Sword and Verse

Gr 8 Up—As a small child, Raisa was taken from her family to be a slave in Qilara. There, unlike in her homeland, the arts of reading and writing are so restricted that only the king, the prince, his tutor, and the tutor-in-training are allowed to learn the higher forms of the written language. When they were separated, Raisa's father gave her a scrap of paper with some writing on it that he said was her "heart-verse," which she's never been able to read and must keep hidden. Raisa is relieved and elated to be chosen to be tutor-in-training. She may finally be able to read her heart-verse. As she studies with Mati, the prince, they become close and a romance develops. When the protagonist is conscripted to be part of an army of slaves from her homeland who are plotting to overthrow the monarchy, she has to choose between her growing feelings and her people. MacMillan has created a believable world, complete with its own mythology, which is quoted in epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter. But the story develops very slowly and the pacing doesn't pick up until halfway through. At that point, things race dramatically to the book's conclusion.