Orphans of the Tide
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
An ancient myth looms over a powerful new friendship in this debut middle grade fantasy packed with Hugo Cabret charm.
The City is the only home that Ellie has ever known. She’s always been told that there is nothing to see beyond the shores of her small, salty island.
That is, until a mysterious boy washes in with the tide, trapped inside the belly of a whale.
The citizens of the City believe he’s ruled by the Enemy—the legendary god who drowned the whole world—come again to cause untold chaos. Only Ellie believes that the boy is innocent.
To save him, Ellie must prove that he’s not who they think he is—even if that means revealing her own dangerous secret.
Fans of Wildwood and The Mysterious Benedict Society will be enthralled by this inventive and adventurous take on a modern classic.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After the death of her brother and inventor mother, orphaned gadgeteer Ellie Lancaster, 12 and cued as white, is left responsible for maintaining many of the intricate mechanisms that help "catch whales, gather oysters, filter seawater, and more" for the inhabitants of the City, a last bastion of humankind that juts out of the flooded world's sea. When a dead whale washes up onto one of the island's rooftops, Ellie frees an amnesiac boy, blue-eyed and light brown–skinned, from its stomach, calling him Seth. The City's Holy Inquisition swiftly declares the newcomer a Vessel of the Enemy—a rogue god who periodically manifests and terrorizes society—and sentences the boy to death. To prove Seth's innocence, Ellie sets out to find the true Vessel with assistance from charming but capricious Finn and adventurous best friend Anna. Alternating an intriguing third-person narrative with first-person accounts from the previous Vessel, Murray weaves an ambitious tale of paranoia, religious zealotry, and adventure. A strong sense of unexplored history combined with the dynamic characters and atmosphere offers potential for further exploration, and readers will enjoy Ellie's struggle to protect her friends and home. Ages 8–12.
