SPOIL-FREE SUMMARY
While on a school trip, twelve year old, George Chapman breaks a statue and suddenly becomes aware of statues that can move and talk. And hurt him. Suddenly he is dragged into another side of London he has never seen with a statue called “Gunner” to guide him. And a young girl named Edie with secrets of her own.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
George is a loner without any friends. He doesn't seem to have any goals other than staying out of trouble. And when he discovers the truth about the statues, he rightly freaks out. My main draw to him was sympathy at first. We learn about his father and eventually his neglected relationship with his mother.
Gunner is a statue of a soldier. He ends up being George's guide and protector. He isn't delicate in his manner and doesn't do much to calm George at first. But it becomes obvious he cares for the boy.
Edie is a mysterious and stubborn girl. She is rather bold and a little rough around the edges which causes friction between her and pretty much everyone. Eventually we learn the truth about her abilities and her circumstances. But I felt sympathy before that because of her obvious desire for truth and her being accused of being bad luck.
The Walker seems to be the villain in the book. He is introduced in small portions, getting his own chapters but not revealing much about who he actually is until the end.
The Black Friar provides knowledge about the mysterious “stoneheart” that the sphinxes tell George about. But he also seems overly eager to know about the whereabouts of George's part of the broken statue.
PACING
The pacing is fast throughout most of the book. There are small portions of rest, such as the beginning, the rest period when George goes home, and the rest period for George and Edie. But in between is mostly action.
And all of these rest periods are where we learn important information. The beginning is an introduction to who George is; When George returns home we learn about his relationship with his mother; When George and Edie recover from being wet, they learn important information about the Stone Heart.
Although there are scenes with action that multi-task, such as when George and Edie are running and she confronts him about his abandoning her.
SUSPENSE
There are various cliffhanger endings for chapters. As well as cliffhanger endings for paragraphs. We witness the death. We see someone being sneaked up on and taken away. And Edie even reveals a surprising truth to a George who thinks he is safe at home. This suspense helps keep the pace fast too.
FAMILY TIES-SPOILERS
George's parents have split up and he never gets to see his dad. All the while his mom is busy with her new career as an actress. We see that he spends a lot of time alone, while the neighbor lady checks in on him sometimes. This is his routine, and its obvious he feels like no one cares. But he doesn't want to talk about it. He admits everyone asks how he is but he refuses to talk.
POV SWITCHES
After Edie is introduced, George and her separate. We see parts of the story from her perspective, but when she and George stay together, the perspective becomes omniscient. We are in George's head, but we suddenly switch to Edie's.
I didn't necessarily mind it. Sometimes it helped us get to know the characters better. Sometimes it didn't.
Also, there are secrets involving both George and Edie. So it was interesting that we still got to go in their heads, and yet not learn too much about them.
THE MARK OF THE MAKER
After being attacked by a monster, George discovers a mark on his hand. He doesn't understand what I means. Eventually we learn it's the mark of the “maker” but not much is clarified. But it somehow makes George special.
THE WORLD
George learns about different types of living statues, some are called “spits” like the Gunner, and others are called “taints”. As well as how they can die, and how the maker's intention create their personalities. So the Gunner has all the memories of one that fought in WWI.
The creatures that populate this world are unique, scary and some are even creepy. Some are helpful, even saving the main characters' lives. While others are helpful but suspicious. My only complain was feeling like I knew too litle (especially about the walker, who we just get little snippets of for a long time). I mean we do learn new things throughout the book, but I was dying to know more. But perhaps since this a series, I can forgive it for that.
EDIE & GEORGE
The two main characters compliment each other as they both have been hurt greatly in the past. But neither want to reveal this for fear of showing their weakness.
The two of them are at odds for at least half of the book. It doesn't help that Edie is naturally defensive and aggressive. And when George learns what Edie is, and the reputation of what she is, it doesn't help.
They eventually learn to respect each other, even opening up about their lives. George starts to understand why she acts so angry, and what it is hiding.
THE HEART OF EDIE
Edie ends up lending an important item of hers to George. But when he loses it, she is furious. Her reaction seems overblown to George. Until Gunner explains that is a part of Edie because of her gifts.
I understood then, but I felt like Edie should have explained it to him. Or maybe she didn't know? But if not, then why was her reaction so strong? I wish she would have realized how dumb it had been to give to George. Instead of just getting mad at him.
NOT A VICTIM
George is portrayed rather sympathetic from the start. He just wants to avoid trouble; He misses his dad but wont talk about it. And when he gets in trouble on a school trip he feels so overwhelmed that he almost cries. This kind of reaction could be annoying if it happened all throughout the book (we get one other reference to him crying).
And although George does wrestle with the idea of fighting or running away all the way up to the climax, the book doesn't paint the whole world against him. Yes, his teacher was a jerk. And his relationship with his mom is neglected. But his lack of sharing his feelings about his dad and his mom are his own fault. And what happened to his dad was not an evil scheme against him. It just happened.
Because of this George is likable. And he feels real. He has flaws, some that he won't admit. He blames himself for things that are not his fault. He is too afraid to confide in his mom. He fears getting hurt more than anything so he doesn't even try to make friends.
He isn't a generic hero who never really seems to have flaws, who doesn't make mistakes and who doesn't get scared (there a surprising amount of these).
THE WAR
I was confused about how George breaking a statue at the begininning of the book was so bad. We finally learn from someone called the “Clocker” that there has been a tentative peace between the spits and the taints and his breaking a statue just destroyed it. I wondered if any other statues had ever been destroyed though. Had any other person ever gotten involved. But this issue isn't addressed.
EDIE'S VISIONS-SPOILERS
Edie has the ability to see the past. Because of this she is distrustful and we do eventually learn just how this ability affected her greatly in the past. She can also sense moods of places, as she recalls one area of the city is full of death.
Also, she sees a vision of the Walker's past. But I didn't really feel like I learned anything earth shattering from her. And sometimes I was more confused what her visions had to do with anything, instead of intrigued.
USE OF HUMOR
Although the book is mostly serious, there are various uses of humor throughout. Edie tends to be sassy and she made me smile on more than on occasion. The kids meet a statue that is called Dictionary Johnson and is so wordy that he is hard to understand. The Gunner is blunt and often jokes.
CLIMAX
Edie and George face a Minotaur and meet the Walker for the first time. George uses his unique skill to defeat the minotaur, but he doesn't do it alone. And then he has to make an important decision for the future.
EDIE'S REACTION-SPOILERS
When George is ready to return the stoneheart, he learns some hard truths about what will happen. He feels bad for Edie, as he remembers she will still be here in this mess. Still seeing spits and taints. And he will be free to return to his regular life. In fact he has no chance to ever see her again.
There is a running strain of Edie hating the pity that George has on her. You can tell she is closed off and and starts to respect and like George even though she doesn't want to. She reacts to his debating about whether or not to even return to stoneheart by hitting him. I suppose this wasn't par from the course, but I was kind of annoyed with her.
She had been angry and violent for a while, and I thought it was time that she reacted differently. Perhaps the author thought that would have been too big of a change. But I kind of wish she had revealed her being upset and surprised, rather than just angry. Maybe confused, that someone she had known for two days was unwilling to leave her behind.
CONCLUSION
Fletcher creates an original story with likable characters with secrets and layers of feelings that we learn about the more we read. George and Edie's relationship grow from dislike, to respect, to friendship. But it's not an easy ride. The story is fast paced while the world is detailed and full of mysteries. I give “Stoneheart” four stars.
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