The Seer of Shadows by AviIn New York City in 1872, fourteen-year-old Horace, a photographer's apprentice, becomes entangled in a plot to create fraudulent spirit photographs, but when Horace accidentally frees the real ghost of a dead girl bent on revenge, his life takes a frightening turn.
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3 comments:
I enjoyed this book but had a hard time with Horace and Pegg.. this was supposedly the late 1800's and I don't think they could have had a such a close relationship. It was interesting to read about the photography of the time and all that was involved in taking a photo back then. And what shows up in the photographs ... frightening... What was it like to be an apprentice to someone with questionable motives when you knew what they were doing was wrong, did you have any way of voicing your opinion? Or was it like Horace experienced, no one would really listen to him. Even his own family didn't give good advice. What Eleanora had to endure in her short life was very sad and one can see why she wanted revenge on the Von Macht's. I would give this one 3 1/2*.
This story, set several years after the end of the civil war, is an interesting combination of historical fiction and ghost story. I liked the contrast between the dishonesty and greed of the photographer and the integrity of his young apprentice. A very good book--hard to believe that the same author also wrote "A Beginning, a Muddle and an End", as that book was awful. This one gets four stars! ****
Avi successfully draws out the suspense without sacrificing character, plot, or tone...an ideal book for any child hoping for a ghost story that is both frightening and hauntingly mysterious...
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