School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Philip Pullman's dark and humorous tale (Knopf, 1998) is set in 1816 in a small Swedish village named for its richest resident, Count Karlstein. Two young orphan girls, Charlotte and Lucy, must find a way to outwit the conniving and evil Count who is also their uncle. Hildi, a young girl who works as a maid in Castle Karlstein, overhears the Count discussing his deal with Zamiel, the Demon Huntsman, to sell the souls of his two nieces on All Soul's Eve in exchange for his current wealth and status. With the night fast approaching, Lucy and Charlotte must rely on Hildi, fate, luck, and a bit of conniving on their own behalf to survive the hunt. Rich and colorful characters including the "oily" Herr Snivelwurst, the bumbling Sergeant Snitsch, the unlucky Max Grindoff, and the properly refined Miss Augusta Davenport come together to create a story told through alternating narratives. Using a full cast of actors and mood-inducing music and sound effects, listeners will feel like they are experiencing a stage play. This cliffhanger is audiobook production at its finest.-Stephanie A. Squicciarini, Fairport Public Library, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Originally published in Britain in 1982, Pullman's light-hearted debut effort appears in the U.S. for the first time. A welcome diversion for fans impatiently awaiting the final installation of the trilogy begun with The Golden Compass, this novelthough lacking the more serious underpinnings of the author's later booksshowcases the boisterous narrative style that fans will recognize as an established element of Pullman's repertoire. Set in a Swiss village in 1816, the story revolves around wicked Count Karlstein, his two wardsthe English orphans Lucy and Charlotteand the nasty bargain Karlstein has struck with Zamiel, the Demon Huntsman, a supernatural being who annually haunts the local woods on All Souls' Eve. Pullman adds further zest to the mix with the appearance of characters like the orphans' former schoolteacher, the indomitable Augusta Davenport ("I was able to console myself with the reflection that an English gentlewoman can rise above any circumstances, given intelligence and a loaded pistol"), and the actor and sometime swindler known as Doctor Cadavarezzi (aka Signor Brilliantini), a mountebank as charming as he is sly. Briskly narrated in a variety of voices, including those of Lucy (influenced by such contemporary gothic novels as The Mysteries of Udolpho) and the bumbling, hilariously self-important police sergeant Snitsch, the plot undergoes a series of twists and turns too complicatednot to mention delightfully improbableto delineate here. In an exuberant conclusion worthy of the best of comic operas, the orphans find a true protector, the evil Count is served his just deserts and the formidable Miss Davenport is reunited with her long-lost love. Dashing, sparkling and wildly over-the-top fun. Ages 8-13. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) With Count Karlstein (originally published in a different form in Great Britain in 1982), Pullman shows himself again a master storyteller-this time in a light vein. The forces of good and evil, very much in evidence, do not have the intricacy and ambiguity of his later, more ambitious work: here melodrama supplants drama with a cast of characters boasting such telling names as Herr Snivelwurst, the wicked Count Karlstein's faithful follower, and Sergeant Snitsch of the local police. But it is the characters with such unassuming Victorian names as Lucy and Charlotte who capture our affection. On All Soul's Eve, these two young nieces of the count are destined to become sacrificial lambs to save their uncle from the Mephistophelean pact he entered into with Zamiel, the Demon Huntsman, tales of whom circulate widely in their mountainous Swiss village. Lucy and Charlotte, having been spirited away by a kindhearted maidservant, meet up with the wily, charismatic traveling showman Doctor Cadaverezzi. Meanwhile, Miss Augusta Davenport, the erstwhile English teacher of our heroines and a feminist ahead of her time, arrives at Castle Karlstein to inquire about them. In pursuit of the girls, these characters and more move rapidly between castle fortresses and hidden caves, between the comfortable local tavern and Karlstein's ominous hunting lodge. Young Hildi Kelmar, the rescuing maidservant, owns most of the narration. But she shares it with Lucy and Charlotte, the increasingly involved Miss Davenport, and a cameo appearance by the lovable but seemingly buffoonish Max Grindoff, sidekick to the doctor. In a clever ploy, consistent with the overt showiness of the story, altered typography announces a change in narrator. Histrionic writing complements the exaggerated plot line, which ends satisfyingly with villainy punished and virtue rewarded; two deliciously anticipated marriages climax this over-the-top romantic thriller. s.p.b. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Using multiple narrators and expertly concocted cliffhangers, Pullman (The Subtle Knife, 1997, etc.) crafts a thrilling page-turner less violent than his Sally Lockhart adventures but no less breathlessly paced. Brought to these shores 16 years after it was first published in Britain, this gothic farce features young orphans, evil schemers, a gloomy Swiss castle, a long-lost heir, stalwart lads, capable women, a con man on the lam, hilariously bumbling police officers, and Zamiel: the Prince of the Mountains, the Demon Huntsman, ``swathed in impenetrable darkness, with eyes of raging fire.'' Having agreed to supply the demon with human prey in exchange for riches, the amoral upstart Count Karlstein and his slimy secretary Snivelwurst plan to lock bereaved young Lucy and Charlotte, believed to be the last Karlsteins in the direct line, in a hunting lodge on All Souls' Eve. Fortunately, 14-year-old servant Hildi and chunky but superbly competent English tutor Augusta Davenport get wind of the plot and engineer a clever reversal, but not before a sequence of mishaps, desperate searches, captures, and escapes, complicated by a tangle of subplots and capped by a gloriously frightening glimpse of Zamiel himself, at whose hands Count Karlstein meets a well-deserved doom. In the ensuing hubbub, doughty Miss Davenport is reunited with her lost love Antonio Rolipolio, an escape artist whose feckless assistant Max turns out to be none other than Castle Karlstein's real heir, kidnapped as a baby and thought lost. It's whirlwind plotting, manipulated into a pulsing tale of darkened hearts, treachery, and at long last, redemption. (Fiction. 11-13)
Booklist Review
Gr. 6^-9. Including the sort of atmospheric touches the author is known for, Pullman's latest is an energetic combination of melodrama, suspense, horror, and comedy. Multiple narrators tell the story, with 14-year-old Hildi Kelmar, servant in the home of despicable Count Karlstein, setting things up and doing most of the talking. It seems that her villainous employer is planning to sacrifice his young nieces to the Demon Huntsman, to whom he has sold his soul in exchange for his title. What Karlstein doesn't bargain for is plucky Lucy's intervention, or the intercession of his nieces' former school teacher, a con artist and his helper, and Lucy's older brother--a somewhat bumbling bunch. There's lots of running around and plenty of old-fashioned slapstick, the latter thanks mostly to the local constabulary, who can't seem to get anything right. There are also some good laughs stemming from the characterizations: the Count's oily, disgusting secretary has the perfect name--Mr. Snivelwurst. The fun gives way to some real suspense now and again, especially when the Huntsman comes for his due. The plot seems to stagger a bit under the weight of its multifaceted cast and their crisscrossing agendas, but Pullman manages to shore it up by the close so the characters live happily ever after and readers come away both satisfied and smiling. --Stephanie Zvirin