Twelve-year-old Mosca Mye hasn't got much. Her cruel uncle keeps her locked up in his mill, and her only friend is her pet goose, Saracen, who'll bite anything that crosses his path. But she does have one small, rare thing: the ability to read. She doesn't know it yet, but in a world where books are dangerous things, this gift will change her life.

Enter Eponymous Clent, a smooth-talking con man who seems to love words nearly as much as Mosca herself. Soon Mosca and Clent are living a life of deceit and danger -- discovering secret societies, following shady characters onto floating coffeehouses, and entangling themselves with crazed dukes and double-crossing racketeers. It would be exactly the kind of tale Mosca has always longed to take part in, until she learns that her one true love -- words -- may be the death of her.

I liked this story, except for the parts that weren't about Mosca and her travels and trials. The extra parts describing the political climate of the community were tedious to read. ( )

I picked up this book because I really love the song Fly By Night, and because the back of the book only says "I don't want a happy ending, I want more story".

With nothing more to go on, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It's absolutely delightful, with wonderful characters and lots of good twists throughout the book. I suspected the way the chapter were all named after letters of the alphabet might be too gimmicky, but it worked wonderfully. ( )

Granted, I did not expect quite so political a tale.

That's a fine way to start a review, I know. But rest assured - it is meant in the best way possible. My mind was all twisted in knots, trying to keep up with all tangles. This was an Experience of the Best Kind. Sad to say, those have grown scarce what with High Quality being very hard to come by and Reader's Reasonable Demands being somewhat out of reach for many a writer.

This is a wondrous adventure with some very twisty turns, bagful of mysteries ... and a lot of fun, honestly. Colourful vivid writing is a balm to my soul - some bits I couldn't help but savour. There's plenty of humour, a host of memorable characters and enough intrigue to set your mind spinning.

It's a Darn Good Yarn.
I cannot recommend it enough.

VERDICT : READ IT
( )

Children's fiction. This book starts out ok, with a girl named Mosca carrying a belligerent goose under her arm. The problem is that it takes a while to get into it (so I wasn't able to read a snatch of it here or a snippet there when I had a spare moment). The other problem is that it was rather long and involved. I kept waiting for Mosca to hit upon something important and save the day, and that would be the end of the story, but no, the plot weaves on and on, and I'm really not interested in reading about so much political intrigue, not in a children's book. It's a complicated society she lives in, and I didn't have the time to really appreciate that. So, this one's not for me, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but the most dedicated of readers, but it might not be a bad book for someone under different circumstances (someone who's got long blocks of time set aside just for reading). ( )