Song of the Current

by Sarah Tolcser

Overview

Caroline Oresteia is destined for the river. Her father is a wherryman, as was her grandmother. All Caro needs is for the river god to whisper her name, and her fate is sealed. But at seventeen, Caro may be too late.

So when pirates burn ships and her father is arrested, Caro volunteers to transport mysterious cargo in exchange for his release. Secretly, Caro hopes that by piloting her own wherry, the river god will finally speak her name.

But when the cargo becomes more than Caro expected, she finds herself caught in a web of politics and lies. With much more than her father's life at stake, Caro must choose between the future she knows, and the one she could have never imagined.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681192970
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.40(d)
Lexile:	HL610L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Sarah Tolcser lives in New Orleans, where she is an elementary technology teacher. A graduate of St. Lawrence University, she double majored in writing and philosophy. She enjoys video games and NBA basketball. She is married, with two cats.
http://www.sarahtolcser.com/blog/
@SarahTolcser

Editorial Reviews

"This enticingly written tale will take readers on an adventure and leave them craving more. For fans of titles such as Heidi Heilig’s The Girl from Everywhere or Susan Dennard’s Truthwitch. Highly recommended for all YA collections." - starred review, School Library Journal

"Caro's description of her boat home, the Cormorant, will make even readers unfamiliar with sailing feel as though they belong on the water with her. Tolcser blends the right amount of epic fantasy, sea voyage, and romance for a rollicking, swashbuckling adventure." - starred review, Kirkus Reviews

"A fantastical tale of survival and finding one’s place in the world . . . perfect for fans of swashbuckling pirate tales and works by Victoria Aveyard and Leigh Bardugo." - VOYA

"First-time author Tolcser has created a hearty sea adventure, laced with romance and fantasy." - Booklist

"Kristin Cashore’s heroines find a worthy sister in Caro; readers will eagerly await her further adventures in the hinted-at sequel." - BCCB

"Adventurous and dangerous! Fate and fires, pirates and shadowmen, Song of the Current will carry you into a treacherous and fantastic world, which you will not want to leave." - Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of CARAVAL

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Caroline "Caro" Oresteia knows that like her wherryman father, she belongs to the river god. Yet at 17 she's still waiting for him to whisper to her. When her father is imprisoned for refusing to carry mysterious cargo, Caro elects to take over. She arranges to captain her first ship and get her father out of jail. After a pirate attack, Caro opens the cargo to find a boy escaping from his would-be murderers. As Caro and the boy slowly share secrets and admit their attraction to each other, they begin to realize that their fates may not be what they thought. Ultimately this story is one of self-discovery. Caro must balance what she thinks she wants with who she actually is. All the characters are fully developed and complex, including Caro's cousin Kenté, who joins the crew and demonstrates powers that would surprise her prominent family. The first in a series, this debut fantasy includes various mythical elements; a map is featured at the front of the book proclaiming, "Here be drakons," and a frogman is a member of the ship's small crew. While the narrative is often action-packed, the pacing does not feel rushed and gives readers time to learn about the characters and the world they inhabit. VERDICT This enticingly written tale will take readers on an adventure and leave them craving more. For fans of titles such as Heidi Heilig's The Girl from Everywhere or Susan Dennard's Truthwitch. Highly recommended for all YA collections.—Rebecca Greer, Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, FL

School Library Journal

★ 2017-03-06
Caroline Oresteia, a wherryman's daughter and granddaughter, knows that she's meant for the river—but at age 17, she has yet to hear the voice of the god at its bottom. When pirates burn several wherries, Caro's smuggler father is arrested. To gain back his freedom—and maybe attract the god's attention—Caro agrees to use her father's wherry to transport a mysterious cargo: a young man named Tarquin Meredios who claims to be a royal courier. Pompous and overbearing, highborn Tarquin sneers at both Caro and wherrymen. But as he and Caro change course from Caro's contracted destination to one Tarquin insists on, he grows on both her and readers. Caro's narrative voice is smart and colloquial; worldbuilding details are imparted naturally through dialogue and her reflections on it. Caro describes herself as having a mixed heritage, noting the varying shades of brown in her relatives from her mother's side. Most of the other, presumably white characters' skin tones are not described, with pale Tarquin's "strange foreign coloring" a notable exception. The frogmen, descendants of the river god and a sailor's daughter, have brownish-green skin; Fee, a taciturn female frogman, works for Caro's father. Caro's description of her boat home, the Cormorant, will make even readers unfamiliar with sailing feel as though they belong on the water with her. Tolcser blends the right amount of epic fantasy, sea voyage, and romance for a rollicking, swashbuckling adventure. (Fantasy. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

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