Rating: 4
Description: Clovermead Wickward, the 12-year-old daughter of a country innkeeper, dreams of adventure. When a traveling stranger comes to the inn and teaches her sword fighting, her dreams become desires. Shortly thereafter, a nun of the Lady Moon visits and reveals a vision in which the girl discovers a long-lost object. When Clovermead finds a brooch, her father is clearly upset and advises her to keep it hidden. Not long after, a bear tooth with unknown powers comes into her possession and she adds it to the leather cord she wears around her neck. These things foretell a great change in the Wickwards' lives. Clovermead learns that her father stole a gem from the ruler of a nearby kingdom. When his past crime is uncovered, father and daughter set out on a journey to undo the wrong and to find a safe haven. The trip takes them through a variety of trials, including an attack by bears during which Clovermead discovers her uncanny ability to communicate with them and her bear tooth's strange powers. The second half of the story takes on a higher intensity. The tooth draws blood and strength from its victim while making itself almost irresistible to Clovermead. She is caught up in a fierce and gruesome struggle between the nuns of Lady Moon and the evil followers of Lord Ursus and must decide which of the forces deserves her loyalty.
Note: This description is ripped off of amazon.com because I was too lazy to write my own.
Review: "Clovermead" is an excellent fantasy. It gets hard to do new things with the same old genre, but David Randall succeeds admirably. Clovermead is wonderful character who is very easy to love, and the other characters, especially Sorrel, are well-done as well. What really makes this book great is that none of its characters are perfect, which is a stumbling block to many fantasies. Indeed, Clovermead is almost overtaken by evil forces, and the fact that she has to fight evil from within herself is a refreshingly new take on fantasy. The plot is good, but definitely not complete! The only real bad thing about this book is that it ends without a real conclusion. Hopefully, the lack of ending will be taken care of in future books, but for now, it leaves the reader frustratingly unsatisfied.