Overview
Book I of the Runestone Saga ends with a terrifying reversal. The grandfather who showed Sky how to use the power of the runes to travel back in time, revealed his secret plans—which turn out to involve murder and possession. Sky must now find a way to fight his powerful teacher—for his cousin's very soul.
And so he travels to Corsica, home of his other forbearers, hoping to find some knowledge, some power. The blood feud of vendetta still runs hot in Sky's family, as does the supernatural power of the MazzeriÑthe Corsican dream hunters of death. Sky must again travel back through time, inhabiting the life of Tza, a fierce girl from the 1500s. As he sinks into Tza's mind, Sky wondersÑare all of his ancestors murderers?
Vendetta is a heady, exciting blend of supernatural possibility and historical truth that will leave readers gasping for the final installment of the trilogy.
Synopsis
Book I of the Runestone Saga ends with a terrifying reversal. The grandfather who showed Sky how to use the power of the runes to travel back in time, revealed his secret plans—which turn out to involve murder and possession. Sky must now find a way to fight his powerful teacher—for his cousin's very soul.
And so he travels to Corsica, home of his other forbearers, hoping to find some knowledge, some power. The blood feud of vendetta still runs hot in Sky's family, as does the supernatural power of the MazzeriÑthe Corsican dream hunters of death. Sky must again travel back through time, inhabiting the life of Tza, a fierce girl from the 1500s. As he sinks into Tza's mind, Sky wondersÑare all of his ancestors murderers?
Vendetta is a heady, exciting blend of supernatural possibility and historical truth that will leave readers gasping for the final installment of the trilogy.
KLIATT
Traveling to a new country is always difficult, but it is even more so when one is being chased by death spirits and cursed by the blade-wielding women who follow them. Sky March has just found this out the hard way. Of course, Sky is no stranger to either curses or to the dead, not since his grandfather Sigurd showed him that his family possessed the ancient power of the runes. He recently abandoned the maternal side of his family, however, because his grandfather's magical revelation only slightly preceded his possession of Sky's favorite cousin, Kristin. Now, Sky is tracking down his father's lineage in Corsica in the hopes that he will find another set of magic with which to combat Sigurd. When he discovers the mystical powers of the Mazzeri death hunters, he realizes that he has found what he came for...but that the price for his new knowledge is to be drawn into a virulent maelstrom of bloodlines, death, and revenge. Humphrey's dazzling, blood-pounding world of the Mazzeri makes this sequel to The Fetch an undeniably good read. The story itself has obvious overtones of Romeo and Juliet, and those who enjoyed the Matrix trilogy will find themselves on familiar territory with Sky, who must learn to master his spirit self in order to battle the other Mazzeri in their world. Readers also will find, however, that the book does struggle a bit with its place in Humphrey's Runestone Saga. As a sequel, it abandons the ostensible "main" story line for much of the book—making the ending seem somewhat forced—and when read on its own, it fails somewhat to convince the reader of the gravity of Sky's mission. For those simply in search of a good page-turner, though,Humphreys does not disappoint.
Editorials
Children's Literature -
The second in "The Runestone Saga," Vendetta opens with its sixteen-year-old hero Sky newly arrived in Corsica. After witnessing a ghostly death squadron, he meets Amelia and Jacquie Farcese. The old woman and her granddaughter's initial friendliness takes a 180-degree turn when they discover Sky is last in line of the long standing feud (or vendetta) between their ancestors and his. He soon finds himself under the care and tutelage of his great aunt, Pascaline, who briefs Sky on the feud, then tells him that he is the one destined to end it by killing Jacquie. Horrified, Sky is nevertheless torn between murdering the girl or allowing the vendetta to continue, thereby resulting in further bloodshed for countless generations to come. Sky's indecision is ended when Pascaline inadvertently gives him a potential solution: to become a healer instead of a murderer. To do so, he must travel back in time to learn this lost art. The story then takes a hard-to-follow detour as Sky inhabits the body of a fourteen-year-old girl who lived in the 1500s. Humphreys' book is interesting and suspenseful but also quite confusing as a stand-alone. Concepts that include out-of-body counterparts and experiences, runes, and possession of someone else's soul, are rather daunting and complex. Still, fans of the previous title should be pleased and will no doubt eagerly await the exciting conclusion in the next and final, installment. Reviewer: Naomi MillinerVOYA -
In this second book of The Runestone Saga, following Fetch (Knopf, 2006/VOYA August 2006), teen Sky March travels to Corsica to uncover the mystery of his father's ancestry and the secret to saving his possessed cousin, Kristin, from his evil grandfather Sigurd. Sky finds himself thrust into an ancient vendetta between his ancestors, the Marcaggi, and their enemies, the Farcese. Pascaline, Sky's great-aunt, mentors Sky in the ways of the Mazzeri Dream Hunters, who can leave their physical bodies to hunt. Sky then combines the powers of his ancestries, Viking and Corsican, to travel back in time and learn the ways of the Mazzeri Salvatore, the Dream Hunters who can kill and then heal their prey. This new skill serves Sky doubly well as it allows him to end the feud between the two families without further death and also to drive the evil spirit of Sigurd from Kristin's body by killing and then healing her. Fans will be howling for the next book. Humphreys's setting is unique, and he has a tremendous ability for building suspense. Unlike in the first book, here Humphreys allows Sky to make more decisions instead of being carried by the plot. Sky's access to a large bank account and the inability of his parents to locate him are a stretch, but the plot and action more than make up for these minor criticisms. Purchase where the first book is popular and for science fiction fans looking for a distinctive read that deftly crosses into other genres such as mystery and historical fiction.KLIATT -
Traveling to a new country is always difficult, but it is even more so when one is being chased by death spirits and cursed by the blade-wielding women who follow them. Sky March has just found this out the hard way. Of course, Sky is no stranger to either curses or to the dead, not since his grandfather Sigurd showed him that his family possessed the ancient power of the runes. He recently abandoned the maternal side of his family, however, because his grandfather's magical revelation only slightly preceded his possession of Sky's favorite cousin, Kristin. Now, Sky is tracking down his father's lineage in Corsica in the hopes that he will find another set of magic with which to combat Sigurd. When he discovers the mystical powers of the Mazzeri death hunters, he realizes that he has found what he came for...but that the price for his new knowledge is to be drawn into a virulent maelstrom of bloodlines, death, and revenge. Humphrey's dazzling, blood-pounding world of the Mazzeri makes this sequel to The Fetch an undeniably good read. The story itself has obvious overtones of Romeo and Juliet, and those who enjoyed the Matrix trilogy will find themselves on familiar territory with Sky, who must learn to master his spirit self in order to battle the other Mazzeri in their world. Readers also will find, however, that the book does struggle a bit with its place in Humphrey's Runestone Saga. As a sequel, it abandons the ostensible "main" story line for much of the book—making the ending seem somewhat forced—and when read on its own, it fails somewhat to convince the reader of the gravity of Sky's mission. For those simply in search of a good page-turner, though,Humphreys does not disappoint.School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up
Having escaped his grandfather Sigurd's nefarious plans in The Fetch (Knopf, 2006), Sky March is now on a quest of his own. Utilizing the ancient Norse magic of runes, Sigurd has possessed Sky's cousin Kristen's body, and the boy is too unskilled to fight his more powerful ancestor. The only thing to do is to travel to Corsica, where the other side of his family is from, and learn something Sigurd doesn't know. Once there, Sky finds himself trapped in a centuries-old blood feud. His great-aunt has promised that she will teach him how to release his "Fetch," or soul, but only if he fulfills his destiny by participating in the family's vendetta. Torn between his need for information and disgust with killing, Sky finds the answers he seeks only when he's willing to travel yet again into the past. Though best read in tandem with its predecessor, this book is a consistently exciting combination of Corsican legend and contemporary fantasy.
—Elizabeth BirdCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.