From the Bookshelf of What's the Name of That Book???…

Finnikin of the Rock (Lumatere Chronicles, #1)

Melina Marchetta

Why we're reading this: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com …more
[close] https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Dec 16, 2014 Jessica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: youngadult, fantasy, own

This book is the literary equivalent of a FREAKING UNICORN.

Here is a fantasy written by someone who cares more about characters than about checking off boxes on the Fantasy Novel Checklist. Here is a YA book that features a love story but not a love triangle.

DID YOU CATCH THAT? THERE IS NO LOVE TRIANGLE. I can't even remember the last time I read a YA fantasy that didn't involve a love triangle. I almost wept with gratitude when I realized that the plot wasn't going to come down to, "Which boy ...more

39 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2012 Megan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, booksithoughti-dhatebuti-mlovin, historical-fiction, thiswritingamazesme, series

So, you go through life thinking you're one kind of reader. You definately are open to different things, but you know that you're not a romance or western lover...and you're not into fantasy of the Finnikin kind. And then you read Melina Marchetta. Holy Crap. I couldn't put this thing down. This huge book was lugged daily to the beach and eaten in 3 days. I can't remember the last time that a story transported me to a different time and place the way that Finnikin did. I loved everything about t ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 29, 2012 Dracolibris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-lit, 2012, fantasy

This book was such a treat, it made me miss the fantasy genre as a whole. But I know that not all books are equal, and therefore, not many fantasy books are going to be this good.

In the peaceful and prosperous Kingdom of Lumatere, Finnikin has a charmed life. Son of the Captain of the King's Guard, he is being lovingly raised alongside the prince and princesses of the kingdom. All seems well, until everything is destroyed in a flash. During the five days of the unspeakable, their king and his f This book was such a treat, it made me miss the fantasy genre as a whole. But I know that not all books are equal, and therefore, not many fantasy books are going to be this good.

In the peaceful and prosperous Kingdom of Lumatere, Finnikin has a charmed life. Son of the Captain of the King's Guard, he is being lovingly raised alongside the prince and princesses of the kingdom. All seems well, until everything is destroyed in a flash. During the five days of the unspeakable, their king and his family are murdered, their kingdom invaded, and neighbor turns against neighbor as people are burned at the stake. The final horrible act comes in the form of a curse whispered from a powerful woman being burned at the stake, and this shuts the once bright land behind a veil of shadow and secrecy.

Finnikin escaped with his life, but not much else. For the past ten years, he has been traveling the lands, learning and training with the former king's advisor, Sir Topher. While on their travels, they try to keep help their kingdom's refugees and keep track of the scattered population of Lumatere, a sad census as they carefully record all the deaths (and very few births) of the few exiles who manged to escape before their homeland was shut off from them. But one day word comes to them of a special girl, gifted with arcane abilities, who whispers from her visions the secret hope ALL the exiles carry within their battered hearts- that the Crown Prince of Lumatere survived, and is ready to lead them all back to their homeland.

Once Sir Topher and Finnikin decide to find this girl and explore the possibility of her claims, an adventure is set is motion that carries them and the reader to the far corners of the land of Skuldenore, into darkness such as they never imagined, and hope that is brighter than they can manage to bear.

This is an extraordinary tale of a scattered people seeking the safety and comfort of home and family, and who are brave enough to risk everything they have for those goals. It is rare to find a book so wholly realized, a kingdom so desperate and a land and people so well-imagined and described, that the reader feels as if he/she were riding a horse alongside Finnikin and his companions. Immersive is the word that comes to mind, and addictive. I highly recommend this book to lovers of the fantasy genre, those seeking a courageous tale of adventure and magic, swords and sorcery. I think if you are interested in those ingredients, it will not matter if you are a boy or girl, and how many years you have seen. THIS is a book to be enjoyed. ...more

Like · see review

Mar 23, 2011 Susan rated it really liked it

Shelves: teen-fiction, teen-fiction-fantasy-sci-fi

I liked this very much, but got impatient with the slow pace in the last quarter of the book. Get on with it, already!

Like · see review

Aug 29, 2014 CLM rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ya, series

Enjoying this but it was not well chosen for audio as it is harder to distinguish the many characters and countries than when reading - however, I bought a copy to give to my sister for her birthday.

Like · see review