“Midwinterblood” by Marcus Sedgwick

This year’s Printz winner is a short little read with deep and complex themes.  Seven related stories, told over centuries, in short chapters, makes for a fast-paced, mind-blowing tale.  Beginning in the near-future, reporter Eric Seven arrives at “Blest Island,” presumably somewhere in the Scandinavian region, to report on the rumored longevity of the island’s residents.  As any reader of Sci Fi/Fantasy will tell you, this has the portents of “bad things.”  “Bad things” do indeed happen.  We then begin a journey backwards in time – meeting various incarnations of trapped spirits as they travel through an archeologist, a painter, a mother, a child, and more.  Symbolism abounds – in the various full moons, the hare that presents itself in each tale and in the blood which reigns throughout.  Viking lore heavily plays here but the threads are universal – love and loss, belonging and isolation, and, of course, sacrifice – in all of its meanings.  Sedgwick, an award-winning British author, doesn’t mind sacrificing the “rules,” either.  Sometimes the souls overlap each other, and one tale takes the fantastical far further than any of the others.  But you don’t mind.  As a writer, Sedgwick is demanding, almost as if the reader simply must bend to his will.  He also gets kudos for writing a Young Adult book that doesn’t feature angsty teens.  Characters here range from young to old, male to female, and nothing in the novel screams “adolescent.”  No matter how much you may know (or guess) what is coming, the book is still a surprise and open interpretations are welcome – even for the novel as a whole.  For instance, the story is circular … or is it???  Sedgwick doesn’t confine himself to traditional romance, either, as the love interests morph from the passionate to the parental.  He seems to say that love and his other themes are present in all of us, no matter how they evidence themselves.  Even the element of story is important – the idea that storytelling is an essential part of who we are – so essential that it is a key in what makes us human.  By all means, pick up this creepy, slightly disturbing book and enjoy.  Another big brava/bravo to the Printz committee.  Much like “Going Bovine” this one is a winner.