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The Cronus Chronicles, Book 1: The Shadow Thieves

This is definitely a series to get into. Ursu has a really great, spunky writing style, that will pull you right in and keep you guessing, laughing and worrying all at once.

We begin in the middle, where Charlotte Mielswetzski comes upon a stray kitten on her way home.

Actually, it’s more like it comes upon her. It’s not there, and then it is. And every time she tries to leave it behind, it gets in her way. So, she brings it home. And her parents fall in immediate love, much like she did, though they warn her not to get too attached, since someone may claim it.

Charlotte decides to call her Bartholomew. It may be a boy’s name, but she figures Mew is the coolest nickname for a cat ever. So it works out. But she doesn’t have Mew to herself for very long. Once her cousin Zee shows up, Mew takes an instant liking to him and leaves Charlotte behind.

At this point, we jump back to the beginning, which is the story of Zee’s summer in Exeter with his Grandmother Winter. Sadly, it will be Grandmother Winter’s last summer alive. She makes the best of it while she has the time. And on her death bed, she has a final premonition. It tells her that something bad is coming for her grandson. And she doesn’t have the time to warn him. All she can manage is the word “Metos.”

Not long after she passes, a strange illness starts taking the children of Exeter. It seems everyone Zee knows is stuck down. Too weak to even sit up, no doctor knows what’s wrong with them.

When he goes home to London, the same thing happens again. He’s convinced he’s causing it. And after seeing a boy attacked by two strange men-like creatures, he stops leaving the house.

The attacks stop, but his parents are sure he’s lost it, and send him to the states to stay with his cousin and her parents.

After Charlotte’s friends start falling ill, and school gets closed for the rest of the week because of the number of kids absent, she and Zee have a heart to heart. They still don’t know just what is going on, but they do know that no one would believe them.

A chance rescue at the hands of their English teacher, whose name happens to be Metos, Charlotte and Zee vow to stay inside. This plan fails, however, when Charlotte is awakened by Mew to run through the night after a sleepwalking Zee. Then they recieve a note from Mr. Metos telling them to follow the bird who brought it. He’s been caught.

Of course, he didn’t send the note, and the two wind up exactly where he didn’t want them–in the Underworld. Their task? Escape the bad people and stop the overthrow of Hades. Nooo problem.

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The The Cronus Chronicles, Book 1: The Shadow Thieves by Jaemi, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at 12:05 pm by Jaemi and is filed under Book Review, Series, Staff Favorites. Find similar posts by selecting and of the following tags: adventure, death/loss, fantasy, greek mythology, mystery, ya fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.