The Cabinet of Wonders (The Kronos Chronicles Series #1) by Marie Rutkoski

From the Publisher

Petra Kronos has a simple, happy life. But it’s never been ordinary. She has a pet tin spider named Astrophil who likes to hide in her snarled hair and give her advice. Her best friend can trap lightning inside a glass sphere. Petra also has a father in faraway Prague who is able to move metal with his mind. He has been commissioned by the prince of Bohemia to build the world’s finest astronomical clock. Petra’s life is forever changed when, one day, her father returns home – blind. The prince has stolen his eyes, enchanted them, and now wears them. But why? Petra doesn’t know, but she knows this: she will go to Prague, sneak into Salamander Castle, and steal her father’s eyes back. Joining forces with Neel, whose fingers extend into invisible ghosts that pick locks and pockets, Petra finds that many people in the castle are not what they seem, and that her father’s clock has powers capable of destroying their world. This startling debut novel, about the risks we take to protect those we love, brims with magic, political intrigue, and heroism.

Publishers Weekly

Add this heady mix of history and enchantment to the season's list of astonishingly accomplished first novels: in Rutkowski's multilayered version of late-16th-century Bohemia, magicians coexist with peasants and courtiers, a tribe of gypsies use specially endowed "ghost" fingers, and the fate of Europe hangs on the schemes of an evil prince. As the novel opens, a metalworker with extraordinary gifts has returned from Prince Rodolfo's palace in Prague, having finished his commission to build a magical clock-but the prince has gouged out his eyes, so that he can never duplicate the clock or, worse, better it. Even more disturbingly, the prince wears the eyes himself. Vowing to recover her father's eyes, 12-year-old Petra sneaks off to Prague, with little more than the company of Astrophil, an erudite tin spider who can communicate with her. Proving herself a worthy relative of, say, Philip Pullman's quick-thinking, fearless heroines, Petra navigates her way past sorceress countesses, English spy magicians, dangerous gypsies and through bewitched palace halls until Rodolfo, wearing the ill-gotten eyes, catches sight of her. Infusions of folklore (and Rutkowski's embellishments of them) don't slow the fast plot but more deeply entrance readers. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)

Krista Hutley - Booklist

Petra's father, Mikal Kronos, is an inventor who telepathically shapes metal into amazing inventions, including Astrophil, Petra's talking tin spider. Mikal is honored when the prince of Bohemia commissions him to build a clock that will stun the world with its beauty; but when he is finished, the prince has his eyes removed. Quick-witted, impulsive Petra is not the kind of girl to do nothing, so she sneaks away to Prague and infiltrates the castle to retrieve her father's eyes. She joins forces with two young Roma (gypsies), but her mission is complicated when she learns the prince has been wearing her father's eyes. Furthermore, the clock is more than it seems, and Petra must also stop its hidden power from being abused. Loosely inspired by facts and legends of historical Bohemia, Rutkoski's fantasy features quirky characters, imaginative world building, and a hint of trouble to come that will create demand for the next book in the planned Kronos Chronicles series.

Jennifer M. Brown - Shelf Awareness

What would you do if the Prince of Bohemia plucked out your father's eyes? Would you try to retrieve them? That is what 12-year-old Petra Kronos decides to do in this riveting tale of intrigue. The prince, after commissioning Mikal Kronos to create an astonishing astronomical clock in the center of Prague, takes out the craftsman's eyes, so that he can never create anything like it again. And that's just the first chapter. Debut author Rutkoski makes the fortress-like city of Prague itself into an imposing character, as Petra plots to penetrate the city and then the castle itself, to steal back her father's eyes from the prince. She starts her journey with Astrophil, the erudite, talking metal spider her father created, as her sole companion, and her only protection is her friend Tomik's ingenious glass balls (containing lightning, wasps, and water--"The idea is that when you break the glass, whatever is inside the ball will multiply a hundred times"). But while on her quest, she discovers that she has some talents of her own and attracts some unusual accomplices. A Roma named Neel at first tries to steal from Petra and winds up being indispensable to her. The prince's dyemaker, Iris (to whom Petra is apprenticed)--who is literally so acidic that she must surround herself with adamantine ("the strongest metal on earth") lest she melt a doorknob or chair--strives to create a new primary color in time to dress the prince in it for his 19th birthday and takes a shine to Petra. But what of Master John Dee, the ambassador from England who seems to have some strange hold over Petra? Or Jarek, who can talk to the animals? Are they friends or foes? While wearing her father's eyes, PrinceRudolfo finds Petra in a giant crowd of spectators: "Whenever he wore them, his judgment of what was fine and beautiful was as accurate as a perfectly shot arrow." Does beauty lie in the eyes of the beholder? Or must one possess a soul to see rightly? Rutkoski poses searching questions about perception and judgment, and plants plenty of seeds for future installments, but this first novel of adventure, loyalty and familial love (not to mention magic) wraps up quite satisfyingly.

Alan Review

A romping fantasy that follows 12-year-old Petra Kronos on a quest to find and take her father's stolen eyeballs, this book was a joy to read. Rutkoski has delivered a fantasy heroine to join the ranks of Harry and Percy Jackson. When Petra's father returns home from Prague minus his eyeballs, Petra leaves home with only her pet tin spider, Astrophil, and her father's secret journal. Petra discovers she has magic powers, along with meeting many new friends, all while working in the palace for the evil Prince Rodolfo. Will Petra make it home with her father's eyes? Or will the prince discover her plan to save the world by destroying his precious clock? This book is a real page-turner, and Petra is so lovable, you are rooting for her all the way. A fantasy book, set in historical Bohemia, The Cabinet is a very interesting and enjoyable read. Sixth-graders and up will love this story, and parents will love the excellent vocabulary. Reviewer: Stephanie Stidham

Children's Literature

Written as Book 1 of "The Kronos Chronicles" series, this is an unusual and fun book to read. Set in Bohemia in the 14th century, the story is a delightful mix of magic and ethnicity. Twelve-year-old Petra leaves her small village for Prague. She is trying to return her father's eyes, which were stolen by Prince Rodolfo. At times, she is aided by a metal spider, by magic, by a Romani boy and his sister, by a sorceress who oozes acid from her skin and by an English magician. Full of excitement, it is a fascinating story. However, I found the mixture of fact and fiction very confusing. The author is meticulous about geographic details in a very real Prague, but she makes up names for the statues on the Charles Bridge (Karlov most). I also feel the author depicts the Romani people (also known as gypsies) in a bad light. She gives the Romani characters some depth, but the reader's first encounter with them is a pickpocket who continues to be dishonest throughout the story. This tends to reinforce the stereotypes of these people. Reviewer: Sue Poduska

School Library Journal

Gr 5 Up

Set in 16th-century Bohemia, Petra's father, who was commissioned to build a clock for Prince Rodolfo, returns home blind. The prince gouged out his eyes so that the metalworker would never be able to create a more beautiful clock. Determined to retrieve her inventor father's eyes, the 12-year-old girl travels to Prague with Astrophil, a tin spider created by her father, to locate them. Marie Rutkoski's fantasy (Farrar Straus, 2008) is narrated by Lorelei King who gives distinct and appropriate voices to all the characters. However, while the text states that the people in Prague sound quite different, this is not reflected in the reading. Also, King sometimes replaces "want to" and "going to" with "wanna" and "gonna." Although Rutkowski takes some pains to introduce Roma (Gypsy) culture to readers, it is shocking that she perpetuates the negative stereotype of Gypsies as a culture of liars and thieves, an image Carla Stevens decried in a 1974 article, "The Image of Gypsies in Children's Literature" (Interracial Books for Children, Vol. 5), and the kind of negative stereotype that would not be acceptable about any other minority group today. Although the story is exciting and involving, this audiobook cannot be recommended for that reason.-Louise L. Sherman, formerly at Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ

Kirkus Reviews

A refreshingly different fantasy premise falls to pedestrian plotting. Twelve-year-old Petra admires her father's magical talent for mechanical invention, but when he is blinded after crafting a clock for the Prince of Bohemia, she is as outraged by his resigned acceptance as by his mutilation. She runs off to Prague to steal back her father's eyes, now bespelled for the Prince to wear. Assisted by the erudite tin spider Astrophil and the Gypsy boy Neel, Petra braves both the wonders and injustices of palace life to learn that the marvelous clock threatens the stability of all Europe. The fantastical alternative-Renaissance setting provides imaginative charm, and intrepid Petra is a resourceful, if self-centered, heroine. Alas, her quest plods along without suspense, relying on random encounters and convenient revelations. Despite occasional intriguing glimpses of magic in action, there is no sense of a coherent system. The tone veers irritatingly from fairy-tale adventure to unpleasant grimness to arch narrative asides, and erratic shifts in point of view add to the confusion. Disappointing. (Fantasy. 10-14)

Product Details

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Prologue

The yellow hills rose and fell in sunny tops and valleys. The Bohemian countryside on this August morning looked almost like a golden ocean with huge, swelling waves.

A rickety cart was wending its way through a valley. Two men were perched atop the riding seat, watching the sturdy horse as it pulled them along. There was a bundle wrapped in cloth that took up most of the space in the open cart bed behind the men.

One of them, Jarek, held the reins. He coughed. “I should be paid extra for this,” he said. “What a stench.”

“What do you mean?” said Martin, Jarek’s companion. He turned around to look at the bundle.

Jarek saw him do it. “No, not that. Those blasted brassica flowers. They stink fouler than a five-hundred-year-old outhouse.”

“Oh, that,” Martin replied. “They smell sweet to me.”

The yellowness of the hills was caused by thousands of flowers, clustered and thick.

Jarek gagged. “I wouldn’t like to be one of you hill people, working the flower fields. My clothes are going to smell rotten by the time we get back to Prague.”

Too lazy to get offended, Martin leaned back in the cracked leather seat. “Many folks enjoy the smell of brassica. It’s just one of those things you love or hate. Like eating asparagus.”

“Raised with the stink as you were, I’m sure you’re used to it.”

“And remember”—Martin wagged a finger at him, pretending he had not heard Jarek’s last comment—“Bohemia needs those flowers. Betit’ll be a good harvest this year. Soon the farmers will be out in the fields to collect the seeds and press them into oil. You can grumble like a goat about the scent, but that brassica’s used for all sorts of things.”

The horse took a turn in the dirt road and one of the cart wheels dipped into a large hole, jolting the cart.

The bundle in the back groaned.

“Here now!” Martin craned his neck to scowl at the dark shape. “None of that! You’ll give us a bit of quiet.” He made an impatient sound at the back of his throat. He took off his hat and fanned the sweat on his face. “It’s very hot,” he said, and sighed.

“Yeah,” Jarek drawled, staring ahead.

“Good money, though, this trip.”

“Hmm.” Jarek flapped the reins. “We’re almost there, anyway. Should take us about half an hour.”

“What, have you been here before? I thought you never left Prague. How do you know this area?”

“I don’t.” Jarek shifted in the seat. “But the horse does.”

Martin gave him an odd look. “And she told you how long we’ve got left, did she?”

Jarek laughed, possibly for the first time during the whole trip. “Nah, course not! I was only joking.”

But it seemed like a strange sort of joke.

“Do you know what he did?” Jarek said, jerking his chin toward the bundle, whose breathing had gotten louder and ragged.

Martin was still looking at Jarek suspiciously. “No. Didn’t ask, and that’s the honest truth.”

Jarek nodded. “It’s best that way.”

“The order,” Martin said, “came from the prince himself.”

This was news to Jarek. Learning this detail made him realize that he had been in a dark mood for the past several hours. Realizing this was like suddenly getting a cramp after sitting too long in one position. And, as a matter of fact, Jarek then thought, he did have a cramp in his lower back.

“You didn’t tell me the orders came directly from the prince,” he said.

“You didn’t ask.”

Which was true. Jarek did not ask any questions when Martin, who also took care of the prince’s horses, proposed they make a delivery to the village of Okno (with some of the profit going to Jarek, of course). And Jarek did not ask any questions when two castle menservants met him and Martin in the stables, carrying a man who seemed barely conscious, and whose face was wrapped in a bloody bandage.

“Ah, there we are,” Martin said, pointing his hand at a nest of buildings. The houses and shops began to distinguish themselves, and the dirt path became the main cobblestone road that ran straight through Okno.

The village looked prosperous. There were several stone houses. The wooden ones were in solid condition, often with pretty patterns of different-colored strips of wood decorating the window frames, many of which had real glass set into them. Shop signs advertised goods: leather tack for horses, books, carpentry, glassworks, and cloth. Women walked by in full, unstained skirts. Even a passing stray dog seemed rather fat for an independent creature. The road turned into a small square whose center was marked by a fountain that was well designed, its water bubbling over three tiers of stone.

Martin dug a parchment out of his jerkin pocket and consulted it. “Turn left here.”

 “It doesn’t make any sense,” Jarek mused.

“I am the one with the map, and you should turn left.”

“No, I mean this”—he tilted his head toward the back of the cart—“doesn’t make any sense. What could he have done to deserve that kind of punishment, and get sent home instead of being clapped into the nearest jail cell?”

“Dunno.” Martin waved his hand airily, chasing away a fly. “Maybe he killed someone.”

“Then he would be in prison or executed or both.”

“Maybe he killed the prince’s favorite dog.”

“Then he would be in prison or executed or both.”

Martin laughed.

“All I’m saying is this,” Jarek continued, “if you want to get rid of a weed, you don’t just clip some of its stems and call it a day.” The road they turned down had fewer houses. Ribbons of wind passed between the buildings and through the men’s sweaty hair. “The weed’ll grow back. There’s always the chance for revenge.”

“Him?” Martin laughed again. “Oh, I’m glad I picked you to drive. You’re a funny sort, you are. Weed or no, this fellow’s in no shape for action. Hold on now—” Martin looked at the map again and glanced at a tall, skinny stone house set far apart from the others. As they drew closer, they saw that the ground floor was a shop, its windows crowded with bizarre metal objects, clocks, and tin toys bouncing like grasshoppers. Jarek could not read the words painted over the door, but a sign hanging from the corner of the house showed a many-pointed compass. “Stop here,” Martin said. “This is it.”

Jarek pulled on the reins. His hands settled in his lap, but they still gripped the leather straps. “He may have sons. Angry ones.”

Martin thumped Jarek on the shoulder. “No fear, my friend,” he said, and pointed toward the door, which had opened. In the doorway stood a girl, tall for her age, which was twelve. Underneath a long tangle of brown hair her face was wary. She was dressed in a nightgown, but stood defiantly, as if to say that she knew that wasn’t normal but didn’t care. She stared straight at them. Her eyes were narrowed—but perhaps, Jarek thought, this was because of the sun and not because she already hated them.

Martin leaned to whisper in Jarek’s ear. “As I said, don’t worry. He’s only got her.”

It seemed to Jarek that his backache had gotten worse.

The mare sighed. Then she spoke silently in his mind the way she did with no other human, for she knew none who had Jarek’s gift to understand her. If you were a horse, she told him, you would be used to bearing such unpleasant burdens.

Excerpted from THE CABINET OF WONDERS by Marie Rutkoski.
Copyright © 2008 by Marie Rutkoski.
Published in 2008 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
All rights reserved. This work is protected under copyright laws and reproduction is strictly prohibited. Permission to reproduce the material in any manner or medium must be secured from the Publisher.