Midwinterblood
by Marcus Sedgwick
Fantasy
Interwoven stories
Printz award winner
* * * Stars (Pretty good)
This collection of interwoven stories spans years and multiple lifetimes of two inseparable souls – Eric and Merle (spellings differ). When they are first parted Eirikr vows to return, “‘You cannot kill me. Do you not know my name? I am Eirikr. The One King! Forever Strong, and though you kill my body today, I will live again! I will live!’” (p. 252) They are bound to one another, and, seemingly to the island on which they originated, which is also the home of a rare orchid, the properties and preparations of which are once widely known by the islanders and then slowly become obscured over time. Vivid and haunting. I wished more than once for a complete novel to emerge from the bones of some of these stories.
Reviewed by YA Librarian
