{"product_id":"the-shamers-signet-isbn-9781782692270","title":"The Shamer’s Signet","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe second book in the thrilling fantasy adventure series, The Shamer Chronicles\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDina has the Shamer's Gift - one look into her eyes, and none can mask their guilt or hide their shame. Now even her brother, Davin, no longer dares to meet her glance. His conscience is troubled by his mother and sister's power, and he wants to avenge the crimes committed against his family with a battle by the sword.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut these are treacherous times and Dina's life is in terrible danger. Kidnapped by the corrupt Valdracu, she is forced to use her gift as a weapon. And Davin becomes her only hope of escape...\"The series as a whole is in good standing alongside Philip Pullman's \u003ci\u003eHis Dark Materials\u003c\/i\u003e trilogy and C. S. Lewis' \u003ci\u003eThe Chronicles of Narnia\u003c\/i\u003e.\" \u003cb\u003e— \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The term 'page-turner' is often used, but not always justified. It is deserved here, tenfold. I really, really couldn't put the book down.\" \u003cb\u003e— \u003ci\u003eSchool Librarian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The most original new fiction of this kind ... thrilling and thoughtful.\" \u003cb\u003e— \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Spiced with likable characters and an intriguing new magical ability - eagerly awaiting volume two.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This novel stands on its own and offers a satisfying conclusion even as it provides an intriguing setting and mythology for future adventures.\" \u003cb\u003e— \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An absorbing and fast-paced fantasy\/mystery bursting with action and intrigue. The only question is: when will the next one come out?\" \u003cb\u003e— \u003ci\u003eBulletin of the Center for Children's Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eI   gobbled it up. --Tamora Pierce, author of 'The Song of the Lioness'\u003cbr\u003e Tremendous novel... Dragons, murder, treachery and highly tropical thrills.   -- Amanda Craig, author of The Lie of the LandAn award-winning and highly acclaimed writer of fantasy, Lene Kaaberbøl was born in 1960, grew up in the Danish countryside and had her first book published at the age of 15. Since then she has written more than 30 books for children and young adults. Lene's huge international breakthrough came with \u003ci\u003eThe Shamer Chronicles,\u003c\/i\u003e which is published in more than 25 countries selling over a million copies worldwide.DINA\u003cbr\u003e The Child Peddler\u003cbr\u003e Among heather-grown slopes nested three low stone\u003cbr\u003e houses. A narrow cart track, not much more than a path,\u003cbr\u003e swerved to pass quite near, but there was little reason to\u003cbr\u003e halt here, unless one was very fond of heather, open sky,\u003cbr\u003e yew trees, and grazing sheep.\u003cbr\u003e Nevertheless, a peddler's cart stood on the patch of\u003cbr\u003e packed dirt between the houses, and in the stonewalled\u003cbr\u003e fields the sheep had company—two mules and four\u003cbr\u003e horses rested, heads low and tails swishing, dozing in the\u003cbr\u003e early evening sun. And now we were making our way\u003cbr\u003e down the hill, my mother and I, and Callan Kensie. Most\u003cbr\u003e of the sheep stood stock-still, watching us suspiciously,\u003cbr\u003e and I could almost feel their puzzlement. Probably they\u003cbr\u003e had never seen so many strangers at Harral's Place before.\u003cbr\u003e The sun hung huge and orange just above the ridge.\u003cbr\u003e The day had been warm and almost summery, and the air\u003cbr\u003e was still pleasant. Next to the peddler's wagon, three men\u003cbr\u003e were playing cards, using a beer barrel for a table. A pile of\u003cbr\u003e round flatbreads, three mugs of beer, and a fat, darkly\u003cbr\u003e gleaming sausage competed for space on the barrel top. It\u003cbr\u003e looked like something one might see outside any village\u003cbr\u003e inn on a breezy spring evening, until one noticed the leg\u003cbr\u003e iron that kept the peddler's ankle chained to his own\u003cbr\u003e wagon wheel.\u003cbr\u003e The peddler carved himself a fat slice of sausage and\u003cbr\u003e slid the rest of it across the barrel top toward the two men\u003cbr\u003e who were supposed to be guarding him.\u003cbr\u003e \"Here,\" he said. \"Eat. A good game of cards can make a\u003cbr\u003e hole in a man's belly.\"\u003cbr\u003e \"Never mind the belly,\" grumbled one of the guards.\u003cbr\u003e \"Losing four copper marks and a perfectly good knife\u003cbr\u003e makes a sizable hole in a man's pocket!\" But his complaint\u003cbr\u003e was good-natured, and he accepted the sausage.\u003cbr\u003e At that moment, one of the mules brayed earsplittingly,\u003cbr\u003e and the guards looked up and caught sight of us.\u003cbr\u003e They leaped to their feet, and one of them hastily swept\u003cbr\u003e the cards off the barrel, as if we had caught them doing\u003cbr\u003e something disgraceful. But I knew how they felt. It was\u003cbr\u003e hard to act harsh and commanding toward a man once\u003cbr\u003e you started drinking his beer. And it was difficult to\u003cbr\u003e believe that there was any truth to the accusations that\u003cbr\u003e had been made against the cheerful little peddler. We\u003cbr\u003e knew him. He had come by our village often enough, and\u003cbr\u003e everyone enjoyed his visits. He was never without a joke\u003cbr\u003e or a good story, and he had a chuckling laugh and so\u003cbr\u003e many crow's feet that one could hardly see his eyes when\u003cbr\u003e he smiled. His eyebrows looked like two fat black slugs,\u003cbr\u003e except that they moved more quickly—one of them would\u003cbr\u003e shoot up questioningly at every other word. No, I thought,\u003cbr\u003e he was hardly guilty of anything more serious than cheating\u003cbr\u003e a bit on his measures. The boys must have run away,\u003cbr\u003e just like he said they had.\u003cbr\u003e \"Medama,\" said one guard, bowing in my mother's\u003cbr\u003e direction. He eyed me dubiously—just how polite did one\u003cbr\u003e have to be to an eleven-year-old girl? He settled for\u003cbr\u003e another bow, slightly less deep. \"Medamina.\" After all, I\u003cbr\u003e was the Shamer's daughter. The third person in our party,\u003cbr\u003e Callan Kensie, received not a bow, but a measured nod, of\u003cbr\u003e the kind men give each other when there is respect\u003cbr\u003e between them, but not necessarily friendship. \"Kensie.\u003cbr\u003e I thought you were guarding caravans down in the\u003cbr\u003e Lowlands.\"\u003cbr\u003e Callan returned the man's nod, in exactly the same\u003cbr\u003e manner. \"Well met, Laclan. But no. I have other duties\u003cbr\u003e now.\"\u003cbr\u003e \"So. The Kensie clan takes good care of their Shamer, I\u003cbr\u003e see.\" The guard's eyes rested for a moment on Callan's\u003cbr\u003e shoulders, very wide and knotted with the muscles a man\u003cbr\u003e gets from wielding a sword every day. Like most people,\u003cbr\u003e he avoided looking too hard at my mother. If one did not\u003cbr\u003e already know, the Shamer's signet resting on her breast, in\u003cbr\u003e clear view, provided ample warning: a heavy round pewter\u003cbr\u003e circle, enameled in white and black to look like an eye. I\u003cbr\u003e had one almost exactly like it, but with blue instead of\u003cbr\u003e black, because I was still only my mother's apprentice.\u003cbr\u003e Anyone who saw the signet would look away—or pay the\u003cbr\u003e price.\u003cbr\u003e The peddler had also risen. \"Well met,\" he said, grinning.\u003cbr\u003e \"And none too soon. The company has been pleasant,\u003cbr\u003e but I had hoped to reach Baur Laclan before dark.\"","brand":"Pushkin Children's Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304574669029,"sku":"NP9781782692270","price":12.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781782692270.jpg?v=1767741488","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-shamers-signet-isbn-9781782692270","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}