Foundling

Foundling, by D.M. Cornish, was such a nice surprise. Several of the books on my shelves were bought soley because their covers looked cool or interesting. I purchased this one for my husband with the vague thought that I might read it if he liked it. He powered through it, and handed it off to me.

Rossamund has grown up at Madam Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. He is getting to the (quite young) age when he must go into a profession, and has been recruited as a lamplighter. (The story takes place during a time when there is no electricity, so lamps along the roads must be lit and extinguished by hand.) His journey to take up his position, though, covers land and sea, friend and enemy, adventure and danger. Cornish has imagined an entirely new world, the Half Continent, where monsters roam, the vinegar seas will erode your body like acid, and people will undergo multiple surgeries in order to harness the power of lightning. This world lives and breathes in the book, helped along by the many appendices, including an extensive glossary, a calendar, several illustrated examples of the uniforms worn by different professions, a conversion table, schematics of the many types of ships, etc. And speaking of the illustrations, they are by the author, and are incredible.

This is a story with weight, so nice to find in a book directed towards young adults. I really look forward to reading the sequel, Lamplighter.