The Witch Trade - Hardcover

Incomparable narrator Bill Wallis plus Michael Molloy's delightful adventure-fantasy about White Witches, Black Witches, Sea Witches, and some very smart, brave children equals an audiobook that one wishes would last forever. It's also a children's audio that adults will want to borrow for their own pleasure. This is a story about how Abby Clover and her friend Spike, who live in an unusual seaside village, meet Captain Starlight (a.k.a. The Ancient Mariner) and a giant albatross named Benbow, and how they all set out to save the Light Witches' ice dust and rescue the Sea Witches' children from the truly awful (and smelly) Black Witches. Wallis masters every voice, from that of the American Ancient Mariner to the dramatically British Master of the Light Witches. He also manages to make the children sound authentic and fully realized without being squeaky. In between, his warm, well-paced narration ushers us through the cliff-hanging adventure with nary a moment of panic. A book to treasure. A.C.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Gr 5-8-This seafaring magic story about special powers, fantastic technology from Atlantis, and saving the world misses its mark. The world's supply of Ice Dust, a white powder that must be part of the Light (good) Witches' spells, is nearly depleted. The trade of Ice Dust was formerly controlled by the Sea Witches, but frequent raids by Night Witches have stopped the flow, and worse, they have found a way to combine it with toxic waste to create Black Dust. The impoverished Light Witches are also in danger of annihilation from wicked technologies enhanced by Black Dust. Orphaned Abby and her sea-foundling friend Spike meet Captain Starlight, who is hoping to revive the Witch Trade, take revenge on the Night Witches for destroying his New England sea village, and save the good witches. Tidy coincidences, touches of humor, and marvelous elements abound, but a sense of overall wonder is missing, perhaps because the story is so crowded and convoluted. The narrative moves briskly without pausing to examine the implications of any of the plot points or any but the surface motivations of its characters. Though Abby seems to be the principal protagonist, Molloy keeps his distance from her, and invests her with little in the way of emotions or thoughts about the events around her. This detachment flattens the dramatic tension that makes fantasy so satisfying. The Night Witches are bad indeed, but the outcome is never in doubt.

Kathie Meizner, Montgomery County Public Libraries, Chevy Chase, MD

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