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Children of the Shaman #1
Children of the Shaman
When their aunt is taken ill, thirteen-year old Annat and her brother are sent from their small coastal town to live with their unknown father. Like Annat, Yuda is a Shaman; a Wanderer with magical powers, able to enter other worlds. As Annat learns more about her powers, the children join their father on a remarkable train journey to the frozen north and find a land of mystery and intrigue, threatened by dark forces and beset by senseless murders that have halted construction of a new tunnel. But Annat’s doll, her only remembrance of her dead mother, may hold a dark secret - and when her brother Malchik is kidnapped, Annat and her father must travel onwards to find him before it is too late. Between uncertain allies, shadowed enemies and hostile surroundings, it is only in the magical kingdom of La Souterraine that they can find answers - and it may be that only a Shaman can save the family and the Goddess.
This edition published by Kristell Ink Publishing, an imprint of Grimbold Books, with cover art by Daniele Serra and internal illustrations by Evelinn Enoksen.
This edition published by Kristell Ink Publishing, an imprint of Grimbold Books, with cover art by Daniele Serra and internal illustrations by Evelinn Enoksen.
382 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
About the author
Jessica Rydill
10 books192 followersJessica Rydill is a British fantasy author from Bath. Born in 1959, she studied English at King's College, Cambridge before qualifying as a solicitor. She travelled a lot in her twenties. Orbit Books published her first novel, Children of the Shaman, in 2001, and Locus magazine short-listed it for best first novel. Sequel The Glass Mountain appeared in October 2002.
From 2017-2021, small press Grimbold Books reissued both books, with sequels Malarat and Winterbloom.
Jessica's most recent book, The Girl from the Sea, came out in 2019.
Jessica lives near Bath with her husband and her crew of Ball-jointed dolls or BJD, which aren't creepy. Though they can be badly behaved...
Visit Jessica's web-site at www.shamansland.com to learn about the shamanworld.
From 2017-2021, small press Grimbold Books reissued both books, with sequels Malarat and Winterbloom.
Jessica's most recent book, The Girl from the Sea, came out in 2019.
Jessica lives near Bath with her husband and her crew of Ball-jointed dolls or BJD, which aren't creepy. Though they can be badly behaved...
Visit Jessica's web-site at www.shamansland.com to learn about the shamanworld.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 6, 2017
This was a interesting read. The world is great, and Rydill did a wonderful job in the opening chapters of creating and filling this world with people and culture. It is a combination of fantasy/German/Gypsy, and wholly unique to anything I have read.
However strong the world is, the story does not hold up the entire novel. It is the story of Annat and Malchick, adopted children of Yusef. They shipped off to live with their father in the upper Northern lands that have recently been opened up due to a winter's thaw. Yuda, the children's father, is a shaman (as is Annat), and he is being stationed in this remote location as the resident shaman/doctor. While there, deaths start occurring at the railroad.
The basic plot is fine, but the novel falters in many places. The plot, a mystery overall, is dropped for another plot of larger import, and that is too bad. The story, in the end, becomes one of larger proporations, but it does not hold together well. The main character, Annat, never grows as a character (she is roughly the same as the beginning of the novel as it at the end). Malchick, never grows, and is a important catalyst to the story, but we don't see him grow either.
Their father is the most interesting character in the book, but he too doesn't get the attention that he deserves as well. In the end, what this book really suffers from is being a first novel. I expect the characters grow throughout the series. This book is more about the world building and the story falters. Interesting world that has a fairly mediocre story that could have been better with better characters. A simple mystery of why the train crews were dying wold have served this book better.
However strong the world is, the story does not hold up the entire novel. It is the story of Annat and Malchick, adopted children of Yusef. They shipped off to live with their father in the upper Northern lands that have recently been opened up due to a winter's thaw. Yuda, the children's father, is a shaman (as is Annat), and he is being stationed in this remote location as the resident shaman/doctor. While there, deaths start occurring at the railroad.
The basic plot is fine, but the novel falters in many places. The plot, a mystery overall, is dropped for another plot of larger import, and that is too bad. The story, in the end, becomes one of larger proporations, but it does not hold together well. The main character, Annat, never grows as a character (she is roughly the same as the beginning of the novel as it at the end). Malchick, never grows, and is a important catalyst to the story, but we don't see him grow either.
Their father is the most interesting character in the book, but he too doesn't get the attention that he deserves as well. In the end, what this book really suffers from is being a first novel. I expect the characters grow throughout the series. This book is more about the world building and the story falters. Interesting world that has a fairly mediocre story that could have been better with better characters. A simple mystery of why the train crews were dying wold have served this book better.
April 7, 2018
The blurb gives the impression that it is a children’s book, due to the young protagonist. However, to be honest, that isn’t how it read. It doesn’t even have a YA vibe. Young Annat is extremely precocious – and like many youngsters growing up in difficult places at difficult times – very observant of the adults around her. Thus we get a sharp-edged look at tangled, often painful adult relationships through the eyes of someone not yet fully able to understand the power and misery of doomed love affairs.
I really enjoyed this perspective. Annat’s unfolding relationship with her formally estranged father is extremely well handled and certainly rings true to someone who also had an absent father when growing up. I am also impressed at the way Rydill approaches the shifting dynamic between Annat and her older brother. Previously, when they were both living with her aunt, her brother is the special one as he is singled out for his academic cleverness. However, once they are tipped into the middle of this adventure with their charismatic, unstable and magically gifted father, who drags them along on a journey filled with physical hardship and constant danger – it is Annat’s growing powers and stoical toughness that gets the paternal approval, while he merely sighs over her brother’s timidity and clumsiness.
I’m aware I may have given the impression that this is all about relationships within a family dynamic – perhaps clustered around the kitchen table. In reality, it is nothing of the sort. This book is full of adventure, ranging from action surrounding a steam train to a castle stronghold controlled by a fanatical lord, intent on executing anyone who doesn’t share his beliefs. Once I opened it up, it was always difficult to put this one down again. And since I have finished reading it, I have found myself thinking about those cleverly nuanced characters and wondering how I would have coped in those circumstances.
The good news is that this is the first in a series and I won’t be leaving it too long before once more getting back in touch with Annat and her family. Highly recommended for fans of quality fantasy.
9/10
I really enjoyed this perspective. Annat’s unfolding relationship with her formally estranged father is extremely well handled and certainly rings true to someone who also had an absent father when growing up. I am also impressed at the way Rydill approaches the shifting dynamic between Annat and her older brother. Previously, when they were both living with her aunt, her brother is the special one as he is singled out for his academic cleverness. However, once they are tipped into the middle of this adventure with their charismatic, unstable and magically gifted father, who drags them along on a journey filled with physical hardship and constant danger – it is Annat’s growing powers and stoical toughness that gets the paternal approval, while he merely sighs over her brother’s timidity and clumsiness.
I’m aware I may have given the impression that this is all about relationships within a family dynamic – perhaps clustered around the kitchen table. In reality, it is nothing of the sort. This book is full of adventure, ranging from action surrounding a steam train to a castle stronghold controlled by a fanatical lord, intent on executing anyone who doesn’t share his beliefs. Once I opened it up, it was always difficult to put this one down again. And since I have finished reading it, I have found myself thinking about those cleverly nuanced characters and wondering how I would have coped in those circumstances.
The good news is that this is the first in a series and I won’t be leaving it too long before once more getting back in touch with Annat and her family. Highly recommended for fans of quality fantasy.
9/10
March 12, 2018
I was possibly defeated by my own expectations here, as the characters in this aren't shamans in the sense I hoped they would be (for some that are, try Megan Lindholm's The Reindeer People and sequel), and the shaman-world turns out to be an alternative other-land you might get in any portal fantasy. I most enjoyed the first quarter, which skillfully set up several mysteries, and the unusual setting worked well, though I thought it a shame that the story-world didn't seem to have its own history and culture; it largely had our world's history and culture with the names changed. There's some good writing here, especially in the small details, and the main characters are mostly likeable. I just wasn't taken by the portal-world or the characters' quests there, but that might be just me.
September 2, 2017
Thirteen year old Annat is a shaman by birth. Within her own people, the Wanderers, shamans can heal, protect, and enter bodily into other realms. Outside her people, however, shamans are looked upon with suspicion and mistrust. Annat is largely untrained in her powers, but when her aunt falls sick, she and her brother are sent to live with the father they barely know.
Annat is finally able to train as a shaman under the tutelage of her father, Yuda, but the family soon turns down a dangerous path. Yuda has been assigned to investigate strange occurrences and brutal murders in a small northern town. Strange, old magic seems to be at play in the area, and soon after arriving, Annat’s brother Malchik disappears. Annat and Yuda’s search for Malchik will take them on a strange journey through a mystical land of winter, where they must find Malchik and stop the evil being responsible for the town’s troubles.
This was an interesting and well-crafted fantasy. The story exists in a slightly offset historical Russia/Eastern Europe, with a good dose of Judaism and Jewish mysticism. The Russian fairy-tale setting is in vogue at the moment, with books such as The Bear and the Nighingale by Katherine Arden, and Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo creating well-deserved buzz. Rydill’s inclusion of Jewish history, religion, and folklore set her book apart and add a touch of realism and historical grounding in a fantasy tale.
In all, the book is well written. The character of Annat is well-realized, sometimes to the detriment of the other characters, who can feel a bit flat. The journey through the fairy-tale realm borrows from Eastern European and Russian folklore, and is for the most part exciting and fun reading. I did find that the book began to drag a bit towards the end, but overall I found Children of the Shaman a diverting fantasy.
Fans of the fantasy genre, especially those who enjoyed The Bear and the Nnightingale or Shadow and Bone will likely enjoy this book. Anyone looking for a fantasy featuring a strong female lead (Children of the Shaman reminds me a lot of The Green Rider by Kristen Britain) shoudl also consider this book for their TBR.
A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
Annat is finally able to train as a shaman under the tutelage of her father, Yuda, but the family soon turns down a dangerous path. Yuda has been assigned to investigate strange occurrences and brutal murders in a small northern town. Strange, old magic seems to be at play in the area, and soon after arriving, Annat’s brother Malchik disappears. Annat and Yuda’s search for Malchik will take them on a strange journey through a mystical land of winter, where they must find Malchik and stop the evil being responsible for the town’s troubles.
This was an interesting and well-crafted fantasy. The story exists in a slightly offset historical Russia/Eastern Europe, with a good dose of Judaism and Jewish mysticism. The Russian fairy-tale setting is in vogue at the moment, with books such as The Bear and the Nighingale by Katherine Arden, and Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo creating well-deserved buzz. Rydill’s inclusion of Jewish history, religion, and folklore set her book apart and add a touch of realism and historical grounding in a fantasy tale.
In all, the book is well written. The character of Annat is well-realized, sometimes to the detriment of the other characters, who can feel a bit flat. The journey through the fairy-tale realm borrows from Eastern European and Russian folklore, and is for the most part exciting and fun reading. I did find that the book began to drag a bit towards the end, but overall I found Children of the Shaman a diverting fantasy.
Fans of the fantasy genre, especially those who enjoyed The Bear and the Nnightingale or Shadow and Bone will likely enjoy this book. Anyone looking for a fantasy featuring a strong female lead (Children of the Shaman reminds me a lot of The Green Rider by Kristen Britain) shoudl also consider this book for their TBR.
A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
December 22, 2017
Somewhere in an alternate Europa, where magic and myth are as dense as the forests that cover the land, there is a Railway. And at the end of the Railway is Gard Ademar. And at Gard Ademar, there is a tunnel. To rescue her brother Malchik from the grip of The Cold One, Annat and her father Yuda must enter the tunnel and cross into a dangerous dreamlike realm...
It's easy to dismiss small presses lightly, but one of their great strengths is the ability to breathe new life into old backlists. Children of the Shaman was originally published by Orbit in 2001, and now Kristell Ink/Grimbold Books have taken on the entire quartet, with fantastic new cover artwork by Daniele Serra and interior illustrations by Evelinn Enoksen. This certainly isn't the most mainstream fantasy novel ever, but it's intensely atmospheric and surreal in tone, as dark and gothic as that new artwork suggests, filled with references to European and Hebrew culture, all tied together by the iron of the railway.
Annat is a protagonist filled with curiosity, seemingly older than her years, able to see the good in every member of her small party. Yuda is far more flammable, living on the edges of acceptability, but excellently realised. If there's one criticism of his character (or the way he's written), it's that he gets wounded/tortured/nearly killed and then magically healed an awful lot, and that does reduce the impact of some of the writing. Personally however, I will be looking forward to the reissue of the second book in the series. David Gemmell said of Children of the Shaman, "Haunting and elegant, this is a masterful first novel. An enchanting story blessed with genuine magic." - and I see no reason at all to disagree with him.
It's easy to dismiss small presses lightly, but one of their great strengths is the ability to breathe new life into old backlists. Children of the Shaman was originally published by Orbit in 2001, and now Kristell Ink/Grimbold Books have taken on the entire quartet, with fantastic new cover artwork by Daniele Serra and interior illustrations by Evelinn Enoksen. This certainly isn't the most mainstream fantasy novel ever, but it's intensely atmospheric and surreal in tone, as dark and gothic as that new artwork suggests, filled with references to European and Hebrew culture, all tied together by the iron of the railway.
Annat is a protagonist filled with curiosity, seemingly older than her years, able to see the good in every member of her small party. Yuda is far more flammable, living on the edges of acceptability, but excellently realised. If there's one criticism of his character (or the way he's written), it's that he gets wounded/tortured/nearly killed and then magically healed an awful lot, and that does reduce the impact of some of the writing. Personally however, I will be looking forward to the reissue of the second book in the series. David Gemmell said of Children of the Shaman, "Haunting and elegant, this is a masterful first novel. An enchanting story blessed with genuine magic." - and I see no reason at all to disagree with him.
December 22, 2013
This is the second book in this series that I've read. Previously I've read 'Malarat', the third in the series and I gave it five stars.
They are both excellent reads but I think I preferred 'Malarat' better. And, for two technical reasons, I'm only giving this one four and a half stars.
My 'technical' problems with this book were as follows.
There is a plethora of variant names used in this book, with some characters having two names because of cultural reasons. For an astute reader, which is what I class myself, this should be fine as long as the concept and the variant names are introduced in the proper way. Unfortunately this was not my experience with this book with one of the character's variant names being introduced poorly so that for a chapter or so I thought a new character had been introduced into the story when in fact there hadn't.
My second problem was to do with suspension of disbelief with regard to the fantasy aspects of the story. Don't get me wrong. I love the setting for this world and the way the author handles her magic and 'other' worldliness. However, there were a couple of places where my suspension of disbelief was strained concerning the use and description of a 'real' world artifact that was a central aspect of the story.
Recommended.
They are both excellent reads but I think I preferred 'Malarat' better. And, for two technical reasons, I'm only giving this one four and a half stars.
My 'technical' problems with this book were as follows.
There is a plethora of variant names used in this book, with some characters having two names because of cultural reasons. For an astute reader, which is what I class myself, this should be fine as long as the concept and the variant names are introduced in the proper way. Unfortunately this was not my experience with this book with one of the character's variant names being introduced poorly so that for a chapter or so I thought a new character had been introduced into the story when in fact there hadn't.
My second problem was to do with suspension of disbelief with regard to the fantasy aspects of the story. Don't get me wrong. I love the setting for this world and the way the author handles her magic and 'other' worldliness. However, there were a couple of places where my suspension of disbelief was strained concerning the use and description of a 'real' world artifact that was a central aspect of the story.
Recommended.
September 29, 2014
I enjoyed the alternate history of this world in the book and the interaction of "other worlds" within it. I liked the character of Annat a great deal and found both Yuda and Malchik interesting. Malchik may have been the most intriguing though because of his own internal struggle with himself and the darkness he found within. I would have liked more insight into him, perhaps by seeing through his point of view for part of the book. Also maybe more background on some of the other characters to understand them and their motivations better.
This world is both familiar and foreign. The relationship between a parent and children is always fertile ground for exploration. I found the perspective on sexuality to be refreshing. The book offers an interesting view of the struggle between various religions, whatever they may be, for supremacy among people. How do we coexist with others who may believe very differently from ourselves?
Overall, I really liked the book and enjoyed the read.
This world is both familiar and foreign. The relationship between a parent and children is always fertile ground for exploration. I found the perspective on sexuality to be refreshing. The book offers an interesting view of the struggle between various religions, whatever they may be, for supremacy among people. How do we coexist with others who may believe very differently from ourselves?
Overall, I really liked the book and enjoyed the read.
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September 10, 2014I wrote this book!
May 6, 2020
Jessica Rydill is a puzzle—an author with a gift for description, but poor at characterization, who creates a well-realized world analogous to a post-nuclear winter Europe, stuck at approximately 1900 technology, yet unknowingly in thrall to feuding goddesses. She peoples this world with Wanderers (Ashkenazic Jews), Doxoi (zealous Christians who persecute and burn the Wanderers), rural goddess-worshippers, and the Railwaymen, who are so involved with their technology they return from the dead to lay track. Into this world she introduces some fairly incredible characters—the shaman/Railwayman/lapsed Wanderer Yuda Vasileyvich, his prepubescent daughter Annat (a potential shaman), his estranged teenage son Malchik (a dreamy musician), Govorin, the black Sheriff of Gard Ademar, his wife Casildis (secret priestess of the Bright Goddess), her brother Zhan Sarl/Jean Sorel (Govorin’s deputy, servant of the Cold Goddess, and heir to the Seignieur of La Souterraine—as well as Annat and Malchik’s maternal uncle), a miracle-working Rabbi and his golem, and Isabel, the ghost of Yuda’s murdered lover. Yuda is literally all things to all people, a bisexual lightning-wielding profligate railway detective, trying to reconnect with his deserted children while investigating Isabel’s murder. The plot morphs from Annat’s hero’s journey to an action-adventure to a murder investigation to an epic fantasy of world redemption through a sacrificial death (Yuda, of course—twice).
Jessica Rydill is a talented writer, and if she can hone her plotting and characterization skills, her next book may be recommended. This one isn’t.
Jessica Rydill is a talented writer, and if she can hone her plotting and characterization skills, her next book may be recommended. This one isn’t.
Want to read
August 12, 2024When their aunt is taken ill, thirteen-year old Annat and her brother are sent from their small coastal town to live with their unknown father. Like Annat, Yuda is a Shaman; a Wanderer with magical powers, able to enter other worlds. As Annat learns more about her powers, the children join their father on a remarkable train journey to the frozen north and find a land of mystery and intrigue, threatened by dark forces and beset by senseless murders that have halted construction of a new tunnel. But Annat's doll, her only remembrance of her dead mother, may hold a dark secret - and when her brother Malchik is kidnapped, Annat and her father must travel onwards to find him before it is too late. Between uncertain allies, shadowed enemies and hostile surroundings, it is only in the magical kingdom of La Souterraine that they can find answers - and it may be that only a Shaman can save the family and the Goddess.
February 12, 2017
Eh. Interesting enough in the beginning and I like the main character, but gets too vague and shadowy for my taste in the end. I dislike authors that write around issues and not of them. I think what I disliked the most is how many questions they raised and how little of them they answered.
June 4, 2014
A fun book and an easy read following Annat as she tries to come to terms with her father and the powers that he, and thus she, possess. They are trying to save Annat’s brother, Malchik, who has been whisked away to a magical realm. It’s not the run-of-the-mill fantasy setting, but comes from a tradition with which I’m not familiar, which was refreshing. I was reminded of the Snow Queen in the way that the villains follow the Cold One, who has enshrouded the world in winter. The characters have their flaws and are believable, real humans despite the magic, and you do care for Annat as she tries to understand what’s happening. The train journey (although there’s quite a lot of that) though the ice and snow and the landscape give a mythic quality to the novel. It’s a coming-of-age atonement-with-the-father epic.
May 12, 2012
This is a very well-written and imaginative novel. I don't read a lot of fantasy but from what I know of the genre, this one has some refreshing elements. That being said, I only gave it 3 stars because for reasons I can't pinpoint, the book didn't totally grab me. While I wanted to read the entire book to find out the resolution of the story, I also had no trouble putting it down for several days at a time. When a book really has me by the throat I can't stop reading until I reach the end. Part of the problem may have to do with certain things one of the lead characters did that I didn't like and didn't think they had anything to do with the story. Without this prejudice, you may find the book more enthralling than I did.
March 7, 2013
Started off strong with a wonderful atmosphere and background hints to the world, then veered off into the mediocre.
It's well written and has a number of enjoyable aspects, but after the initial phase of mystery and promise the storyline settled into a series of bland encounters with blank people, in some other less interesting world that had very little to offer.
The protagonists never reached their potential and the 'bad guys' were without logical motives or depth.
Maybe it is simply meant for a younger audience, but overall I felt like the author chickened out (or ran out of ideas) halfway and went with the easy option. Dropping the more complex initial world-building for a simple series of connect the dots to the least imaginative conclusion.
It's well written and has a number of enjoyable aspects, but after the initial phase of mystery and promise the storyline settled into a series of bland encounters with blank people, in some other less interesting world that had very little to offer.
The protagonists never reached their potential and the 'bad guys' were without logical motives or depth.
Maybe it is simply meant for a younger audience, but overall I felt like the author chickened out (or ran out of ideas) halfway and went with the easy option. Dropping the more complex initial world-building for a simple series of connect the dots to the least imaginative conclusion.
November 17, 2007
I almost liked this one, but just didn't ever really buy the world (combo fantasy and post-apocalyptic) or the characters. Didn't really care about the plot either. Intriguing in some ways, but not as well realized as it should have been.
September 23, 2008
I really enjoyed this escape into a fantasy world, and I'm definately going to check out the others in the series. Be warned, though, the fantasy culture is a little bit sexual, so if you are sensitive to that, you may want to skip this one.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews