From Publishers Weekly
Price (The Ghost Drum; Ghost Song) again crafts a rich, vivid fantasy about spirits and ghosts and the realms through which they travel. Set in a fictional region that resembles northern Russia during medieval times and narrated by a mystical cat, the story focuses largely on Shingebiss, an apprentice shaman. A shapechanger, she seeks to keep the evil Czar from spoiling the natural beauty of the Northlands, but first she must contend with his deceitful English wizard, Master Jenkins. While Shingebiss ultimately deposes the Czar, the price is steep-the country is thrown into political chaos, and Jenkins's timid assistant is killed. The sweeping, almost poetic descriptions of the netherworlds and the interactions between spirits and humans are both haunting and compelling, and although the climax is a bit crowded, the story is charged with dramatic momentum. A writer with an impressive range and an expansive imagination, Price has truly mastered her idiom. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10-From the author of Ghost Drum (1987) and Ghost Song (1992, both Farrar) comes another unusual, unsettling tale set in the snowy north. Moved by reports of people being enslaved and killed and of destruction to the land, Shingebiss, an apprentice shaman, sets out to confront the evil Czar. Believing she is a sign of divine favor, he welcomes her as his "Black Angel." However, Shingebiss soon finds that she must become a real shaman in order to gain power over him, and to do that she must travel into the ghost world of the dead. Price's poetic language brings this shadowy tale to life. Shingebiss can change her shape, and some of the most memorable passages show her flying as a gyrfalcon or taking the form of a bear. The author does not spare her readers; like the northern folktales this story resembles, it is not for the faint of heart. Brief comic relief is provided by the court magician who disguises his assistant as a devil, but their tale ends in tragedy. The general tone of the novel is dark, illuminated by the beauty of the writing. While not a sequel to the two previous titles, readers will find that Ghost Dance is woven from the same cloth.
Ruth S. Vose, San Francisco Public LibraryCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
