all without ever going out to sea! The feel is entirely Victorian; from the detailed maps and the extensive “Explicarium” (over a hundred pages!), to the heavy cover and parchment-like pages, this book just screams rousing adventure and it does not disappoint.

“Rossamünd was a boy with a girl’s name.” Thus begins D.M. Cornish’s debut novel following the adventures of the titular Foundling. What unfolds in the pages of this book have a great deal to do with that first line. Rossamünd Bookchild is not exactly girly, per se, but he is the sensitive sort: trusting, naïve, and almost unerringly polite. These qualities make him endearing to most of the people he meets, aside from a few monsters. However, the monsters aren’t exactly whom you might expect them to be. Cornish created the perfect awkward coming-of-age tale, in which a boy discovers that the monsters we are taught to fear are not necessarily the monsters that we should fear.

Rossamünd was left on the doorstep of Madam Opera’s Estimable Marine Society as a baby, but has reached an age when it is time to be chosen for a respectable career. Though he has dreamed of becoming a “Vinegaroon” (the term for navy men who sail the Vinegar seas) all his life, he is enlisted by the Lamplighters whose job it is to light the lamps (obviously) on the Wormway. A few things hint that he is no ordinary Foundling, from the circumstances of his discovery to the seemingly unusual kinship he has with the Dormitory Master, Fransitart, of Madam Opera’s Foundlingery. These subtle intonations, his practically Dickensian orphan status, and his shy bookishness make him an easy hero for a young adult fiction. Rossamünd’s journeys takes him from the steps of the Foundlingery to his new home at Winstermill, but let’s just say he has a few missteps along the way (or rather just one really big one). Through his adventures he meets some incredibly colorful characters, whose detail is augmented by the fantastic sketches of the author himself (who began his career as an illustrator).

Foundling is a compelling romp through a rich landscape. It is easy to empathize with Rossamünd even when he does something silly. The occasional use of (what I think is) Latin and other exotic terms creates an adventure within the adventure – I’ve never met a definition I didn’t like and I found myself looking things up with as much (or more) frequency as Rossamünd does in an almanac he carries around with him. Aside from a few marginally flat characters that left me wanting more, my only complaint is that I can’t read the follow-up novel, Lamplighter, until I go buy it. Cornish’s prose easily flows off the page, and sets just the right tone for its young adult audience. The use of thick accents for many of the characters and the frequent unfamiliar terms may prove difficult to a younger reader, but add appropriate authenticity to the world of the Half-Continent. D.M. Cornish has written a novel that is perfect parts adventure and heart that is an amazingly satisfying read. Foundling is a book you shouldn’t miss.