by Melvin Burgess (Author)
In the year 2300 London is in ruins and in the hands of two warring families of ganglords, the Volsons and the Conors. To cement a truce Val Volson offers Conor the hand of his daughter Silivia, to her horror. The wedding is disrupted a msterious one-eyed prisoner who has been hanging upside down in a glass elevator shaft overlooking the banquet. The superstitious people are in no doubt that he is the god Odin and they watch in terror as he challenges themto see who can remove the special knife from the lift shaft. It is Silvia's twin brother who claims the knife and then returns to Conor. Val is killed and the three sons perish but Siggy is saved by Melanie, a pigwoman, though he has lsot Odin's knife to Conor in battle. In order to stop Silvia avenging her family's death, Conor has her legs broken to keep her prisoner, But Silvia has an ally in Cherry, a cat and shape-changer devoted to her mistress and together they plan the downfall of Conor, a plan that will also involve Siggy in taking a terrible revenge...
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Andersen Press
Published: 21 Oct 1999
ISBN 10: 0862648335
ISBN 13: 9780862648336
Children’s book age: 12+ Years
Book Overview: Melvin Burgess's latest novel is a powerful futuristic reworking of the Icelandic Volsunga Saga which will appeal to older teenagers as well as adults.
Prizes: Winner of Lancashire County Library Children's Book of the Year 2001.