Morning Star [Hardcover]

In this sixth and final installment in his popular Griffin & Sabine saga (divided into two trilogies), writer and illustrator Bantock creates another jewel box of a book, rife with intrigue, legend and mystery. The exquisitely designed text features the series' trademark postcards and letters, written by archeologist Matthew Sedon, his true love Isabella de Reims, and the mysterious Griffin and Sabine, who have infiltrated the young lovers' lives. Fetchingly sepia-toned and exotic, the illustrated missives are charged with equal parts passion and mythology. Although newcomers to the story may be baffled by references to events that occurred in the previous volumes, they will find much to enjoy in the lush design and seductive tale. The suspense builds as Isabella, abandoning her studies in Paris, travels by land closer and closer to Matthew in Egypt. There is a voyeuristic thrill to reading someone else's mail, and Bantock exploits it thoroughly. When Matthew and Isabella come together at last, their union is a bit too breathless (Isabella engulfs Matthew "in her creature senses"), but readers who have followed the characters this far will appreciate the fireworks.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Artist and fabulist Bantock concludes the cosmic romance of his internationally adored creations, Griffin and Sabine, and their young disciples, Matthew and Isabella, in the final installment in a series that includes The Gryphon (2001) and Alexandria (2002). Elevating his exquisite and unique form of illustrated epistolary novels (beware: as before, some letters are not bound into the book) to new heights, Bantock's art has never been finer, the sweet sensuality has never been more poetic, and the drama of their spiritual mission has never been so exalted. As Griffin and Sabine encourage the intrepid Isabella on her urgent and risky journey from France to Egypt and instruct Matthew in ways to subvert the dark force that stalks him, Bantock orchestrates a fantastic battle between good and evil. Sabine writes that Matthew and Isabella are part of "an elite of the sensitive, the considerate and the tenacious" engaged in a "struggle against cruelty and unrelenting chaos," and, at the very least, best-selling Bantock's dreamy creations do good by adding beauty to the world. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

The Morning Star (In which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Is Illuminated) appears to be the last in his Griffin & Sabine book series. This one is no less enchanting than the other five. The layout and artwork-messages hand-scribbled on postcards, combined with images portraying ancient civilizations and figures from mythology-is magnificent, evoking a sense of the exotic and other-worldly. You feel as if you’re sifting through the contents on an ancient trunk, with each fingered object promising to yield some valuable insight.
Isabella de Reims and Matthew Sedon are inexorably drawn to each other, and their attraction mirrors in some essential way the union of Griffin and Sabine. As if an all-powerful symmetry is to be attained through the parallel coupling of Isabella and Matthew, Griffin and Sabine counsel each on how to reach the other and warn about the forces which would destroy them in order to prevent this ordained second union. Cryptically written, the four-way correspondence is genuinely intriguing and fun. Once you’ve read the postcards and letters, you’ll go back and reread them for the sheer visual and tactile pleasure of it.
Olga Stein (Books in Canada)
-- Books in Canada

"Described as eye and mind candy, the story continues its imaginative trademark postcards and letters style." -- The Globe and Mail

"Readers will find a maze of mythology, allusion and illusion continues to draw them in, irresistibly, from one letter or postcard to the next ... Bantock's funny, suspenseful and intriguing exploration of the human heart in love‹in whatever dimension it might find itself‹is a triumph." -- The Chronicle-Herald, Halifax

In this, the final chapter of the bestselling Griffin and Sabine stories and the third book in the Morning Star trilogy, lies the fate of Matthew and Isabella--and their unexpected kinship with Griffin and Sabine.

Plunged into an otherworldly maze, Matthew Sedon and Isabella de Reims are stretched to the limits of love, of certainty and of their belief in the powerful guidance of Griffin and Sabine. Isabella is drawn into her predestined journey to Egypt, a journey that forces her to explore a world beyond her imagination. In Alexandria, challenging his deepest fears, Matthew makes his own compelling discoveries in the fertile fields of both archaeology and the human heart.

Author and artist Nick Bantock draws on myth, memory and his limitless imagination to create a story that has resounded with readers the world over. In The Morning Star, the mystery that began with an enigmatic postcard from Sabine Strohem to Griffin Moss reaches its dramatic conclusion.

Nick Bantock is the author of numerous books, including the Griffin and Sabine stories: Griffin and Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, The Golden Mean, The Gryphon and Alexandria. Born in England, Nick Bantock now lives in Vancouver, B.C.