Volume of Possible Endings

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Additional Details

Title

Volume of Possible Endings

ISBN

9781927271384

Author

by Barbara Else
illustrated by Sam Broad

Series

Tales of Fontania

Publisher

Gecko Press

Publication Date

3 October 2014

Format

EPUB

Reading Options

Web browser / App
Adobe Digital Editions

Number of Pages

336

Filesize

8.31 MB

Language

English

NBS Text

Children's Fiction

ONIX Text

Children/juvenile

Reviews

Twelve-year-old Dorrity leads a quiet, peaceful life as the only child in Owl Town, until the day she unearths a magical book with five possible conclusions. None of the endings seem to make sense, but all of them are disconcerting, and all point to her. When her older brothers disappear and their backgrounds come into question, Dorrity begins to question everything and everyone she has known in her short life. Meanwhile, King Jasper's experiment, a clockwork boy named Metalboy, escapes from his workshop and turns up in Owl Town. No longer sure whom she can trust, Dorrity befriends the somewhat clueless Metalboy, who is in peril because the king's magical feather accidentally lodged itself behind his heart. Running for their lives, the unlikely duo must escape a multitude of pursuers, including anarchists on motorbikes, half-bird/half-human villains, and (possibly) her brothers turned bear and goat. Throughout the myriad of twists and turns, each of the possible endings comes to fruition in one way or another, but the final outcomes aren't realized until the satisfying conclusion. Fans of Fantania will relish this latest installment, while new readers will have no difficulty jumping in, as the title stands alone. VERDICT With just the right balance of escapade, mystery, and fantasy, Else's companion to The Traveling Restaurant (Gecko Pr., 2012) hits all the right notes for a fast-paced romp of an adventure. School Library Journal  One child raised in secret and another assembled from mechanical and magical parts find themselves enmeshed in a deadly scheme to usurp the throne of Fontania in this high-spirited second sequel to The Traveling Restaurant (2012).Dorrity's peaceful life in the otherwise childless hamlet of Owl Town is abruptly upset when she discovers a magic book that spells out five cryptic and troubling predictions. This is quickly followed by the arrival of a clockwork boy recently escaped from the workshop of King Jasper. Though annoyingly ignorant and self-pitying, 'Metalboy, ' as she dubs him, turns out to be a doughty friend as the two are swept into a series of captivities and escapes. Along with trucking in a busy supporting cast that ranges from animals transformed into people and vice versa to a trio of inept anarchists roaring about on motorbikes, Else contrives a plot that leaves neither characters nor readers much chance to catch their breaths. Many chases and narrow squeaks later (highlighted by a nerve-wracking ride in a small homemade submarinewith a bear), a tumultuous face-off brings just deserts. Despite a tendency to overestimate her ability to sneak about undetected, Dorrity is a clever, resourceful sort, and better-read children will find in Metalboy engaging echoes of both Pinocchio and the Tin Woodman. An entertaining romp, more comical than scary and with a poignant but hopeful close.  Kirkus Reviews

Author Biography

Barbara Else is the author of the award-winning children's novels The Traveling Restaurant, The Queen and the Nobody Boy, and The Volume of Possible Endings. Barbara lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Sam Broad lives in Wellington, New Zealand, and is a printmaker, painter, and automatist.

By Barbara Else, Illustrated by Sam Broad

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