Foundling
Ratings9
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings9
Average rating3.9
Set in a world of tri-corner hats, frockcoats and flintlock pistols, Monster Blood Tattoo is a world of monsters, chemical potions and surgically altered people. In the first book, Foundling, David Cornish begins the journey of Rossamund, a young boy with a girl's name, who is about to begin life as a lamplighter in the service of the Haacobin Emperor. What begins as a simple journey is threatened by encounters with monsters-and people, who may be worse. Learning who to trust and who to fear is neither easy nor without its perils, and Rossamund must choose his path carefully. This is a truly original story-highly unusual among the vast array of fantasy novels available today. Lavishly illustrated by the author, an accomplished artist.
Series
3 primary books4 released booksMonster Blood Tattoo is a 4-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2006 with contributions by D.M. Cornish.
Series
1 primary bookTerre des monstres / Monster Blood Tattoo is a 1-book series first released in 2006 with contributions by D.M. Cornish.
Reviews with the most likes.
I just finished re-reading (or re-listening in my case) because I realized I never finished the series. It's been years since I last read Foundling but I remembered that the book was fantastic and my memory did not disappoint. It's about a young orphan boy who sets off on a journey full of twists and turns to become a lamplighter for the empire. The lamplighter life isn't what he wants but without any other prospects that's the life that is chosen for him. He encounters many dangerous people and monsters on his journey to get to the lamplighter HQ and that's the fun of the book. If you can get a copy of this book with the illustrations I would recommend it because even years later I still remember how cool the illustrations where.
Rossamünd Bookchild (I would so much love to be part of his family) has spent his life in an orphanage, but he's finally been assigned his career—he is to be a lamplighter in a far-away city. He lives in a world with monsters everywhere, and, to defeat them, a great many people have become monster-hunters, and the tattoos in the book title are signs on a monster-hunter of monster kills. There is a lot of machinery with biological origins, and a lot of humans have had biological adaptations surgically added.
Of all the books on the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read list (and there are 1001 of them!) this was the book I was dreading the most. That title. That cover. Neither of those had any appeal for me. But was I ever wrong? This was so good that I'd be willing to break my Personal Reading Code and read on in a series.
