Cuckoo Song

A lovely, quiet fairy tale, with terrifying monsters, some of whom are human, and some of whom are kinder than the humans they know. It's about family and finding a home. Nothing was wasted in this book, every little thing had meaning later on, and that made it so satisfying to read.

This is the first Frances Hardinge novel I've ever read and let me just say that I will absolutely read another one. Cuckoo Song was so refreshingly different and pleasantly weird. This is not your standard cookie cutter children's novel.

I'm not even sure how to summarize this without giving

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anything away. Basically, you have the mystery of why Triss isn't herself, her sister Pen hating her, and her parents keeping secrets. Plus, there are all sorts of weirdness going on that I can't even begin to describe. You also have quite a mix of characters such as Triss, her sister Pen, their parents, Violet and several strange characters — Mr. Grace, the Strike, the Architect and the Besiders. And, this story takes place in the early 1920s.

Frances Hardgine is both a great storyteller and a great writer. I love her use of language and her characterization. There were times when I read something and thought Wow, I wish I could write like that. She sounds like an experienced, polished writer.

Two of her characters, Triss and Pen, had wonderful character arcs. I wasn't expecting their relationship to change the way that it did. It was so easy to like Triss and to want her to succeed. At the beginning, I hated Pen, but my feelings towards her did a complete 180 by the time I got to the end. Their parents have some real issues. No wonder the kids are so screwed up! When Violet was introduced, I underestimated her importance. She’s actually very important to the plot.

If you love children’s fiction or you’re looking for something different, give this one a try.

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Triss wakes up after an accident to discover that everything seems faintly off--she can't understand why her sister hates her so much, her parents seem overly concerned about her health, and her own memories feel distant. As more oddities reveal themselves, Triss slowly begins to realize that there

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is a whole society of living in Ellchester, and that her parents know and fear them. From there she struggles for safety, identity, and family.

Like every book Hardinge writes, this one is a fantastic mixture of fabulously intricate and innovative world building, deep and unique characters, and alternate dashes of horror, excitement, and humor.

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Cuckoo Song is an atmospheric and creepy fairy tale with exquisite writing and complex relationships. Triss wakes up unaware of who or where she is. As her memory slowly returns, she continues to feel like something isn’t right, although she’s not sure what. Her parents treat her as if she’s

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ill and her sister treats her like she’s a monster. It’s best to read this book without knowing much more than that. The first part of the book reads like a creepy mystery. I didn’t understand what was going on with Triss any more than she did and that made the story very compelling. The more we find out, the more questions there are. It’s not long, though, before the truth about Triss is revealed and once it is, the story evolves into a dark fairy tale with sinister villain and ominous situations.

The relationships between the characters are worth a whole post of their own. Triss’s family has never fully recovered from the loss of her older brother during WWI. They deal with their grief in unhealthy ways and try to pretend that things are normal. Triss suffers because her parents constantly treat her as if she’s ill as a way to protect her from the dangers of the world. Meanwhile, younger sister Pen is always on the outside. Her parents ignore her and her sister dislikes her. As the story develops, so does the relationship between Triss and Pen. I didn’t grow up with a sister near in age so I’ve never experienced that type of relationship, but the bond between the sisters was so well written, I feel like I understand. The author perfectly captures how you can love your sibling but still sometimes not like them very much – how you can be jealous of them or say horrible things to each other, yet you still love them and fear for them and ultimately want them to love you back. There were some really painful moments between the two, but also some really sweet and poignant moments.

The pace is rather slow but steady. There are a couple of exciting, faster-paced scenes toward the end of the book, though. This is definitely not a book that you’ll race through. Instead, it’s one that will immerse you in an atmospheric tale. The writing itself is exquisite. It’s charming and sometimes a little ethereal and is overall superb.

In terms of age, this book has some definite crossover appeal. Though it’s creepy, there’s nothing graphic. I wouldn’t hesitate to let my 8 year old read it, though I don’t think he would completely appreciate all of it and it’s above his reading level. It’s also sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by teens and even adults who like a good fairy tale.

Overall, I really enjoyed Cuckoo Song. I would have liked it to move a little bit faster in a couple of places, thus the 4 star rating, but the superb writing style, complex relationships and interesting take on fairy lore make this a book that I highly recommend.

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An elegantly written, richly imagined, creepy and chilling tale.

Triss wakes up one morning after an accident while on holiday, but without a memory of what happened; all her other memories, such as those of her parents and younger sister, or even of her life before the accident, appear strangely vague and incomplete. As Triss regains her strength, she starts to

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behave in a way that bewilders those around her, and that's even before she discovers that her doll can now talk to her. When they go back home, events begin to escalate as it dawns on everyone that Triss is not really Triss at all.

I thought this was a very intriguing take on the changeling story, with an unexpectedly sympathetic protagonist at its core. This is not a mindless monster made from twigs, leaves and paper (the pages of the real Triss's diaries) but someone who feels and thinks, and who has opinions of her own. I wasn't quite sure at first why the author had set the novel at the beginning of the 1920s, but it became clear quite quickly that this is, apart from describing a wild magic that finds itself backed into a corner by the modern world and with claws raised in defence, also a sensitively written lament for a generation of boys and men lost (in one way or another) during the First World War, and the consequences in society that came with women demanding more rights and liberties as a result. The plot is mainly character-driven and at times quite slow, especially the beginning, but once the dynamic between the main protagonists and the vivid atmosphere, along with some superb writing, have got their claws into you, the tension never lets up and everything fits together perfectly, though there were one or two questions that I would have liked to see the author answer. The author's use of a countdown device is very effective, but the ending was a little too neat in my opinion. Those are minor complaints, and it is principally the wonderful imagery conjured up by the author and Not-Triss's humanity (set against the inhumanity displayed by some human adults) in spite of everything that will stay with me for a long time.

This is an intelligent and psychologically mature book, but because of the central relationship between the two "sisters", I think this book will appeal more to girls than boys, from about the age of 12+.

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A beautifully written book, I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good spooky story.

While this book took a while for me to get into, once it got moving, I was sucked completely in. With almost any other book, if it had taken me so long to get into the story, I would have just put it aside, but the writing here was so good that the prose itself was enough to keep me going. I would

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have given it five stars but for the fact that I'm not really sure who the audience is for this book. The protagonist is eleven (or maybe twelve) and her sister is nine, but the way the book is written makes it feel as if it is aimed at an older reader. I can't imagine that a 14- or 15-year-old is going to want to read a book about what s/he would probably view to be a little kid. But, it's so good. So creepy and a little weird and with really astonishing prose. I can think of several adults to whom I would recommend it, but am having a hard time bringing to mind one person in its target audience who would be the perfect reader. So frustrating.

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This book is currently an Andre Norton Award finalist, and I read it as part of my Nebula packet.

This 1920s-set young adult book is gothic in atmosphere and at times it's disturbingly creepy. Triss awakens from a terrible fever to find holes in her memory and a disturbing sort of hunger. The

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writing is excellent and the family drama is especially well-drawn, especially as Triss discovers that she is not who she believes herself to be.

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A fascinating dark new imaging of the changeling child fairy tale, one that stays with you long after the story ends.

In post-World War I England, Triss nearly drowns in a millpond known as "The Grimmer" and emerges with memory gaps, aware that something's terribly wrong, and to try to set things right, she must meet a twisted architect who has designs on her family.

My daughter picked up this book at her school book fair. She told me that a lot of the kids were excited about this book. I thought it looked creepy and interesting, so I decided to read it too.

This was definitely a weird book. So much is going on it becomes a little overwhelming at times. The

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introduction of the Besiders was really fantastic. It was not at all what I expected from reading the blurb on the book. There is some great imagery in this book and a wonderful world emerges in parallel to the "real" England. I hope that my daughter enjoys it as much as I did.

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It's totally on me that I judged this book by its cover, expecting a gothic story about creepy dolls, which, I guess in a way, it kinda is. Just not in the way I expected and this caused me to never really connect with the story or Triss or Pen or anyone really. But for people who actually read the

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jacket blurb, I'm sure you'll find the story delivers a slow-paced historical fantasy with quiet horror.

Note to self for memory's sake (major spoilers below):

Triss wakes up, not immediately knowing herself, and finds out she was pushed in the Grimmer. It's revealed Pen hired The Architect to take her sister Triss away forever because Pen hated her. But instead of only making Triss disappear The Architect replaces Triss with a changeling created by The Shrike, one made of leaves and sticks and Triss' diary pages and other personal objects, later named Trista by Pen. He did this bit of trickery in order to get revenge on Triss and Pen's father who broke his bargain with The Architect. He planned to entomb the real Triss in one of the father's buildings but Trista saves her. She extends the only 7 days she was meant to "live" by sticking a piece of herself (a necklace with her name on it that Pen gave her) thereby stopping the watch and the countdown on her life.

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Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this as an audiobook through Audible Plus.

Audiobook Quality (4/5): The narration of this book was very well done and pleasant to listen to. The narrator did speak pretty slow for me, so I ended up listening to this at 1.2x. No complaints

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though, this was a great book to listen to on audiobook.

Story (4/5): This started out super slow but I ended up enjoying it once all the strange fae creatures started appearing. There are some interesting concepts behind how the fae survive and thrive. Also the idea of someone being replaced by something that’s not them but not realizing they’ve been replaced; it‘s super creepy. While this wasn’t as good as "A Face Like Glass" or "Deeplight" but still a well done story and beautifully written.

Characters (4/5): Triss was okay as a character but I never engaged with her all that well. She never really knows herself so it’s hard to really like her. She does grow and change as the book continues. I enjoyed some of the side characters more, especially some of the rather intriguing fae characters that flit in and out of the story.

Setting (4/5): This takes place in a suburb of London right after WWI. It’s an interesting setting and has widespread implications for how a lot of the adult characters act towards certain things. I enjoyed the discussions of how the fae are trying to survive in this new more technological world and enjoyed getting a glimpse into their small secret places.

Writing Style (4/5): This is writing beautifully with amazing description and great care and thoughtfulness. Unfortunately, that means this started out really really slow. The whole first part of the story where Triss is trying to figure out why she feels different was flat out boring at points. This is definitely a slow burn mystery for quite awhile. However, I ended up loving the second half of the book a ton. I still feel like Hardinge’s more recent books have been more creative and have more intriguing world-building and I have enjoyed those later books more.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I liked this and am glad I listened to it. This is the fourth Hardinge book I have read and I liked this a lot better than “A Skinful of Shadows” but not nearly as much as "A Face Like Glass" or "Deeplight”. Hardinge’s writing style is beautiful with amazing description and a lot of introspective thoughts. Unfortunately, this was just a bit slow to start for me. I plan on reading Hardinge’s “The Lie Tree” next on my quest to read all of Hardinge’s books.

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It has been much too long since I read Frances Hardinge. Her fantastical worlds, sympathetic characters and tightly woven plots are fabulous and unputdownable. There are many stories told about good children stolen away and replaced by changlings, but what if you were the changling and no-one had

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told you? With strong themes of identity and working out your own morality, and a powerful sense of the 1920s and the grief after the War, this book touches on a huge range of topics from sibling rivalry, middle class families with their repressed brokeness, and what happens to the people who don't fit in as the world gets tidier.

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Be warned: This is a dark book. And I love dark books...but there's a reality to the horror experienced by the children in this book which goes somewhat beyond the page, and there were times when reading it simply became too much for me. As a child, I'm honestly not sure whether I would have loved

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the book or felt tortured by it. As an adult reading it, the gravity of how traumatic these experiences would be for a child--and the way even the fantastical horrors could be seen as translating into real life trauma--added an extra layer of horror to the story, which was already fairly dark.

But, all that said, Hardinge is an extraordinary writer. Her ability to bring life to historical characters and settings for middle grade readers of adventurous horror is unmatched as far as I'm concerned, and although I had to take my time in reading this book, I'm so glad I did. It's difficult to talk about without giving away some of the power of the book, but if you like creepy reads about children and want a dark read, I'd absolutely recommend it.

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