Cold Tom

Publishers Weekly, June 16, 2003 [STARRED]
British author Prue makes a noteworthy debut with this highly polished novel about a boy rejected from his elfin "Tribe." Even beautiful Sia, who "calved" him, and skilled hunter Larn, his "sire," mock Tom for his seemingly feeble senses and his carelessness. Convinced that their son has "demon" (human) characteristics that threaten the tribe, Sia and Larn decide to kill him. But Tom runs away and ends up in the city of the demons, which "smell[s] like death." Tom stumbles into a hut, where he meets a gentle girl named Anna who is hiding from her bullying half-brother. Tom begins to see, as a literal tangle of vines, the bonds that tie together these demons, whom he finds both cruel and inextricably linked to each other. Although he has the ability to temporarily stave off trouble by "calling on the stars" and becoming invisible, Tom eventually realizes he is at the mercy of the imperfect demons, especially Anna, if he hopes to save his life, but he must compromise freedom for his connection to her. Prue gracefully layers her writing, weaving in references to the ballad of Tam Lin. The lyricism of her prose, combined with the startlingly raw and sympathetic views of human behavior, makes her novel both original and gripping. Ages 10-up. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
The Hom Book July/August 2003 (starred)
Building on the oft-retold ballad of Tam Lin, which tells of a young man rescued from the fairies by his courageous lady-love Janet, Frue spins a related tale set in contemporary times. Though a member of the elfin 'Tribe," Tom is in danger: because he's showing signs of his part-human heritage, his father is stalking him with intent to kill. The 'sour-souled" Tribe is figuratively, as well as literally, cold-blooded. They kill wild creatures and devour them raw; though splendidly beautiful, they are governed by hate. Desperate, and possessed by the Tribe's fear of 'demons' (humans) and the mortal ties he believes bind them like entwining vines, Tom reluctantly find himself under the protection of a human child, Anna, and her angry half-brother foe. Tom feels the call of Anna's affection from the beginning, yet it is entirely against his nature to respond to it. Meanwhile, the bitterly resentful Joe-feeling aban- doned by his parents and dedicated to tormenting Anna-is drawn in by Tom's intriguing ability to call on the stars for invisibility and is soon also caught up in the strange boy's plight. This first novel won Britain's Smarties.Prize last year, with good reason. Torn's abhorrence of the clumsy humans and their incomprehensible feelings is chillingly well realized, from his hypersensitive disgust at their odors to his craving for Anna's pet hamster. As expected, Anna ultimately rescues Tom from the fairies' thrall; but how this can possibly happen remains in doubt until a satisfying, neatly crafted conclusion that both recalls the old ballad and illuminates the healing power of love. Swift-moving and easily read, this book's a keeper. J.R.L.

Kirkus Reviews June 15th, 2003
Prue debuts with a bleakly lyrical elfin bildungsroman. Supernaturally quick and sensitive, Tom is still too slow, dull, and ugly to fit in with the Tribe, who dispassionately condemns him to death. But he flees to the city of the human "demons," calling on the Stars to hide him from their heat, their heaviness, and above all from their foully perverse bonds of affection. When his refuge is discovered by the human Anna, Tom is horrified that her grossness does not save him from being ensnared by emotional ties-nor from her attempts to save his life. Prue effectively contrasts the fierce beauty and ferocious integrity of the Tribe with the contradictory warmth and pain of human relationships. He's an acute observer, and both the angry tension and hesitant tenderness in Anna's fractured family is subtly and poignantly po