The Puppetmaster’s Apprentice

Gr 7 Up–In her debut novel, DeSelm offers a new take on “The Adventures of Pinocchio.” Pirouette works alongside her father, Gephardt, the puppetmaster of her village. While he makes fantastic creations in his workshop, she excites the market crowd with masterly crafted productions to make money for supplies. Father and daughter soon receive a large order from the ruler of the city, the fair-haired Margrave, for an army of lifelike wooden soldiers. Unbeknownst to Pirouette, Gephardt promises the royal that he can finish the project earlier than their deadline for a higher payout. Although working tirelessly, the family fails to make this new deadline and Margrave imprisons Gephardt. Can Pirouette save her father? DeSelm starts with a fast-paced prologue but the actual story begins too slowly. DeSelm follows in Marissa Meyer’s footsteps, changing the traditional fairy tale just enough with an interesting new premise. Pirouette is a fun character but her lack of self-confidence is disappointing. Flaws are sometimes necessary to make a character relatable, but Pirouette reacts to situations in ways that make the story feel choppy and contrived. The high points are DeSelm’s detailed descriptions of the masterpieces that Pirouette and the other artisans of the village create. Fight scenes and deaths are somewhat gruesome, but not gratuitous. It is more the bland background characters that will disinterest fans of adventurous romances. Pirouette and Gephardt have dark brown and gray hair respectively, though their race is never specified.