Summary from Goodreads
The first things to shift were the doll's eyes, the beautiful grey-green glass eyes. Slowly they swivelled, until their gaze was resting on Triss's face. Then the tiny mouth moved, opened to speak.
'What are you doing here?' It was uttered in tones of outrage and surprise, and in a voice as cold and musical as the clinking of cups. 'Who do you think you are? This is my family.'
When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out.
Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest find the truth she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family - before it's too late...
Paperback, 416 pages
Expected publication:
May 8th 2014
by Pan MacMillan
My Review
Cuckoo Song is an exquisitely written tale that is dark and devilishly moreish! A compelling page turner that I just couldn't manage to put down.
Main character Triss, comes round after a terrible accident, but she wakes up wrong....different. She becomes seriously frightened when she can't stop eating....eating strange things. She also awakens with bits of twigs and leaves in her hair. To top it all off - she cries cobwebs!
Triss needs to unravel this twisted web and quickly, because it looks like someone dark and very dangerous means her family harm....
For the most part this is a racy and very pacy read, the middle dragged a little if I'm honest though. I loved each big revelation Triss unearthed and I was genuinely on the edge of my seat at times. The bond that Triss forms with her sister throughout this tale was a beautiful thing.
Hardinge writes so imaginatively, I was truly in awe at the brilliant world unfolding in front of my eyes. The characters were ever so intriguing and there is never a dull moment with their antics. I especially loved the deadly architect, who seemed to have dark magic at his fingertips.
The end section was so furiously fast and gripping - I really loved everything about it!
Cuckoo Song is a riveting read that deals in devilishly delicious detailing. It's creepy, thrilling, dangerous and very frightening in places. Admittedly, sometimes it was so imaginative that some of the details were lost on me. I really can't wait for my next Hardinge fix...
4 / 5 Stars!
*Special thanks to Macmillan for the review copy*
Guest Post
Childhood Reads
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwCCkBCsJZehCGiKw2x4Q9ZnV6XGfHt1mSHZYrPDshQ6vX1wWyAD89IxYwd2-_Cwd9yPROWEDJqcPmDxoVGtuHolYYEWQK_H4fykzkwqfMRH4m3gsLuN0AAPjXaVHTbGJowZRKSkoDDTf/s1600/The+Hobbit.jpg)
Apparently I was chewing cloth books before I had teeth. My
mother always read to us when we were little. Later, I remember my father
reading us books, a chapter per evening, serial-style. Remembering the books he
read us, I'm not surprised we were riveted. They included The Hobbit, the entire Dark
is Rising series, The Thirteen Clocks,
The Sword in the Stone, The Just So Stories, The Jungle Book, Puck of Pook's Hill, The
Midnight Folk and The Box of Delights.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhalHJbZUZqmzjV3MjojMPDDduGGlKDx6hpbO6ZWX5X5N-fMX5BYizIeEaIVptaOEZWGv5IY9cGHDtZ-V1Y_ICI88Eg4FYzcCZroB7yecme3huJrbauCRvKS3a9qIUM_vhna0A-nPQl6ncV/s1600/darkisrising.jpg)
I always had a soft spot for tricksters, and characters who
seemed to live outside the usual rules. Snufkin, the green-clad, pipe-smoking,
harmonica-playing wanderer from Tove Jansson's Moominland books. The enigmatic
Golux from The Thirteen Clocks, with his
'indescribable hat'. The Cheshire Cat, grinning without fear as the Queen of
Hearts rages. The Scarlet Pimpernel, master of cheek and finesse, hiding in
plain sight and staking his life on his enemies' blind spots.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir13GrVm8q4PSs7fwwMvGDTV_XHOE0zbUp95lhchbjMj2F3JF3ZcUSLIrjsgo9-FMgt39Hpx_0gF2txA5h5NZGXmtQN6P_6xM6ZYmryCPNkjhPj6uye9MXFdox5rNZbpQjO4oJVgiACCny/s1600/Marianne+Dreams.jpg)
I gobbled the historical fiction of Leon Garfield, and
particularly loved Smith, with its
child-thief hero. I also fell in love with Alan Garner after reading Elidor. My first encounter with science
fiction was the brilliantly unnerving Nicholas Fisk. He never patronised us.
His adults weren't infallible, nor were his child characters invulnerable. At
the core of his books were dark, disturbing concepts that left me feeling for
days as if the world were slightly askew on its axis. They were great.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4LjpISD4ToUichxeuE08jMfDXlwJk2gg7CB1BgujQ4RTv0r0ok0bdJjqkJCMP3QIHiUaYP10jBBdwLfg7Wo5yVOpg_Xp-6aSH5jkMBy_2YJlldTfFYelHJQDIupE2pxwOmDWFp49lgF-/s1600/Watership-Down.jpg)
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Yes, I stumbled upon some books that contained 'adult
content'. No, they didn't traumatise me or end my childhood. Some I never
finished because they bored or baffled me, but others I read right through out
of curiosity.
The Sherlock Holmes stories got me hooked on murder mysteries.
During my teens I tore through Raymond Chandler, PD James, Ngaio Marsh, the
Father Brown stories, Ruth Rendell and about fifty Agatha Christie novels.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMPpKXKsixCqqzHASJ3aZhei6PtExJIpi76VKDMeE9NGSe97gv8eFub7Sl_t5X906s0gQDZLj5h1bNP9Q5yvNfxmkNa6g4IPqVL5Ha8Auivxtzjlzg2A3lkOz5rNpItXoAHPvz-s9SGtIv/s1600/time+machine+dinosaur.jpg)
Murder, mystery, totalitarian rabbit states, death by
rhinoceros, malevolent dream-beings and time travel... everything a growing
child needs.
About the Author
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc8CpP2YKRJyaWJ_f-fq893jOjHDvJCAC1WJpp7yO6X56SwYY8A_VlL1vym2zURoXKG_Ziy0zInB7mAg4HU5mL38Xy3c6mVoQp4sl-41WdjutY5B_S413UBFlT50JEg_TmlFFs7facTCgX/s1600/Frances+Hardinge.jpg)
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