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| Lamplighter (Monster Blood Tattoo, Book 2) | 
 enlarge | Author: D.m. Cornish
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $11.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 83358
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 476
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 2.5
ISBN: 0399246398
EAN: 9780399246395
ASIN: 0399246398
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
A good read to pass the time May 30, 2008
The first book Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling was a good read that left me longing for more and waiting for the next book. And waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally, after two years the second book came out. When I received it I was glad to see that my wait was rewarded with twice the story. Of course, with two years between I was worried I would not really remember what had happened. As I started reading it became a non-issue. Enough action, mystery and good feelings to make it a well written book. It is the ongoing story of an orphan out to right the world of monsters, but coming against his own questions of who the monsters really are. It is not War & Peace, but it is a novel for all ages of readers.
 Story moved very slowly June 2, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Reviewed by Maya Landers (age 10) for Reader Views (5/08)
"Lamplighter," book two in the Monster Blood Tattoo series, by D.M. Cornish, was not one of my favorite books because at some points the story moved very slowly, while at other points it moved along so quickly that the reader had trouble keeping up with it. The story begins when the main character, Rossamund, is on an excursion with all the other prentice lantern-lighters to light and douse the lamps along the road that went from Winstermill to Wellnigh house. He never wanted to be a lantern-lighter and had done so only to escape Madame Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls. At first, this excursion proves to just as boring as his last one, until the clatter of horses' hooves are heard down the road. As the carriage is sighted, one of the other prentices realizes that the horses have no coachman. The horses are running out of sheer terror. Behind the carriage comes a monstrous being with gigantic horns and wicked slits for eyes.
So begins the book with one of the more fast-paced sections. The action begins quickly, on page seven. I thought that this didn't give the reader enough time to comprehend what was going on. Alternately, later on in the book, the pace is much slower, with so little action that the reader soon forgets what he or she has just learned. This is book two in the "Monster Blood Tattoo" series so that may explain why some things didn't make sense to me. I could understand most things well, but there were some unexplained things that I assumed were clarified in the first book. However, I could mostly understand what was going on, and I was able to grasp a basic idea of the characters and plot.
At the beginning of each chapter, there was a "dictionary" definition of a different character, object, or action that was used or preformed in that chapter. I found this very useful, and the definitions were also very interesting.
I would not recommend "Lamplighter" to my friends because I did not think that it did a very good job making an equal balance between the parts of the book that were filled with action and the more slow-paced sections.
Too Long to Hold My Interest June 10, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Monster Blood Tattoo series continues with this next installment. Lamplighter is twice as thick as its preceding story, Foundling, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is twice as good.
For those of you who haven't read the first in the series, main character Rossamuend is a foundling who embarks on an adventure to reach a city called High Vesting in order to begin training as a lamplighter. On this journey, he encounters a wide cast of characters including leers, massacars, lahzars, and even monsters.
The second book continues immediately after the first left off. Rossamuend makes it to High Vesting in the nick of time to begin his training. The first time he goes out to practice his lamplighting with the other prentices, they are set upon by a large monster, a horn-ed nicker to be specific, and two others. With the aid of a group of calendars, they manage to destroy the monsters. However, with that, they also learn that there is to be a female prentice named Threnody.
Rossamuend and Threnody become unexpected allies as they train and work together. Many characters from the first book come back into play, such as Europe the lahzar, Master Sebastipole, Master Fransitart, Master Craumpalin, and Freckles the glamgorn bogle. New characters include Mister Numps, and numerous others employed as lamplighters or related services. I found that it was very hard to keep track of all the different names.
I found Lamplighter harder to read than Foundling for several reasons, but mostly because of sheer size. The second story was about twice the size of the first. The wording was strange at times, the descriptions repetitive or drawn out and boring. The new terms used made the story hard to understand, especially where the new monetary system and months were concerned. There were a lot of subplots within the story that were hard to keep track of, and unlike the first book, there wasn't a clear goal of the story. It merely followed Rossamuend's journeys, but I couldn't really find a point to those journeys. I also felt that this story was a bit too much like Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Eragon, although fans of those stories would probably like this one.
What also bothered me was that Rossamuend was also called clever, but to me, he never seemed to be. I figured out many unsolved problems of his before he did. Rossamuend also seemed to contradict himself a lot and could never seem to make up his mind unless it was done for him. His relationship with Threnody was awkward at best and very repetitive. Reading this second book almost discouraged me from wanting to read the rest of the story when it comes out.
However, I did like the ending of the story. The last hundred pages or so redeem the story's other faults. If the books are named after Rossamuend's occupations during them, then there is good reason to believe the third book will be called Factotum. Despite the length of this book, I am looking forward to the next installment in the series, and I hope the sheer size of this book will not daunt others from reading it.
[..]
 Another good book June 18, 2008
D.M. Cornish has created a really interesting world for his Monster Blood Tattoo series. It is familiar yet really different from ours with it s monsters and vinegar seas. The action is very well written and in the long periods of inaction keep up a good pace in the story. The mystery of the book is not hard to figure out, though it is not really the focus of the book. The characters are just fascinating and all are fascinating for different reasons. I was disappointed that Fouracres was not in this installment, but I have hope that we will see him again. No small part of the fun is the very excellent illustrations depicting many of the important characters.
Somewhat unfocused, but a strong sequel: engaging, imaginative, wonderful build up. Series & installment both recommended July 27, 2008
Following his adventures in Foundling, Rossamuend is now a lamplighter apprentice, accompanying his fellow Prentices and a new arrival, a haughty young woman, as they learn the tools of their new trade. But all is not well: the number of monster attacks is on the rise, and Rossamuend begins to suspect some nefarious scheming within Wintermill, home of the lamplighters. Unlike Foundling, this book does follow a quest or journey, and the plot is weaker for the lack of direction. A darker, grittier sequel, peopled by vivid characters (many wonderfully complex, but a few simplistically evil), and foreshadowing changes and revelations to come--Lamplighter suffers a bit from middle book syndrome, but it remains an engrossing and enjoyable read. I look forward to the final book, and I recommend both the series and this installment.
As a sequel, Lamplighter is in many ways similar to Foundling, and fans of the first book will have a similar experience with the second. The Half-Continent remains the same vast and intricate setting, although Cornish forgos a bit of world-building for plot-building, a welcome change. The wonderful ambiguity of the first book--where the divide between humans and monsters is not as clear as it once seemed--carries through and expands into a foundational aspect of the story. Unfortunately, this sequel has a different sort of plot: in Foundling, Rossamuend set out to begin his career but his journey was waylaid; it had known end point, and so his journey had purpose and direction. Lamplighter, on the other hand, is open-ended, and without a known ending the plot seems to go nowhere. Compounded by the length--600 pages given to the story, the other 100 to appendixes--the book feels unfocused and overlong.
Nonetheless, Lamplighter is a fun read. The reader may not know where the story is headed, but each step forward is engaging. This is a much darker and more violent sequel, but the violence serves a purpose and death is treated with solemn respect. Even with less world-building, the Half-Continent remains intricately imagined and detailed. The large cast of characters are vivid, each faulted, ambigious, and likable in turn, many brought to life by Cornish's illustrations. (Human villains, on the other hand, are a frustrating, unrealistic sort of evil for the sake of evil, and their presence drags on the rest of the book.) Best of all is Rossamuend--young and foolish, goodwilled and clever, he is a likable, admirable protagonist and his journey and growth is a joy to read. Lamplighter builds on the series's ambigious separation between good and bad, human and monster, to foreshadow a great revelation for Rossamuend; older readers may find it predictable by the time it arrives, but this revelation makes for a strong conclusion and creates a bold beginning to the final book in the trilogy.
Monster Blood Tattoo is not the best children's/young adult fantasy series, but with a magical world as detailed as our own, colorful characters who stand slightly larger than life, and an ambigious nature that challenges both character and reader preconceptions, the series so far is imaginative, enjoyable, and well worth picking up. Without the strong opening of an introduction or the strong conclusion of a finale, Lamplighter suffers a bit as the middle book in a trilogy, but it holds reader interest and builds up to a huge revelation which sets the stage for the final book. I look forward to that conclusion, and I recommend this series. Lamplighter doesn't stand alone, so begin with Foundling and introduce yourself to the complex, marvelous, threatening world of Monster Blood Tattoo.
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