The Star Shard is a book with faeries, magic, and a large moving market town known as the Rake. Good stuff. The beginning is a little slow on the action front which may turn off some young readers, but there is plenty of action and excitement in the last half of the book. I enjoyed reading this one and would certainly recommend it to lovers of faerie lore and stories of orphaned children with magic.

Reading this book reminded me of the magic and excitement I felt when I first discovered the fantasy genre after reading Jackaroo and On Fortune's Wheel by Cynthia Voight. While the premise is nothing alike - in fact I think the Star Shard is much more inventive - the magic to fall in love with a specific book genre is wrapped up in this book!

The premise of the world of The Star Shard is amazing. The main character is a slave on a merchant vessel. However, it is not an ordinary wagon but a city on wheels called the Thunder Rake. There are chambers (hidden and otherwise), streets, permanent stores (for when it rains), etc. The descriptions of this world are breath taking and the imagery of this world (in my mind at least) is stunning.

Cymbril has been a slave on the Thunder Rake for her entire life. She earns her keep as a singer/musician and has a relatively well kept life (for a slave). When a new slave boy named Loric (a fey) comes on board, Cymbril's world changes forever.

In terms of plot, I was captivated throughout the entire book. While it wasn't anything earth shattering and followed some of the traditional fantasy genre conventions and story arcs, it was well written, well developed, and interesting. Even better - it was an age appropriate book with out the teenage angst. There was a little romance, a little humor, and a lot of little adventures.

I highly recommend this book for those who like fantasy novels and for those interested in trying out the genre for the first time (young adult or adult). Everyone should put this on their to-read list for 2012.

I first read this book when it was a short story in a magazine fifteen years ago and I really enjoyed it at the time. I looked forward to getting the magazine every month and reading more. And as a result the story stuck with me for many years. I didn’t remember much of the plot. Just the title and the memory of enjoying it. Unfortunately I didn’t really save many of the magazines and it took me a while before I found the official website for the magazine that had a link for the story and also that it had been published as an actual book.

Overall this was a fun read. I’m no longer in the target demographic for this book but I had a lot of fun reading this. It’s not a perfect book but it’s not bad by any means. I have a nostalgic place for this and I really enjoyed reading the expanded story.

The setting of the rake was really intriguing and I liked the reoccurring cast of characters. The story also has some clever plot twists I wasn’t expecting and was very imaginative in its plot with the setting helping that. I also enjoyed reading more about Cymbril and Loric’s friendship.

While the story was wrapped up well, the ending felt a bit rushed and open ended. I also just wish there was a sequel to this book but I may be a bit biased in that judging how long this story has stuck with me.