The Safe-Keeper's Secret - Sharon Shinn Book Review

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Review Summaries

"People go to Safekeepers to tell them secrets that they can no longer carry on their own. Sometimes those secrets are carried to the grave, and sometimes those secrets are revealed when the time is right. On the night the safekeeper Damiana gives birth, she is left with an unusual secret. A mysterious man gives a baby into her care, leaving her with only the name of the baby's father. The story picks back up ten years later. Damiana has raised the baby, Reed, as her own, along with her daughter Fiona. The local gossip says that Reed is the bastard son of the King, but Fiona is very close to her foster brother anyway. On their tenth birthday, Thomas the traveling truthteller visits. Fiona does not like him, because he scrupulously tells the truth, which can seem very harsh. She is furious when he tells her she will not be a safekeeper, like her mother, and she is determined to prove him wrong. The year they turn fifteen, Reed and Fiona are sent to stay with their Aunt in the nearby village of Lowford, for the summer. Fiona learns herb lore from her aunt and Reed works for a merchant. When they return home, they discover that Damiana is dying. Fiona is devastated. A few months later, just before she dies, Damiana passes a secret into Fiona's safekeeping. After that Fiona, steps into her mothers shoes as the village safekeeper and Reed returns to Lowford to continue working for the merchant. Fiona has to deal with her loneliness and her grief, but slowly the villagers see that see is trustworthy and start to reveal their secrets to her. As time passes, Fiona discovers that she is not as suited to the life of a safekeeper as she expected to be. "
Michelle Richie, Resident Sharon Shinn Scholar

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Overall Review

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 10%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 50%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%

Tone of book - very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - fantasy world/fantasy past
Coming of age Yes
Youngster becomes - an adult (general)
Is this an adult or child's book? - Kid's book (ages 7-14)
Family relations Yes

Main Character
Identity: - Female
Age: - a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - none

Setting
Terrain - Forests
A substantial portion of this book takes place on a non-Earth planetary body: - humans in a primitive/fantasy society
Planet outside solar system? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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