I love this book, where to start with my review? I guess I'll start with a short synopsis for speculative readers.
This book takes place roughly 5 years after Spindle. It is important to not only read Spindle first, but to also read the books close together so that you can catch all of the references and whatnot that tie everything together. As a baby, Annabel is fiercely protected by her family. A spell is always wrapped around her wrist to "dampen" the magical (or perhaps unmagical) aura that Annabel gives off that will make her a target to unscrupulous magic users everywhere. Unfortunately, as a toddler, Annabel becomes lost, and then is stolen away by an evil witch who raises her, and I use the term "raise" loosely. The witch is abusive, as most evil witches are, and uses Annabel as an ingredient in her spells. Annabel copes with her unhappy life by playing the idiot. Her only real sources of happiness are her cocksure and rather condescending friend Peter, and her sarcastic talking cat, Blackfoot. When Annabel turns 14 a whole new set of trouble comes up. Cats start appearing around the old castle ruins where she and Peter play, and one particularly nasty non-cat shows up at the evil witch's cottage. Blackfoot, Peter, and Annabel are forced to fight for their lives against an evil leech of a wizard. Along the way they discover more than they want to about queenships, betrayal, and time-travel...
Now, that is a very tame description of this HILARIOUS and clever book. I love Gingell's voice. Her stories have Personality with a capital "P," with the type of wit and depth that reminds me of Terry Pratchett. Half way through this book I realized it had been too long since I read the first book, so I went back and re-read Spindle before finishing and that really helped me put things together. It also reminded me how much I LOVE Spindle. I read a lot of books. Most books I read are pretty good, they make me happy and all that jazz, but Spindle brings me palpable joy. I think, as an author, if you can make someone feel something like that, then you've made it. I'm going to have to write another review of Spindle just because it was SOOOO good this second time around. Better even than the first! Luck and Poly are the best couple. Anyway, this review is supposed to be about Blackfoot, so I'll get back to that.
Blackfoot is just as clever and fun a book as Gingell's others. The character of Blackfoot is wonderfully fun. He and Annabel's growth are particularly interesting. I really felt for Annabel and the way she molded herself to fit the disappointing life she'd been thrust into. I enjoy the fact that all of Gingell's heroins feel reasonable. They "become" rather than just "are." Something else I love about Gingell's books, I always have to highlight sections that make me either laugh out loud or that make me really think. They're not as good out of context, but here are just a few gems from Blackfoot:
-"managing to stretch in an entirely sarcastic manner..."
-"Strong magic isn't necessarily better than crafty magic..."
-"I'm so sorry to have saved your life. It must be very difficult for you to bear."
-"Oh, this is hard," said Blackfoot, "There are so many biting comments to be made here."
-"I suspect you're overestimating my love for sausages," said Blackfoot. "Not to mention underestimating my love of being superior."
-"Also, why are you flirting with me? I'm fourteen. That's disgusting."
-(This was a particularly Terry Pratchett-ish line:
"If it's a pencil, it should be allowed to be sure about it!" "Yes, but it's awefully suspicious for a pencil to be so sure it's a pencil."
-"And tell your cat to stop smirking at me." --"Oh heaven. How dreadful. My face has betrayed me."
-"I'm not clever enough to get distracted by other important things."
And now, after this review, I have a question and a sort-of rant that you SHOULD NOT read if you have not read the book yet because it has major *SPOILERS*
Okay, so who is Poly's mom? I went in thinking that Peter and Annabel were Poly's parents, then, like I mentioned earlier, I got half way through the book and decided to go back and re-read Spindle and I realized that Poly's mom's name is Glenna. Also, when I got to the end of Blackfoot, it became obvious that Poly recognized Peter as her father but not Annabel as her mother. I felt like my whole life was a lie at that point. I'm kind of glad that Peter and Annabel don't end up together because even with the growth that he has here and there he really isn't good enough for her/to her (in my opinion). I kind of want Annabel to end up with Melchoir. He's such a good and interesting character and they mesh nicely, but I'm unsure if that's creepy since he's been around her as she was growing up. Plus, Melchoir totally deserves some true love. Every time he recapped his story with "the love of my life kissing another man" my heart broke a little for him.
Edit: (OMG fangirling moment of happiness!!!!) Masque was the first book I read and it's been SO long that I didn't remember any character connections between it and this series. From a hint given by another reader, I checked back in Masque to find my characters and I am SO happy with how things turn out!)
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