The sister is a knife-thrower in a magician's stage act, the brother an undertaker's assistant. Neither orphan knows of other's existence. Until, that is, three terrible aunts descend on the girl's house and imprison her guardian, the Great Cardamom. His dying act is to pass the girl a note which clues to the secret he had carried to his grave. Cardamom was one of three explorers on an expedition to locate the legendary Amarant, a plant with power over life and death. Now, pursued by flesh-eating crow-like ghuls, brother and sister must decode the message and save themselves from its sinister legacy.
My rating - 4.5
My review:
This book is generally aimed at a younger reading age than myself, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I read this as part of my Halloween book challenge, and it sent chills through my spine more than once. The characters are well developed, especially the main protagonists, Josie and Alfie.
At the beginning we are introduced to Morlock who is the character mentioned on the cover, and his two friends, Chrimes and Corvis. They are searching for a flower called an Amarant, but we are not told much about the flower at this point. Both Josie and Alfie are intersting protagonists, although I did take a dislike to Alfie when we were first introduced to him. But soon I fell in love with his character. The side-characters are fantastic, especially the aunts who are creepy. The plot itself is very original, and there wasn't any part of the book that was slow or uninteresting for me. I could put it down until I read the whole thing.
If you love creepy books packed with gore, then Mortlock is a book for you. You will want to sleep with the light on.
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