Lamplighter (Monster Blood Tattoo Series #2) »

D.M. Cornish lives in Australia.

Continuing the absorbing, inventive saga started in Foundling, Lamplighter follows Rossamünd Bookchild, now one of the Emperor's lamplighters, who is sworn to protect travelers from the ferocious bogles that live in the wild. Small and meek, he does not fit in. Then a haughty young female monster hunter is forced upon the lamplighters for training. As Rossamünd begins to make new friends in the dangerous world of the Half-Continent, he also seems to make more enemies, finding himself pushed toward a destiny that he could never have imagined. . . .

VOYA

As readers plunge back into the amazingly elaborate world of the Half Continent and continue the coming-of-age adventures of orphan and apprentice lamplighter Rossamund Bookchild, the burning question is whether, as he has always been taught, all monsters are evil and must be destroyed. This philosophical debate is complicated by other changes to what has always been, particularly that the manse at Winstermill has admitted its first female apprentice, Threnody, daughter of the Lady Vey. Threnody rejects her training as a calendar, women monster hunters pledged to protect the needy and poor, and comparing poorly against her superior skills means Rossamund once more struggles to fit in and prove himself. Filled with marvelous storytelling, intricately developed characters, compelling pencil-sketch plates, and building tension as monster attacks increase and mysterious secrets emerge, readers root for the young hero as he comes to grips with the understanding that not all is as it seems, nor can all those he encounters be trusted to have good hearts. There is sufficient backstory that readers new to the Monster Blood Tattoo series can start here, but they will want to go back to read the early history of the orphan boy with a girl's name. Fans of high fantasy will delight in detailed maps, the lengthy "explicarium" of terms, and the delightfully wicked idea of commemorating victories with a tattoo from the blood of the vanquished monster. Reviewer: Mary Arnold