Wild Blood - Softcover

Grade 5-8-Tess is coming up on her 15th birthday and will lose the power to "switch" into other kinds of creatures at will. As she tries to decide which form she'll want to retain for the rest of her life, she helps out on her aunt and uncle's farm and tries to savor the last few days of being a kestrel, a goat, or a rat. Her friend Kevin arrives from Dublin, not only to support her as she makes her decision, but also to make some money leading away the rats that have infested the farm. As her birthday draws nearer, she finds herself trying to fathom the secrets of the mysterious woods above the farm, and the strange behavior of her cousins and her Uncle Maurice. The plotting is even, with enough hints at the secrets to keep the tension running high. Tess's worry over her future and choosing wisely will resonate with many young people, and her ability to be anything she wishes is a universal dream. As in Switchers (1998) and Midnight's Choice (1999, both Hyperion), Thompson does a great job of creating the world from a rat's point of view. The Pied Piper and fairie world connections are unique to this book and effectively contribute to the trilogy's satisfying conclusion. This book can be read independently, but it will be best enjoyed by readers of the earlier titles, if only to add depth to the drama of Tess's choice.
Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Thompson closes the trilogy begun with Switchers (1998) by bringing young shapeshifter Tess to her pivotal 15th birthday, after which her ability to change into any animal will be lost. Or maybe not, as she discovers. An unhappy visitor to relatives in rural County Clare, Tess agonizes over which shape to take as her permanent one. The plot thickens when three cousins vanish into the same eerie patch of woods that swallowed an uncle 20 years before. In tracking them down, Tess learns not only that a pale remnant of the fairy folk still exists in their underground fairy sidhes but also that their blood runs in her veins. Suddenly, her decision becomes even tougher, for with just a bite of fairy food her powers will remain and expand--at the cost of losing her connection with time, humanity, and the natural world. Plainly a devil's bargain. The story develops slowly compared to the first two installments, and stands alone only by virtue of repeated back filling, but readers will see how tempting each of Tess's options are, and how her previous experiences influence her eventual choice. Tess's forays into animal worlds and realms of magic thread this coming-of-age tale with humor and melodrama. (Fiction. 11-13) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.