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    Foxheart
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    Foxheart
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    Foxheart
    Ebook428 pages5 hours

    Foxheart

    By Claire Legrand and Jaime Zollars

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    "A heart-pounding adventure."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    Orphan. Thief. Witch.

    A classic fantasy-adventure reminiscent of Howl's Moving Castle from New York Times–bestselling author Claire Legrand.

    Twelve-year-old Quicksilver lives as a thief in the sleepy town of Willow-on-the-River. Her only companions are her faithful dog and partner in crime, Fox—and Sly Boots, the shy boy who lets her live in his attic when it’s too cold to sleep on the rooftops. It’s a lonesome life, but Quicksilver is used to being alone. When you are alone, no one can hurt you. No one can abandon you.

    Then one day Quicksilver discovers that she can perform magic. Real magic. The kind that isn’t supposed to exist anymore. Magic is forbidden, but Quicksilver nevertheless wants to learn more. With real magic, she could become the greatest thief who ever lived. She could maybe even find her parents. What she does find, however, is much more complicated and surprising. . . .

    Acclaimed author Claire Legrand’s stunning and original novel explores the danger of lies and the power of truth, the strength found in friendship, and the value of loving and being loved . . . even if it means risking your heart. Full of magic, adventure, and an original and compelling cast of characters, Foxheart will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Diana Wynne Jones.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 4, 2016
    ISBN9780062427755
    Author

    Claire Legrand

    Claire Legrand is the author of Foxheart, The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, The Year of Shadows, and Some Kind of Happiness, as well as the New York Times-bestselling young adult fantasy Furyborn and its sequels. She is one of the four authors behind The Cabinet of Curiosities. Claire Legrand lives in New Jersey.

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    Reviews for Foxheart

    4/5

    2,050 ratings85 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Abandoned at the 25% mark. Too many anachronisms, too much history of science. I don't object to reading about the history of science, but in a novel I'm generally more interested in plot. There isn't enough of that in this work.
    • 2/5
      Nicht zum ersten Mal passiert mir das bei Neal Stephenson: Idee und Setting klingen spannend. Voller Vorfreude beginne ich zu lesen, doch die Freude weicht zunehmend der Ernüchterung, und schliesslich bricht der Spannungsbogen unter dem Übermass an Details und Beschreibungen krachend zusammen. Ist wohl einfach nicht mein Ding.
    • 2/5
      pically never quit on a book, and I didn't quit on this one either. However, I will probably quit on the series. Heck there are two or three more books in this cycle and I don't think I could handle being lectured to for another 2-3 thousand pages. I hear his first work, Snow Crash, is really good but of course this comes from the same folks who love the Baroque Cycle. I just don't get it.
    • 2/5
      This book is best summed up by the following quote from page 674:"Occasionally one discovered correspondences between things in the real world and the figments of pure math. For example: Daniel's trajectory from London to Ipswich had run in nearly a straight line, but after every one of the Dissenters had been let out of gaol, Daniel had executed a mighty change in direction and the next morning began riding on a rented horse towards Cambridge, following a trajectory that became straighter the farther he went. He was, in other words, describing a hyperbolic sort of path across Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.But he was not doing so because it was a hyperbola or (to look at it another way) it was not a hyperbola because he was doing so. This was simply the route that traders had always taken, going from market to market as they traveled up out of Ipswich with wagon-loads of imported or smuggled goods. He could have followed a zigzag course. That it looked like a hyperbola when plotted on a map of England was luck. It was a contingent truth.It did not mean anything."
    • 4/5
      I'll make the standard comment here: this could have been shorter. However, I think I like it as it is: long, rambling, and minute. Despite (and possibly because of) its length, it is fascinating. It's the rare overlong plot that doesn't bore.
    • 3/5
      [This audiobook contains Book 1 of the print edition of the Quicksilver omnibus. Book 2 is King of the Vagabonds. Book 3 is Odalisque.]

      I’m a scientist by profession and I love history. Thus, I’m fascinated by the history of science, especially the era of Isaac Newton et al. So, Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver should be just my thing and I was fully expecting to love this book (it’s been on my list for years), but I’m sad to say that I was disappointed in this first installment of The Baroque Cycle, though I still have high hopes for the remaining books.

      Quicksilver is well-researched and well-written and chock full of plenty of stuff I love to read about: 17th and 18th century scholars and politicians exploring the way the world works. What an exciting time to be alive! Neal Stephenson successfully captures the feeling of the Baroque world — its architecture, fashion, nobility, plagues, and lack of waste management. He’s done his research, so he clearly and enthusiastically informs us about such diverse topics as alchemy, astronomy, botany, calculus, coinage, cryptography, the Dutch Wars, economics, free will, Galilean invariance, geometry, heresy, international relations, Judaism, kinematics, logic, microscopy, natural philosophy, optics, politics, the Reformation, the Restoration, relativity, sailing, sea warfare, slavery, taxonomy, warfare, weaponry, and zoology... I could go on. Quicksilver will get you half way through a liberal arts education in only 335 pages.

      This is quite an accomplishment, but it’s also a problem. I love historical fiction, but great historical fiction uses the context of an exciting plot, engaging characters, and some sort of tension in the form of mystery and/or romance. Quicksilver has none of that. It’s purely what I’ll call (for lack of a better term) “historical science fiction.” Daniel Waterhouse, the character whose eyes we see through (mostly in flashbacks), has no personality, passion, or purpose. In Quicksilver, he exists to look over the shoulders of the men who are the real subjects of the book: the members of the Royal Society.

      These men are fascinating, yes, but if the purpose of Quicksilver is to relay a huge amount of information about them in an interesting way, I’d rather read a non-fiction account. Then at least I’d know which of the numerous anecdotes about Isaac Newton (et al.) are factual. I can think of no reason to read this history as a fictional account if it contains none of the elements of an entertaining novel.

      As an example, I’ll contrast Quicksilver with Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series. I read all 20½ of those novels and was completely enthralled. Not only did I learn a lot about the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, but I was also thoroughly entertained by the fictional stories of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. That is excellent historical fiction.

      Quicksilver was funny in places (such as when the Royal Society members talk about time, kidney stones, and opiates during one of their meetings) — and engrossing a couple of times (such as when Daniel Waterhouse and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz discuss cognition, free will, and artificial intelligence), and though I enjoy learning about the invention of clocks, calculators, and coffee, Quicksilver is mostly information overload without a story to back it up.

      I listened to Brilliance Audio’s version, which was beautifully read by Simon Prebble (always a treat). Due to its length, Brilliance Audio has split Quicksilver into its three sections: “Quicksilver,” “King of the Vagabonds,” and “Odalisque.” The next audiobook, then, is called King of the Vagabonds, and it shifts focus to a London street urchin who becomes an adventurer. Now that sounds like fun! I’m going to read King of the Vagabonds and hope that the introduction of some non-academic characters will give this saga some life!
    • 3/5
      Well written and interesting, but a little bit hard for me to get drawn into. The focus is more on the science and history lesson than the story or characters which is fine, just not as engaging as other styles. I would probably enjoy it more if I knew more about the period of history it is set in, or the history of math/science. Without that prior knowledge I've felt somewhat lost in the context, especially at first.

      I would very much recommend this to anyone with an interest in the history of the late 17th/early 18th century or the beginnings of rationalism and mathematics.



    • 5/5
      One of my favorite books of all time.
    • 4/5
      Great blend of fantasy and history. Mixes the changing worlds of science, commerce, and banking with lovable, rascally characters.
    • 3/5
      Too much! Too big, too long, too slow, too complex. It's like Neal Stephenson took a look back at The Cryptonomicon and thought "What's wrong with this book? I know - it's not long and complicated enough!" He proceeded to remedy this 'oversight' in writing Quicksilver. The book still has many of the strengths of his writing - the humour, the fascinating digressions - but in the end, this book was just too much for me.
    • 4/5
      Way, way, way too many characters.Since I'm not familiar with the setting (late 1600's Europe), this was kind of educational.
    • 1/5
      Despite recommendations from very reliable sources, I just found it too long-winded and slow to develop. Gave up after reading Part 1 and skimming Part 2.
    • 2/5
      I keep trying, but I just can't make it through this. Stephenson is one of my favorite authors: a brilliantly imaginative mind, a stunning facility with language. But I just can't make myself care about anything in this book: the characters, the plots, the themes...I'm doing all the work, and getting no enjoyment out of it. I thought the audiobook would help -- Simon Prebble is one of my favorite performers -- but even he isn't up to faking enthusiasm or interest in the story.
    • 4/5
      Quicksilver is the first of a trilogy, The Baroque Cycle, set at the dawn of the Age of Reason, a time when so much was happening in science that it is hard for us, now, to realize that it was all mixed up with alchemy, slavery and politics even more convoluted than those we confront today. Stephenson’s writing is dense with allusion, anecdote and allegory, and requires close concentration. Several story lines meet and intertwine in the three “books” into which the volume is divided. The first tells of the Puritan Daniel Waterhouse, an acquaintance and colleague of nearly every scientist and alchemist of note of the time. The second is about Half-Cocked Jack, a London street urchin who becomes the King of the Vagabonds, and his adventures with Eliza, whom he rescues from a Turkish harem. All the plots mix together in the third book, which takes place during the 1680s in France, England and Amsterdam, a time of much political and scientific ferment. One wonders whether this is science fiction or fiction about science, but either way, I, at least, am encouraged to continue to the next massive volume in the series, The Confusion. I may wait, however, until my rotator cuff heals; these 1,000-page volumes are damned heavy.
    • 3/5
      Quicksilver almost put me off Stephenson. Almost, which would have been a shame because the rest of the series is really good. And this one isn't bad, it's just that there are so many people (each with multiple names) and so much going on, it's nearly impossible to keep them straight. After a while it's just some action by some people, and you can't remember who these people are exactly but you know it's important.Not the whole book is like this; there is a hilarious battle between Captain Hook and Blackbeard :) And of course the vagabond exploits of our Shaftoe ancestor (for the Cryptonomicon fans) are great. And there is lots of interesting historical stuff on Newton, the Royal Society, Restoration England, good stuff. Just wish I could keep up :) I have been meaning to re-read it... maybe it will be easier the second time... but can't bring myself to.
    • 5/5
      Great beginning! This is my absolutely favorite period in history - there was so much going on. The characters in this trilogy are wonderful. And I love how the real life people are depicted - it is gritty and authentic.
    • 4/5
      Stephenson's previous work, Cryptonomicon, was easily the best book I've read in the past several years, so it was with great excitement that I approached this book. Overall it was a very good year, although I think that it was definitely not in the same league as the Crypto. The book is divided into three parts, each featuring a character related to the characters and events of Cryptonomicon. The first third focuses on Natural Philosopher Daniel Waterhouse, and follows his relationship with other great minds, including Newton and Leibniz, during the latter half of the 17th century. The second part of the book is more action-based, switching the focus to the noble Vagabond, Jack Shaftoe, as he seeks to make his fortune and his way in the world. The last third returns to Waterhouse, and also greatly expands on Eliza of Qwghlm, a former slave-girl who may just be the lynchpin of European society. Intermingled with all of these events as well is the alchemist Enoch RootOverall, the book was fairly good, although to be honest I felt it dragged somewhat in the middle third. It was interesting, though, to see the interplay of the ancestors of characters that are already fairly well-known, as well as their interactions with various historical characters. I'll definitely have to give a read to the next volume in the story.
    • 5/5
      This is a hefty, dense book. Thankfully for me, it's set in a period I'm interested in, and the writing is good - exciting, intriguing, bawdy, and in places laugh-out-loud funny.The length was a little detrimental - I got to the end and forgot for a second that the "cliffhanger ending" was actually at an earlier point in the tale than the start of the book was!
    • 1/5
      Despite the popularity of this series, and the fact that I've been a fan of his work for decades, I just could not get in to this series. The whole time I was dragging my way through this tome, I was thinking "what he really needs is a good editor to tell him what to cut out." I just felt like he got too caught up in the daily details of his own alternate history to remember that he was supposed to be telling a story. If you are new to Stephenson, I'd recommend starting out with just about anything else, and if you're an old fan, unless you really loved the direction he started to go in with Cryptonomicon, give this series a pass.
    • 1/5
      Rubbish. Very slow plot driven by turgid characters. The insight into history starts interestingly but become increasingly unreadable. I only finished it in the mistaken hope that something worthwhile would happen. I really really enjoyed Diamond Age and was vastly disappointed by this offering
    • 4/5
      Not Quick, but possibly Silver: "Anybody can write a three-volumed novel. It merely requires a complete ignorance of both life and literature."-Oscar WildeWell, perhaps that's a bit too harsh. The truth is that overall I enjoyed Neal Stephenson's "Quicksilver," even though at times I was frustrated by its slow pace. "Quicksilver" has all of the complexity and detail that made "Cryptonomicon" impressive, but relatively little of the humor and action that made it such an engaging and entertaining read. I was torn between 3 or 4 stars, and decided to be generous since it's only the first volume of the gigantic "Baroque Cycle." I am hoping (expecting, really) that things will pull together in the future volumes, and much that seems tedious and unnecessary in this 900-page monster will fall into place.Even though it's only a third of the Cycle, "Quicksilver" is still made up of no less than three distinct books - "Quicksilver," "King of the Vagabonds" and "Odalisque." "Quicksilver" (the book and the volume) opens in 1713, when the mysterious Enoch Root arrives in Massachusetts to summon Daniel Waterhouse back to Europe, apparently to try to settle the famous feud between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. As Daniel is chased around the north Atlantic by Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, he goes over his memories of the 1660s and early 1670s, during which time he became Newton's assistant, a member of the Royal Society, and one of the most prominent Puritan dissidents of the Restoration.We then abandon Daniel for twelve years and 275 pages, to travel with the aptly named "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe, the "King of the Vagabonds," as he heads to Vienna to defend Christendom from the Turk - and do a bit of looting on the side. At Vienna he rescues Eliza, Turkish harem slave (odalisque) originally from Qwghlm, and the two of them make their slow way back across Europe. Eventually they reach Amsterdam, where Eliza shows herself a shrewd investor, begins to build a financial empire, and dedicates herself to the eradication of slavery. Jack, meanwhile, sails off to sea, to reappear in the Cycle's second volume.The third book, "Odalisque," in which Daniel and Eliza both play prominent roles in the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688-1689, makes the slog through the first 600 pages more or less worthwhile. Eliza is now sent to spy at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles, while Daniel plays courtier to James II and organizes his Revolution. Although the Revolution makes for a conclusion of a sort, relatively little is resolved, and plenty is set up for the next volume.The main theme in "The Baroque Cycle" seems to be the development of the modern world - modern finance, modern politics and modern science. The conflict between alchemy (represented by Newton) and the new 'natural philosophy' of Leibniz and his supporters promises to be central to the coming volumes. Lurking in the background is the mysterious 'Enoch the Red,' for all we know, immortal and omniscient. Those who have read "Cryptonomicon" will recognize Enoch, note that "The Baroque Cycle's" main characters seem to be the ancestors of the stars of "Cryptonomicon," and wonder whether there are deeper connections.Do I recommend "Quicksilver?" It depends, I suppose. The book can be trying, but five-star moments are many (and far between). I was especially impressed by the way Stephenson weaves together his plot and fictional characters with the actual events and personalities of the time. Occasional epistolary chapters (in which the story is told through letters written by the main characters) make for more interesting reading, especially in "Odalisque." There are a number of footnotes (annoying in a novel, but probably necessary to help the reader keep track of everything), some maps and genealogical charts, as well as a ten-page long Dramatis Personae (very helpful, especially since it distinguishes between fact and fiction).If you have read and enjoyed "Cryptonomicon," "The Baroque Cycle" is the obvious next step. Otherwise, I suggest you check out "Cryptonomicon" first - I found it more accessible and more entertaining, and reading it will let you decide whether or not you enjoy Stephenson's style. And, as I mentioned, there may well be connections between the tomes. An interest in early modern European (especially British) history is definitely a plus, and a significant amount of free time an absolute necessity.
    • 4/5
      I'm a fan of Stephenson's work, and burned through this book. It is extremely dense, even to a history buff. Stephenson's stuff is so packed-to-the-walls with ideas that it is easy to become confused and lost. That said, the book rewards those who are willing to stick to it through their confusions and enjoy the ride.
    • 5/5
      It is indeed a very good book - he certainly has a nice way with a simile ("... the flat countryside was studded with pylons of streaming fire that warmed Daniel's face from half a mile away, like the first uncontrollable flush of shame."), and this period of history - late 17th century Europe - is one I've always found interesting.There were a couple of things that annoyed me, though.1) He kept making similes, such as "dragging him along like a rider with one foot caught in the stirrup", where the italicised part is something that had happened in an earlier part of the book.2) He kept writing things that told you where certain words that are in common use nowadays originated from (eg 'sabotage' from 'sabot' and 'fancy' from 'phant'sy').In themselves these things aren't particularly irritating. It's just that he kept doing them, and once I'd noticed the overusage it just got on my nerves.Besides these minor annoyances, however, I liked it a whole lot :)
    • 5/5
      Toward the end, King James is fleeing England, and NS describes him being bullied in a dockside bar. A somewhat improbable scene. Now, I've read Macauley, and I would think I would remember this. So I checked - - and my Penguin copy of "History of England" is ABRIDGED. And NS actually did his research: it happened. Which reaffirms my confidence in the rest of NS's story.
    • 5/5
      I loved the bawdyness, the sense of the forces that move history along. I found the tone a little too affected at times, but mostly, I bought it hook, line, and sinker.
    • 2/5
      Opinions seem to differ sharply on this book. I liked Snow Crash and loved Cryptonomicon, but this one left me cold. I hated the modulation between exaggerated period idiom and modern catch phrases, which had me debating whether Stephenson has a terrible ear or whether this whole project was just fundamentally ill-conceived, Stephenson having no real feeling for the era he was writing about.I hope for better from Stephenson soon.
    • 2/5
      Checked this out at the library when I had an interest in Isaac Newton. I didn't finish it. I read through the first book in it, but decided to quit in the second. He got mired in sexual descriptions and they were simply too much for me to justify reading it. Also, after 446 pages, the author is still filling in backstory. If he had kept it a little cleaner, I could have read it and enjoyed it because his description of history and the characters in it is masterful. Too bad. I wish he would write a PG or even a PG-13 version!
    • 3/5
      At times very convoluted as the story jumps around between characters. Speaking of characters, very many, at times I thought too many, but by the end most are dealt with in proportion to their worth to the story. This being the first book of a trilogy, the story comes to an abrupt end --much more abrupt the the Harry Potter books--and leaves me ready to read the next book, "Confusion". Only three stars at the moment because of the abrupt ending, I suspect that will change once I have read all three volumes, but I didn't like this one as much as "Anathem".
    • 3/5
      A book that defies description that takes place before and after the Glorious Revolution. It is somewhat confusing to follow as it has multiple stories line, one of which involves the same character in two different time periods. As a whole it is certainly ambitions (900+ pages!) while only being the first book of a trilogy. Though the chronology sometimes feels all over the map, the tongue in cheek nature of the story, with its captivating characters makes this for a very fun read. Just be sure to get time away for a month to do so.
    • 4/5
      Brilliantly conveys the excitement and confusion of the birth of scientific and financial modernity. Some passages are brilliant: the work of the Royal Society, the misadventures of Jack Shaftoe and the extended pirate chase involving the aged Daniel Waterhouse. But there is so much historical detail that a plot never fully emerges - or perhaps the plot is the entire 17th century. Either way, the novel is frustrating: hard work, hard to love but still very much worth reading. Cut down to half the size it would be brilliant.