Customer Reviews

My Swordhand is Singing (Collins Readers)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Beware. Not for the faint-hearted, younger readers & adults alike. Could cause nightmares in very sensitive young readers. However, for the bloodthirsty & adventurous, this is a great introduction to the classic gothic horror vampire story. Well-researched and based on many of the vampire myths emanating from Eastern Europe, you won't find here the well-dressed suave and sophisticated vampire, but rather the more "realistic" (if possible) vampire based on centuries of folklore and legend.

Peter is a young wood-cutter, living with his father Tomas, on the outskirts of a small village in a forested area of an Eastern European (presumed) country. His mother died in childbirth & Peter and his father have roamed for many years before building themselves a home near this place. Peter does much of the work as his dad is an alcoholic but he has a sweetheart in the village, Agnes, and the two of them seem quite content until some strange deaths start occurring in the village.... Then some travelling gypsies arrive, including the beautiful Sofia, and the dead don't seem to be staying in their graves....

This novel should have wide appeal to different ages & is an interesting addition to vampire literature. A good read.

Marcus Sedgwick's MY SWORDHAND IS SINGING is a dark novel with a heavy emphasis on thick, snowy forests of Eastern Europe, gypsies, and superstitious town folk. It is the perfect setting for a scary story, but it is also much, much more.

Tomas and his teenage son, Peter, are a pair of traveling woodcutters with a mysterious past that settle down in the village of Chust one winter. Before long a string a deaths strike the village. Peter is perturbed by the villagers' strange reactions to the occurrences. When he asks Tomas about them, his father brushes away his questions as silly folk lore. However, Tomas is also doing his own share of strange things, like digging a trench around their home and filling it with moving water. When Agnes, a girl Peter likes, is symbolically married to a dead man and shut up in a remote hut, Peter tries to rescue her and runs into a monster.

Sedgwick takes pains to distance his tale from the gentleman bloodsucker that Anne Rice and authors like her have embedded into pop culture. The word "vampire" is never mentioned and the vampires, themselves, have varying appearances throughout the novel. He does a great job at weaving various and sometimes seemingly paradoxical pieces of folk lore. This gives the story a great sense of immediacy and realism. Sedgwick also shifts the focus from vampires to people who have to deal with terrifying occurrences at home. The buildup of the growing atmosphere of fear and denial will have readers biting their fingernails.

Marcus Sedgwick seems to take a lot of risks in writing this atypical, historically rich vampire novel. Central to the story line is not the relationship between a human and vampire or a girl and a boy (a la Buffy and Angel), but a wounded relationship between father and son. While this may seem terribly uncool, the realism of this relationship is what grounds the novel and makes the more fantastical elements more believable and scary.

Reviewed by: Natalie Tsang

A creepy vampire chiller, from Marcus Sedgewick, My Swordhand is Singing is an interesting emalgamation of myriad old vampire myths - brought together in a spare crisp winter world with an interesting, if simple plot.
The vampires are what's quite refreshing about this young adult novel - they aren't your modern, swarve, eroticised dark lovers - these vampires (never referred to as such) are more akin to half-zombies with a penchant for blood. They are animalistic, yet intelligent and organized. almost none of the modern banes of the vamp are used here either - rather the bok is a hark back to old medieval European vamp tales, which makes it seems nice and original.
Overall it is a good book, however, i did have problems with the quite dull 1st half of the book - where almost nothing happens bar exposition - and the dull, 2D lead character.
readable and eerie, but not scary, it has some great images, but they are too sparse. And the book could well have benefitted from being half its 200 page length.
6/10

This is a dark novel based around the true beginnings for the vampire legends which made their way out of eastern Europe in the 17th century, and as such has a slightly educational value to it. There are no slick counts in haunted castles here, the vampies of bloated corpses.

It tells the story of a drunkard woodcutter and his son (the names elude me), who have never settled in any village. They have built a house in the forest with a moat, away from the nearby village, and are treated as outcasts, outsiders. There have been a number of mysterious deaths, rather brutal and grisly, which seem to make no sense.

The protagonist is in love with a girl called Agnes, though he is forced to question this when a bewitching Gypsy arrives with her family. But in true vampyrric tradition, those slain do not rest easy in their graves, and prowl the streets and forests. It seems they are the minions of the Shadow Queen, and her power is waxing.

The hero is forced to try to defend Agnes who, being forced to marry a corpse (it will make sense) she is forced into a mourning isolation. Suffice to say she is a prime target for the blood thirsty creatures who seek to be invited into her hut. There are some rather novel ways by which the living can protect themselves, forget the garlic, give a vampire a piece of charcoal and he must write with it until it is exhausted. This is an example of the historical gems which are hidden among the all too few pages of this book.

Meanwhile the mysterious Gypsies are beseiging our hero's home, trying to steal the sword which his father has hidden all these years from his son, so that they can put a stop to this scourge. Soon the vampires are growing both in number and strength, and they too seek this sword, and are willing to stop at nothing to claim this tool for themselves. It all builds towards a pretty predictable showdown to be honest.

In the end, it is a book written for children, which is surprising considering it is fairly gruesome and pretty frightening at times. But it is easy to read and absorbing, if predictable. A good read for younger people with enough there to appeal to adults.

I bought this book for my 13 year old daughter who is into vampire stories. She read it in a couple of days and raved about it so much I read it myself. It is very well written, the chapters are very short - there are alot of them though. This is ideal for a reluctant reader as reading a chapter a day is easily accomplished. The story line is good, with just enough horror I think for younger readers not to give them nightmares. There are a couple of bits where I could see readers of a weaker disposition might find them a bit scary, but all in all a very good entertaining read. Will definitely look out for more books by the same author.

This is the fourth Sedgwick that I have read and must admit to taking a shine, not only to his style of writing, but also the eye with which he sees the world. Sedgwick's `Swordhand' is a real triumph in portraying a time when people were still greatly affected by folklore and dark whisperings in the world that surrounded them. Much like `The Dark Horse', Sedgwick has encompassed a land where, in terms of knowledge and understanding, people are still in their infancy and the Europe is still vastly untamed.
The book's dark and brooding pace suits the story's mood. Written in third person, the tale oversees the life of Peter whose secretive father hides a tragic past and whose distant and offhanded demeanour makes growing up in the cold wild of 17th century Romania difficult. After moving from place to place we find father and son beginning to settle on the fringes of the village of Chust. Here, Peter tries to forge relationships with the guarded locals, but all is not as it seems as the nights are plagued by vampires. Peter finds himself not only entangled a web of deceit within the village but also in the grip of his father's past which will not leave them alone.
Although aimed at the younger teens, I have found `My Swordhand is Singing' fits 10+ in age as long as the reader is prepared to be scared and is competent. The landscape and characters are so well crafted and the storyline so deeply sown into the world painted by Sedgwick that this is a book you shouldn't miss. I was particularly taken by Tomas (Peter's father), who is handled with great mysteriousness and who plays well opposite Sofia, a gypsy girl whom Peter befriends. With no end of scary moments and gripping episodes, the book ends in a climax that leaves the reader wanting more. This is a vampire story that deals more with their origins rather than the typical soft-brush that they tend to be painted with these days.

First of all I think it best to point out something that might allured a customer buying this book over the internet. If you go in any book shop you will find it under the children's section or at least you will in Waterstones. That is the reason why the chapters are very quick and their isn't alot of description that would make for an adult book but boring for a child. However this does make the book quick paced and fun to read. It is a very good book, I read it quickly and yes it would be better for us adults. If there was more to it but then it wouldn't be a children's book would it. It could of been a book set towards an adult market and would make a great film but bear in mind it is for kids. If you want over the top never ending descriptions read lord of the rings. If you want a book that you can just pick up and read on a lunch break or on the bus that will not change your world in a day. But will leave you with a sense of gratefulness that you have read it and that you have experienced it's interesting worth. Then this book is for you. I'm glad I gave it the time of day just don't ask from it what it wasn't meant to give in the first place. Like the reviewer above seems to of done.

'My Swordhand is Singing' is a wonderful piece of gothic literature. It's extremely atmospheric and transports the reader immediately to the snowy forests of 16th Century Carpathia. My heart almost stopped with fright when I read the bit about Peter following the red wool back to the graveyard. I read it all in one sitting and think it's just a brilliant book! There is also an extra story called 'Bloodbeard' in the paperback which is just as dark and terrifying and is great because you want to keep reading more and more about the characters and where they go. I hope there's a sequel or a series as I could have kept reading forever.

although a brilliant book, it should not be read after dark! it is exiting and scary, which are a great combination, but i agree with the other reviewers that this book should be read by young children.
12/13 + (if they are brave)

I wasn't sure what to expect when I began this book. It sounded interesting but I didn't know if it would hook me. I started it and after settling in and learning the setting and back story of the characters it became an enjoyable read. Sedgwick does his own unique twist on Vampires which is very interesting. I loved how lots of different ideas from folklore and history were pulled together in the book to create these new terrifying vampires. Another great thing about this book is how the characters grow and how their relationships develops. It was very heartfelt and real to read. That was the strongest aspect of this book.

The book joins Peter and Tomas, father and son after they move to the small village of Chust. Building a house outside the village makes the pair seem suspicious, but Tomas has his own motives for doing so. His past is following him and it's finally caught up. All the lies he has told his son are about to blow up in his face. Rumours spread around the village that the dead are rising and visiting their loved ones. Nobody knows what this is about better than Tomas but still he keeps everyone in the dark. Peter is thrown into the middle of the chaos and only his father can make things right, before its too late.

Peter was an interesting character, he was young and innocent. He didn't know of the horrors of the world. His father had kept them hidden all his life. Peter is woken up one day to the terrifying creatures and it's then he has to become more responsible and do something about it as his father refuses to help. Peter learns of his fathers past and realises that there is much he doesn't know about him. Things begin to fall into place, the constant moving, the box his father brings everywhere, he realises that his father was doing all this to keep him safe.

Tomas was a troubled man. His youth was full of glory but that all turned sour. He was jailed, after escaping he found a wife but she died giving birth to Peter. Tomas trying to forget his past turns to drink and doesn't look back. He wants to keep Peter safe but also to keep him in the dark. There are things out there that nobody should see.

We see the father-son relationship develop throughout the book. From the start we see that Tomas hits Peter when he is drunk. Peter has learnt to cope with it. When Peter learns the truth about his father he's annoyed but realises his father was doing it to keep him safe. The sacrifice at the end that Tomas makes shows how much he loved his son despite everything. He never meant to hurt him or keep him innocent, he just wanted him safe from harm. He'd lost so many other people, and Peter was his last hope. Ahh, it was rather heartbreaking the end. This relationship was so raw and real and it developed so well.

My Swordhand is Singing is a interesting take on the Vampire legend that will leave the reader sleeping with the lights on. It's got some action that keeps the reader on their feet but it also has an emotional punch that makes the reader feel so involved. I really enjoyed this book and I've already started the sequel!