Starred Review Set during the dead days between Christmas and New Year's in a crumbling, old, European-like city, this story is as dark as a winter's night, illuminated with flashes of shooting-star brilliance. Once an urchin, Boy now belongs to Valerian, a magician. Although the master treats the child poorly, Boy follows his orders dutifully; Valerian is all he has got. So when Valerian reveals that he has only a few days to live (a pact with the devil is coming due), Boy winds his way through the fetid stink of the city, following Valerian's mysterious and dangerous instructions in a race to save his master's life. Sedgwick's highly visual writing makes for a true movie of the mind. It is reminiscent of Philip Pullman's work, with each detail adding to the fullness of Sedgwick's alternative world. Also like Pullman, Sedgwick draws characters so magnetic that readers will find it hard to look away. The plot is convoluted in places, information is dispensed a bit too slowly, and a few key points want explanation (about one, a character says, We may never know). Perhaps the loose ends will be tied up in the sequel, which is planned for 2005 (hopefully a note about it will be on the final dust jacket). This is a haunting novel, and the possibility of more is definitely enticing.

In the last five days of a late-medieval year, magician Valerian strives to elude the consequences of a Faustian bargain. "Boy," his stage assistant, can't divine what drives his harsh master. Events move swiftly; the brooding atmosphere is palpable. Sedgwick's dark thriller reaches a satisfactory denouement, but his last words are "End of Book One," leaving much unresolved for a sequel.

In an 18th-century European city that's grand but decaying, a desperate and mysterious quest occurs during the year's "Dead Days." The period from December 27 to 31 is different from the rest of the year, though Boy doesn't know why. His master, Valerian the magician, is urgently searching for something to save his life—but what? and why? Boy and another orphan, Willow, are dragged all over by Valerian but kept in the dark about the backstory, which involves some kind of old pact foretelling doom. The City itself is a wonderfully gloomy character with twisting alleys, forgotten catacombs, and underground canals. Sedgwick draws a cryptic line between magic and science, making some magic recognizable to modern readers (electricity) but leaving other phenomena unexplained. Can Valerian really make people vanish? Much is left untold in this fascinatingly brooding tale, but Boy discovers in a final burst of warmth that Willow will be with him whatever his future holds. (author's note) (Fantasy. YA)

Gr 6-9-Set in a European city in the late 18th century, this tale of magic and treachery, the first of a two-book set, takes place during the "Dead Days" that lie between Christmas and New Year's Eve. Boy, who lacks both a real name and any knowledge of his past, is the virtual slave of a disagreeable magician, Valerian, who treats him either with indifference or cruelty. Several harrowing events, including a mysterious murder, bring Willow, a clever orphan girl, into their lives. The theme is a classic one, for Valerian has sold his soul to some ill-defined otherworldly spirit in return for earthly pleasures. Now his time of reckoning is at hand, and he must find a way to save himself before December 31 or be lost forever. The two teens accompany him on a seemingly crazed quest for a book that might hold the answer. The novel is heavily overlaid with a sense of foreboding, and the language powerfully describes the bleak weather and the squalor of the decaying city. Part of the adventure takes place in a dismal graveyard, part in a terrifying maze of subterranean canals. Unexpected twists keep the action moving, and the suspense never flags. In the end, much is explained yet much remains uncertain. Readers who enjoy fast-paced melodrama with an overlay of the supernatural will devour this tale and wait eagerly for the next installment.-Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.