The Poisons of Caux #1: The Hollow Bettle by Susannah Appelbaum

Read: 14 March, 2012

Apotheopathy - or healing - has been illegal in Caux since the deadly King Nightshade took the throne. Ivy Manx's uncle is one of the few apotheopaths still practising in secret. But when he goes missing, Ivy sets out on a adventure to find her lost uncle and to fulfil a mysterious and hidden prophecy about a Noble Child.

I picked The Hollow Bettle up on a whim. I'm trying to build a collection of good children's books to build my son's interest in reading, and this one has very appealing illustrations and seemed to have an interesting concept. Blind buying is always something of a gamble, and I'm generally so lucky that it stands to reason that I was about due for a dud.

Appelbaum's writing style aims for whimsy, but often opts for lyricism over sense. Her writing is littered with throwaway lines that sound lovely (if a little purple), but don't fit in with the text around them. For example, when Rowan tells Ivy to kick at the Outrider, we are told that "it was fortunate for Ivy that Rowan's advice was excellent." But what was excellent about it? Ivy kicks and it fails to free her from the Outrider.

I also noticed several occasions where Appelbaum chose the wrong words - often words that sound very similar to the right ones, or perhaps indicate a case of thesaurusitis (choosing a synonym without fully understanding the particular connotations of the new word). To be fair, the problem does lessen as the book goes on, perhaps as the author starts to find her groove, but it's enough of a problem that I would have considerable reservations giving The Hollow Bettle to children lest they build their vocabulary incorrectly.

The story itself suffered from similar problems. There's no question that the world Appelbaum constructs is interesting, but it seems that she was more interested in showcasing that world than in actually telling her story. As a result, each adventure adds little to the story or to the reader's understanding of the characters. Rather, the episodes feel disjointed, and Ivy moves from one to the next in fits and starts.

The illustrations are beautiful, and filled with details and life that are so lacking in the narrative.

Other books in the Poisons of Caux series:

1. The Hollow Bettle


2. The Taster's Guild


3. The Shepherd of Weeds