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Summary
Summary
Nimira is a foreign music-hall girl forced to dance for pennies. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing with a piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new and better life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets are beginning to stir. Unsettling below-stairs rumors swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry's involvement with a league of sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. Then Nimira discovers the spirit of a fairy gentleman named Erris is trapped inside the clockwork automaton, waiting for someone to break his curse. The two fall into a love that seems hopeless, and breaking the curse becomes a race against time, as not just their love, but the fate of the entire magical world may be in peril.
Author Notes
Jaclyn Dolamore spent her childhood reading as many books as she could lug from the library and playing elaborate pretend games with her sister. She has a passion for history, thrift stores, vintage dresses, David Bowie, drawing, and organic food. She lives in Orlando, Florida, with her partner and two black tabbies that have ruined her carpeting (the cats, that is, not the boyfriend). This is her first novel.
www.jacklyndolamore.com
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Back home, 17-year-old Nimira was the daughter of an honored artist, but in Lorinar she's just an exotic singer in a music hall, hating the smoky, cutthroat city. When the sorcerer Hollin Parry offers her a luxurious life in return for singing with his piano-playing automaton, she accepts immediately. Hollin's country estate is splendid but unwelcoming, and Hollin, though attractive, is a man with secrets. Having heard rumors, Nimira is not entirely surprised when the automaton begins to stare at her and make noises that have nothing to do with the piano. She learns that the automaton is actually Erris, a lost fairy prince, and Nimira faces both personal and political challenges as she attempts to release Erris from his clockwork enchantment. Debut author Dolamore draws heavily on Jane Eyre and its themes of sexual and class prejudice for her plot, reshaping the source material with skill. Nimira is not as high-minded as Jane, and her apotheosis is not as sweet, but hints of a sequel indicate that readers may learn more about Nimira in the future. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
At the invitation of a mysterious, handsome sorcerer, musically gifted Nimira travels to perform with a piano-playing automaton. As she unravels the truth behind the automaton's identity and the political plot that caused his entrapment, Nimira becomes desperate to save him. Dolamore writes with passion, creating a fantasy world where love conquers dark magic and a music-hall girl can rescue a prince. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Nimira is a trouser girl, a performer from Tassim looking to make her way in a wealthier locale. But things have not been going well, so when a handsome young sorcerer, Hollin Parry, offers her a job, she is interested. Parry owns a life-size automaton that plays the piano and would like Nimira to sing in accompaniment. Yet once Nimira moves into Parry's home, she finds that things are not what they seem. Warned that the automaton is haunted, Nimira is shocked to find that under his metal exterior, he is actually a captive fairy prince named Erris. Soon Nimira is caught in a triangle between a persistent Parry and the tortured Erris, whom she longs to help. Dolamore successfully juggles several elements that might have stymied even a more experienced writer: intriguing plot elements, sophisticated characterizations, and a subtle boost of girl power; it's the women of the tale who have ingenuity, courage, and the power to turn events. Few fantasies end in one volume these days. Alas, this one could have had a perfect finale, but if not that, at least readers will have more of this strong heroine to look forward to.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2009 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8-10-While working in a run-down music hall, Nimira, 17, is hired to sing accompaniment to an automaton that plays the piano. The "clockwork man," in the possession of wealthy, handsome Hollin Parry, a powerful sorcerer, is more than it seems. A fairy prince, Erris has been trapped in the automaton, and Nimira's struggle to free him, and their growing love for one another, is only part of the story. Mixed into this stunning debut novel are enough plot points to keep readers interested. With touches of steampunk, romance, fantasy, and mystery, there is a little something for everyone. The only downside, if there is one, is that the ending is inconclusive, leaving readers with the feeling that a second book will follow.-Valerie Davis, Campbell County Public Library, Newport, KY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle meets Sally Gardner's The Red Necklace (2008), with a hint of Jane Eyre thrown in for good measure, in this vivid and rousing debut. Set in Victorian-like Lorinar, a country at war with the fairies for several generations, this speculative-fiction romance features Nimira, a performing "trouser girl," who left home to seek her fortune elsewhere after her mother died and her father squandered the family fortune. When Hollin Parry, a wealthy sorcerer, asks the young singer to accompany his piano-playing automaton, she thinks she has been rescued from her seedy life and is out of danger until she discovers that a fairy prince is trapped inside the mechanical man. Nimira reveals her cleverness and fortitude as she takes on a sorcerer assassin, battles the powers of dark magic and attempts to break the prince's curse. Unlike similar and heftier tomes, this tale is kept under tight control with brisk pacing. But alas, sequels are all the rage, so readers must wait to find out the fate of the prince and his human love. (Fantasy. 12 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
