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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This is an enchanting story about 12 year old Petra Kronos, whose father's eyes have been taken by the prince for whom he built a magical clock. The clock has the ability to control the weather, but it is not finished. Petra decides to go to Prague and steal back her father's eyes and stop the prince from completing the clock. Filled with magic and mystery, a mechanical spider and a brave little girl, this is a very good read.
The Prince has stolen Petra’s father’s eyes! Peter Kronos returns home blind, after a trip to Prague to help the prince build an amazing clock at Salamander Castle. Petra’s father can move metal with his mind, but he is not able to prevent the Prince from betraying him. When Petra realizes that her father can do nothing to win back his eyes, she takes matters into her own hands and sets out to Prague, secretly, with her tin spider, Astrophil. In the city, Petra meets gypsies, who just might be able to help her with her task, and she takes employment as a servant in the castle, in hopes of stealing her father’s eyes back. As the book progresses, her adventures only increase, and the more she learns about the possibilities of what the clock her father began building can do, the more she is aware she must stop the Prince from completing it.
Petra’s love for her father and her sense of justice represent the motivating force behind her stealing away to Prague, without telling her family, in order to steal back her father’s eyes. When love for family drives us to do something, it sometimes helps us to believe that anything is possible. Though others tell Petra that what she is attempting to accomplish is impossible, she perseveres. She also reflects a heart that is compassionate and wants to see wrong made right.
As I listened to the story via audiobook, I couldn’t help but think of a handful of response activities for the book. There are multiple ways to respond to this book through the arts. Young readers could create short skits of favorite scenes in the book by acting them out themselves, or by making a puppet show. The story has many humorous moments, so dramatic skits would probably get reading groups or classes laughing as well! I have watched middle school students have the time of their lives with these kinds of skits, and it’s fun! Petra has Astrophil as a sidekick, but what metal insect or animal might readers pick, if they had a choice? Artwork featuring these wished for sidekicks could be a great addition to any wall, and readers could then pick out three or four adjectives to describe the characteristics of these “helpers.”
The audiobook version of this story is fabulous! If you listen to audiobooks in the car or elsewhere, I would highly recommend checking this out from the library. I enjoyed a fantastic drive from Northern California up to Portland listening to the first of the Kronos Chronicles. Rutkoski includes an assortment of interesting and quirky characters, and I always enjoyed Astrophil’s antics. The wonders of magic, friendship, and love for family are all explored within this fantasy. I loved this story and am looking forward to the second and third installments.
Review posted on blog here
Petra’s love for her father and her sense of justice represent the motivating force behind her stealing away to Prague, without telling her family, in order to steal back her father’s eyes. When love for family drives us to do something, it sometimes helps us to believe that anything is possible. Though others tell Petra that what she is attempting to accomplish is impossible, she perseveres. She also reflects a heart that is compassionate and wants to see wrong made right.
As I listened to the story via audiobook, I couldn’t help but think of a handful of response activities for the book. There are multiple ways to respond to this book through the arts. Young readers could create short skits of favorite scenes in the book by acting them out themselves, or by making a puppet show. The story has many humorous moments, so dramatic skits would probably get reading groups or classes laughing as well! I have watched middle school students have the time of their lives with these kinds of skits, and it’s fun! Petra has Astrophil as a sidekick, but what metal insect or animal might readers pick, if they had a choice? Artwork featuring these wished for sidekicks could be a great addition to any wall, and readers could then pick out three or four adjectives to describe the characteristics of these “helpers.”
The audiobook version of this story is fabulous! If you listen to audiobooks in the car or elsewhere, I would highly recommend checking this out from the library. I enjoyed a fantastic drive from Northern California up to Portland listening to the first of the Kronos Chronicles. Rutkoski includes an assortment of interesting and quirky characters, and I always enjoyed Astrophil’s antics. The wonders of magic, friendship, and love for family are all explored within this fantasy. I loved this story and am looking forward to the second and third installments.
Review posted on blog here
I enjoyed the abilities that this world presented to people, and I found myself invested in the adventure of Petra, however this book has yet to hit a wow factor for me. I will definitely keep an eye out for the opportunity to continue with the rest of the series, however this would be a book resting on my shelf to be pulled out again for a lone rainy day where I have exhausted my best options.
this was my favorite book in middle school!! it still holds a special place in my heart and i am still obsessed with astrophil
I love this book... And I can't stop when I'm reading it!! Haven't read the continuous volumes
Whimsical and innovative, with a perfect coating of suspense and danger.
A fun and rather imaginative story. I love the Bohemian setting.
Ok, now that was fun. Really, really fun.
Ever since I realized that the author of The Winner’s Curse wrote this trilogy that I’ve been eyeing for weeks, my need to read it increased tenfold. And it didn’t disappoint!
Cabinet has a little bit of everything – traveling, science, art, magic, political intrigue. Rutkoski has this way of merging all of these together in a fascinatingly rich plot, and centers it really well around a single character --- Petra. Her single-minded need to find her father’s eyes (Also, sidenote: the prince stole her father’s eyes. As in, he had them gouged out. And then he took them.) really anchors all of the different fragments of this world well. And what fragments!! The completion of a clock that could potentially control the weather, the invention of a new primary color, the ability to speak to and liven metal, paint that erases one’s existence, stories of Romany who could talk to elephants and horses and trained ghost fingers…the imagination that takes flight in this novel is really, absolutely breathtaking!
And, yeah. The prince stole her father’s EYES. Petra in some ways is difficult to jive with, given that she is simply a conduit through which the story moves forward. Her qualities are very typical: brave, slightly rebellious, responsible, smart, with a dash of impatience. There’s nothing about her personality that stands out, that makes her different than dozens of other heroines in dozens of other novels everywhere. But, the secondary characters, like the prince (he took somebody’s eyes, for gods sake!) and John Dee, who introduces a fascinating element of international court intrigue into the mix, and of course Neel, with fascinating fables, make the story nice and lively.
This is one of those books where it’s the world and the plot that make it a compelling, irresistible read. On to the next one!
Ever since I realized that the author of The Winner’s Curse wrote this trilogy that I’ve been eyeing for weeks, my need to read it increased tenfold. And it didn’t disappoint!
Cabinet has a little bit of everything – traveling, science, art, magic, political intrigue. Rutkoski has this way of merging all of these together in a fascinatingly rich plot, and centers it really well around a single character --- Petra. Her single-minded need to find her father’s eyes (Also, sidenote: the prince stole her father’s eyes. As in, he had them gouged out. And then he took them.) really anchors all of the different fragments of this world well. And what fragments!! The completion of a clock that could potentially control the weather, the invention of a new primary color, the ability to speak to and liven metal, paint that erases one’s existence, stories of Romany who could talk to elephants and horses and trained ghost fingers…the imagination that takes flight in this novel is really, absolutely breathtaking!
And, yeah. The prince stole her father’s EYES. Petra in some ways is difficult to jive with, given that she is simply a conduit through which the story moves forward. Her qualities are very typical: brave, slightly rebellious, responsible, smart, with a dash of impatience. There’s nothing about her personality that stands out, that makes her different than dozens of other heroines in dozens of other novels everywhere. But, the secondary characters, like the prince (he took somebody’s eyes, for gods sake!) and John Dee, who introduces a fascinating element of international court intrigue into the mix, and of course Neel, with fascinating fables, make the story nice and lively.
This is one of those books where it’s the world and the plot that make it a compelling, irresistible read. On to the next one!
I don't know how I really felt about this. The concept was very interesting and the story was fantastical and enjoyable but I never really felt compelled to keep reading. I found Petra a bit annoying, though it was nice to see a young girl portrayed as naive as they usually are. I really liked Astrophil, what an interesting character he was. I will probably read the next book in the series if I come across it, but I don't know that I will seek it out.