Quellebooks

A new favorite for sure. Teresa Flavin blends magic, art history and mythology into a wonderful adventure. Sunni and Blaise are art students studying the Medeival painter Fausto Corvo for a school project. When Sunni, her step-brother Dean & Blaise go to The Blackhope Tower to see Corvo's famous painting The Mariner's Return to Arcadia, Dean suddenly disappears in a labyrinth in the tower. He stumbled across a key word in the painting's description, when spoke in repetition in the labyrinth takes you into the world of Arcadia. Sunni and Blaise follow him and get lost in they layers of the artwork and into the fantastical land of Arcadia. Will they get out before Angus Bellini (a greedy art enthusiast who follows them into the painting) and a host of other enemies trap them in the painting forever?

One of my favorite TV shows was MythQuest. A quirky Canadian show that didn't even last one season. In fact, there was a 2-part episode and only 1-part was ever filmed. It was about two teenagers whose father got lost in the world of myths via an artifact and a computer. I know sounds strange but the teenagers found their way into the myths in search of their father. Each episode was one type of myth: Native American, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, etc. It was a wonderful show but because they pulled the plug so early the teens never did find their father and I never got closure. I feel like The Blackhope Tower gave me a similar story, with a tighter and more cohesive plotline and with an ending that gave me closure!

I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes an intellectual adventure but also some light reading. The author really did her research but doesn't bog the reader with details either. You could do a surface read and enjoy it or you could really dig deeper and find a rich bounty of mythological, astrological & historical references.