The Bone Magician

Praise for "The Bone Magician" "Higgins is a mastermind at creating a creepy world where children still maintain some sense of hope."--""VOYA "(Voice of Youth Advocates)""" "The cast of unusual characters and their interrelated stories carry readers along swiftly to an ending that begs for a sequel. Budding fans of Poe or Dickens will be entranced by this atmospheric novel."--"School Library Journal" "This 'paraquel'--meaning it takes place in the same world, but follows a different thread--to Higgins' excellent "Black Book of Secrets "(2007) drips with the same lightly fantastical, heavily Dickensian atmosphere...there is still no end of picaresque charms, creepy turns, and beguiling cast members..."--"Booklist""" "In this standalone companion novel to "The Black Book of Secrets," British author Higgins deftly balances the exceedingly harsh circumstances with wry humor, sly commentary on class issues, and a protagonist who has enough wisdom to recognize the fact that his optimism is perhaps misguided but who manages to retain it anyway."--"The Bulletin of The Center for Children's Books"

Set in Urbs Umida, where 'merely to be born was considered the first step towards dying', The Bone Magician . . . is a deliciously dark Gothic thriller-cum-Holmesian-whodunit, the writing so atmospheric that the fumes from the noxious River Foedus, where the murder victims end up, seem to seep off the page and swirl round the reader.--The "Telegraph," UK Young readers with a taste for the macabre will find it deliciously scary.--The "Guardian, "UK Praise for "The Black Book of Secrets" "The story's vaguely Dickensian atmosphere is exquisite . . . a smart, peculiarly thrilling book that is sure to appeal to readers ready to sidestep the goody-goody Harry Potters of adventure fiction."--"Booklist," Starred Review
""The Black Book of Secrets" has it all: danger, adventure, theft, murder, body snatching, poisonings, a touch of humor, and enough mystery to keep you guessing unti