The Scarlet Rose: I Knew I'd Meet You

Gr 7 Up—Maud is the teenage daughter of a village smith in France in a time of horse-drawn carriages, powdered wigs, and elaborate corsetry. Her indulgent father has trained her to fight with a sword and praises her independence and skill. When he is murdered, Maud vows to avenge his death and protect the travel diary that the killer was apparently seeking. She goes to live with her grandfather, the Count de Laroche, who is determined to make her into a "proper lady" and marry her off, but she is more interested in swordplay and strategy than embroidery and etiquette. She admires the efforts of The Fox, a masked stranger who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, and falls in love with him at first sight. In secret, Maud becomes The Scarlet Rose and begins her own Robin Hood—type campaign. The characters are drawn with the big eyes and wide-mouthed smiles (or grimaces) typical of some shoujo manga. Well-done adventure sequences are full of motion and shifting perspectives, and color effectively sets the tone. However, the characters are one-dimensional, and the story falters. Maud fluctuates between independent or swoony; her grandfather is either cruel or kind. Readers will guess the true identity of The Fox before it is revealed but may be confounded by an undeveloped plotline that refers to the Knights Templar and "the Ottoman people." These loose threads suggest further volumes may be planned.