
The Star Shard by Frederic S. Durbin
The Star Shard, by Frederic S. Durbin, is a winning children’s fantasy with an intriguing setting, albeit a bit implausible. The main character, Cymbril, is a young orphan girl-slave who lives on the Thunder Rake, a mind-bogglingly massive wagon that claws its way on seven-story wheels through the countryside to trade with the world's cities, towns, and villages. It is basically a market town on wheels that goes where the customers are. Cymbril's job is to sing to attract and keep the crowds that will fill the market's coffers, much to the delight of her owner, Rombol. The book's precipitating event is when Rombol purchases another slave, this one a young Fey boy named Loric. Cymbril finds herself unaccountably intrigued by Loric and the two, to no surprise, eventually plot an escape attempt. Along the way, Cymbril learns more not only about Loric, the Fey, and ma... Read More