THE THIEF WHO SANG STORMS

A valiant girl with feathers acts to save her father and her island community.

Thirteen-year-old Linnet is an alkonost, or bird person, who longs for her old life when she lived comfortably with her parents in the town of Spark and had friends both human and alkonost. This harmonious union existed for the thousands of years after a shipwreck left humans stranded on the alkonosts’ island of Morovia. But after a freak storm and tidal wave killed the queens, one alkonost and one human, and devastated the island, tyrannical Capt. Ilya of the royal guards has worked to eliminate the alkonosts’ singing magic, which many humans blamed for the tragedy. When Linnet’s father is taken prisoner, Linnet turns to friends old and new and to Hero, her childhood compatriot, now a member of the royal guard, for help. Anderson delivers convincing, inviting worldbuilding, wide in scope, lovely in its evocation of landscapes, and entrancing in descriptions of foods, crafts, clothing, and feathers. Linnet’s determined hopefulness and strong spirit bolster her realization that love, not hatred or anger, will help heal the island. This informs her actions and bold opposition to tyranny on the day of her father’s trial. Anderson’s author’s note reveals that the story is a reimagining of the Russian folk poem “Nightingale the Robber.” Alkonosts’ skin color can change hue for camouflage when they molt; Hero has black hair and light brown skin, and other human characters are racially diverse.

Impressively different and captivating.