Finnikin of the Rock - Melina Marchetta

[goodreads]

Title: Finnikin of the Rock
Author: Melina Marchetta
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 399
Date read: May, 2009

Summary: At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of his homeland, Lumatere.

And so he stands on the rock of three wonders with his childhood friend Prince Balthazar and the prince's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood. And Lumatere is safe.

Until the 'five days of the unspeakable', when the King and Queen and their children are slaughtered in the palace. And an imposter king takes the throne.
And a curse is put on Lumatere, which traps those caught inside and forces thousands of others to roam the land as exiles, dying of fever and persecution in foreign camps.

But ten years later Finnikin is led to another rock to meet the young novice, Evanjalin. A girl plagued by dark dreams, who holds the key to their return to the Land of light...

Review: I wasn't sure whether to give this 3 or 4 'stars'. It's good, but not great. I was interested enough in the plot and the characters, but it wasn't completely un-put-downable, and I occasionally found my thoughts wandering, leaving me to reread the same passage several times, because I couldn't concentrate properly on it the first time.

I was rather disappointed by this, because I so wanted to love it. I really enjoyed seeing a fantasy novel where magic wasn't in the main seat, and I grew to quite like the characters - especially the thief Froi, who provided a refreshing new perspective on the events. But at the end of the day, it just wasn't good enough to warrant a 4-star rating.

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