Shadowhand
Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Bethany House
Published January 28, 2014
“She Will Take Your Own Two Hands
To Save Your Ancient, Sorrowing Lands.”
By her father’s wish, Lady Daylily is betrothed to the Prince of Southlands. Not the prince she loves, handsome and dispossessed Lionheart, but his cousin, the awkward and foolish Prince Foxbrush. Unable to bear the future she sees as her wedding day dawns, Daylily flees into the dangerous Wilderlands, her only desire to vanish from living memory.
But Foxbrush, determined to rescue his betrothed, pursues Daylily into a new world of magic and peril, a world where vicious Faerie beasts hold sway, a world invaded by a lethal fey parasite . . .
A world that is hauntingly familiar.
To celebrate the cover reveal, author Anne Elisabeth Stengl is hosting a giveaway on her blog. One lucky winner will receive a mug with the gorgeous covers of all six books on it. Enter the contest here!
Shadow Hand will be the sixth book in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series. Fans will remember brave and guarded Lady Daylily and her betrothed from Stengl’s third book, Moonblood. For those who haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying the series, there is plenty of time to catch up! Shadow Hand will only be available beginning early next year. For more information, visit the Shadow Hand blog.
She heard the sound of the black helicopters approaching the day Mabby died. Since then, Valley and her big brother Bo have been hiding and waiting for their Da to come home. Staying out of sight because you never know when Those People will show up again. Valley wants to help. Da sends messages to Those People, ones they will not forget. Ticking packages that make Them listen.
But Da is gone now, and it is only Valley and Bo. Bo is forgetting. Only Valley remembers what Da said. Only Valley sees the bigger game. She will make Those People listen to her message. With one flick of her finger, they will feel her pain, her terror and never forget.
Indoctrinated from her youth, all Valley knows of the world is that it’s not safe. Life is carefully controlled by an elusive group who will shoot down anyone who tries to live outside their ways. The black helicopters will come. She marches along a dark path, fraught with poverty and abuse, determined to continue in her father’s footsteps. To destroy the world her enemies have created and make her voice and her story heard. Woolston creates a haunting tale of misery and paints the humanizing but tragic story of a girl whose life prepares her for only one fate: to become a suicide bomber. Readers who enjoyed Impulse by Ellen Hopkins or Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher will enjoy this novel.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
A small handful of heavy curses.
Sexual Content
Valley is abused by a man who is supposed to care for her and her brother. One scene briefly but graphically describes the abuse.
Spiritual Content
None.
Violence
This is the story of a suicide bomber, so it’s heavy material. However, there is little violence described. Valley threatens a boy and his dog. Her mother dies standing outside in a garden, but there is no gore.
Drug Content
Valley’s brother Bo drinks beer. Valley sips mead and elderberry wine.
Reviewer’s Note: A Deeper Look at Black Helicopters
I finished reading Black Helicopters as news of the attack in Boston began to break. Suddenly I felt like Valley stepped off the pages of the story and into our lives.
As headlines poured in, like most of America, I felt angry. Such senseless violence. What’s the gain here? What is an event like this supposed to accomplish?
The truth: Valley’s story awakened in me a grudging sense of compassion. Talk about a kid who never had a chance at normal. She was her own first casualty.
Tragic.
Yet this isn’t the word I think of when I see the images of the men who stowed bombs that injured and killed innocent people. And yet the choices made that led to the April 15 attack by the Tsarnaev brothers are tragic.
Innocents lost their lives. Survivors were forever changed. But before April 15, 2013, hatred devoured two brothers.
Please understand: I believe what happened was inexcusable and wrong. But the tragedy began long before those bombs exploded, and for Ms. Woolston, Valley’s story began in the wake of another tragedy: September 11, 2001. On April 17, 2013 she posted a blog detailing her response to the Boston bombing and the release of Black Helicopters. Like her novel, it’s brief but powerful.
Book Giveaway!
Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a FREE copy of Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston. (Winner must have US address for shipping.) Contest ends Monday May 13, 2013 11:59 pm Eastern Time.
Captain Tabitha “Dix” Dixon and her crew make a living transporting cargo across the solar system and staying off the radar of the corrupt and powerful System of United Planets (SUN). To Dix, the crew are family, and she will do anything to protect them.
But Dix carries a secret in a tiny vial that even most of her crew don’t know, one that could cost them their lives. Eternigen is a miracle serum that would allow humans to travel through deep space, beyond the control of the SUN. Agents of the SUN will go to any lengths to get it back, and now they have a new ally.
Eira Ninge is about as unbalanced as her name sounds. She pursues Dix and her crew relentlessly, gruesomely disposing of anyone who chooses to help them escape.
Despite the looming threat, resistance messenger Jordan Barrett joins forces with Dix. The captain is used to having her orders obeyed without question, but Barrett isn’t afraid to challenge her. Or laugh at her. Or call her Tabitha, which is just asking for it. Letting Barrett close means the risk of losing him, and Dix isn’t sure she can handle that with SUN agents drawing ever nearer.
Dix has a plan. Hobs, a crew member and brilliant scientist, is close to finding a way to replicate the Eternigen. If Dix can dodge Eira until Hobs unlocks the formula, she and her crew can escape beyond the reaches of the SUN and find a place where they can truly be free. With mounting deaths of those she loves and Eira closing in, can Dix keep her crew safe long enough to escape for good?
Liberty is a fast-paced, fun read. Our solar system has been terraformed and the planets occupied by settlers under the control of the SUN, who ration electricity and information. Elite groups of people have excesses of food and beautiful homes while most of humanity languishes in poor slums. Resistance movements gather to discuss and complain, but only Dix seems willing to buck the SUN openly. Dix is as spirited, goofy and easy to love as her crew members and their story.
Language Content
Only faux swearing. Includes words like “flark,” “skud,” and “jackwagon.”
Sexual Content Light.
Spiritual Content
Brief discussion about whether heaven exists. A motherly figure tells Dix she must believe she will see those she loves again after this life.
Violence SUN dissenters are hanged. Punches are exchanged in battle sequences. A space ship is destroyed. Scenes are brief and without high level of detail.
Drug Content
Characters go into a couple of bars but order things like ginger ale and root beer.
Win a Copy! Leave a comment on this post naming your favorite science fiction character from a book or movie. One commenter will win a free copy of Liberty! (Winner must have a US mailing address.) Contest ends Friday at 11:59 pm Eastern Time.
