What a cool concept! The Shamer's Daughter follows eleven-year-old Dina, who is the daughter of something called a Shamer. Shamers' powers, which are inherited genetically, allow the Shamer to look anyone in the eye and force them to relive all of their shameful memories and confess their bad deeds.
The Shamer's gift is rare and the few around, like Dina's mother, are called on to settle legal disputes. This turns south when she is called to prove a man guilty in the matter of a royal murder - and the royal family doesn't like when she turns the blame on them.
When I picked up The Shamer's Daughter at the library, I didn't know it was targeted at such a young audience. Since the main character is 11, I'm assuming that the target audience is probably 8-12. I can understand a lot of the two-star reviews I'm seeing from fellow adults like myself, but I can see my younger self loving this book.
It's one of those YA books that straddles the lines of the genre. There is legitimate danger, graphic descriptions, foul language, and all those edgy things that tweens love to feel mature in reading.
However, the reason it wasn't too interesting to me as an adult was how simple characters and relationships were. Everyone Dina met was either a friend or a foe, and once someone was a friend, they were automatically a part of the "hero team" and a main character, no questions asked.
Had to give it a three-star since I'm sure younger kids would love it, though it wasn't my cup of tea. I'd suggest passing it on to an advanced young reader who loves fantasy.
The Shamer's gift is rare and the few around, like Dina's mother, are called on to settle legal disputes. This turns south when she is called to prove a man guilty in the matter of a royal murder - and the royal family doesn't like when she turns the blame on them.
When I picked up The Shamer's Daughter at the library, I didn't know it was targeted at such a young audience. Since the main character is 11, I'm assuming that the target audience is probably 8-12. I can understand a lot of the two-star reviews I'm seeing from fellow adults like myself, but I can see my younger self loving this book.
It's one of those YA books that straddles the lines of the genre. There is legitimate danger, graphic descriptions, foul language, and all those edgy things that tweens love to feel mature in reading.
However, the reason it wasn't too interesting to me as an adult was how simple characters and relationships were. Everyone Dina met was either a friend or a foe, and once someone was a friend, they were automatically a part of the "hero team" and a main character, no questions asked.
Had to give it a three-star since I'm sure younger kids would love it, though it wasn't my cup of tea. I'd suggest passing it on to an advanced young reader who loves fantasy.
I got the first 3 books of the series for my 9-yr-old daughter, a very advanced reader, not knowing what they were about. I eventually picked up the first one and just started glancing at it, and couldn't stop reading until I had read all three (and I'm 51 years old!). I had to go to the library to get The Shamer's War (the 4th and last book of the series) because I was obsessed. I felt it was an excellent series, unique (but I haven't read a lot of fantasy books other than Harry Potter series in the last several decades), and extremely compelling. I did feel the 4th book was a tiny bit racy, if you want to call it that, so I returned it to the library before my daughter could get her hands on it (she'll read anything within reach).
Lindsay D. (lindsayd) reviewed The Shamer's Daughter (The Shamer Chronicles) on + 4 more book reviews
In real life, people can do bad things, and even if they're punished, they may not feel guilt or shame.
Imagine if part of the punishment was to make them feel shame for what they had done. Imagine if you could ACCIDENTALLY make people feel ashamed for wrong things they had done. Imagine if you couldn't prevent that from happening. Imagine someone so evil, they did not feel shame at all.
This book was well written and thought provoking. It grows richer if you also read the following book. (Imagine if someone evil enslaved you and FORCED you to torture people with guilt and shame over little things, to control them.)
Imagine if part of the punishment was to make them feel shame for what they had done. Imagine if you could ACCIDENTALLY make people feel ashamed for wrong things they had done. Imagine if you couldn't prevent that from happening. Imagine someone so evil, they did not feel shame at all.
This book was well written and thought provoking. It grows richer if you also read the following book. (Imagine if someone evil enslaved you and FORCED you to torture people with guilt and shame over little things, to control them.)
