THE RIDDLES OF EPSILON BY CHRISTINE MORTEN-SHAW.
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Book blog
day boo yah. As you should know Tuesdays is book blog day were we
talk anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's
blog is on THE RIDDLES OF EPSILON
The
Riddles of Epsilon focuses on the character of Jessica (‘Jess’),
who moves with her mother and father to the fictional island of Lume,
far from the mainland (Scotland), after being expelled from school.
While speaking to her friend Avril in an internet chatroom, Jess
encounters the mysterious character of ‘V,’ Who was a ghost who
begins to warn her of an impending danger, relating to Lume’s
distant past. Later she dreams of a boy named Sebastian, who she
realizes lived in this same house nearly one hundred years
previously. As the story progresses, events in Jess’s life begin to
parallel those of Sebastian’s, particularly the fact that both the
children’s mothers seem to be acting incredibly strangely. Much of
the exposition in the novel is handled by way of riddles and clues,
which take the form of puzzles and images, through which Jess
discovers, with the help of ‘V,’ the truth about the strange
events taking place on Lume.
Jess,
having recently moving house to the Island of Lume after being
expelled from school, is talking with her friend Avril in an internet
chatroom, when someone called V also appears in the chatroom, who
kicks Avril out of the chatroom. He talks about her being on Lume,
despite her not mentioning the name to Avril. Later, exploring the
island, Jess discovers a small cottage in the forest near the "Big
House", where she now lives. On the black obsidian doorstep are
carved symbols and the words "WHERE _ _ SILON DWELLS". She
goes into the cottage, where she thinks she sees a tall shadowy dark
man standing by a rocking chair, but when she blinks, he is only an
old coat with the sleeve resting on the chair. She attempts to
explore the house, but then sees the rocking chair moving by itself.
Terrified, she rushes out into the garden, where she discovers an
arrow carved on the garden wall, pointing into the ground. She digs
down at the place specified and discovers an old bucket, with a
symbol like "half a feather, on its side" and the word
"EPSILON" carved on its base. In the chat room that evening
telling Avril about it, the mysterious V appears and tells her to put
the bucket on her windowsill. Later investigating, Jess finds that
she can find no trace of "V" in the chatroom history or on
the print-outs of her conversations with Avril.
As
V told her, she puts the bucket in her window and finds that somehow
37 symbols are projected on the walls of her room, despite there
being nothing on the bucket for them to reflect off. She copies them
down, and upon entering the chatroom, is told by V to use the symbols
on the black doorstep at the cottage to translate them. She questions
him as to how he knew the black doorstep was there, but he logs out
of the chatroom. She uses the English words on the doorstep to
translate the symbols from the bucket when her parents are out which
turns out to be the verse,
"With
a mirrored dream A followed sound Thus let it begin."
Before
she can puzzle this out any further, her parents return from their
walk, having found a "whole belemnite, whatever that is".
Later that night she has a dream about a boy, sleeping in her attic
bed, who wakes in the middle of the night and scribbles on a piece of
paper before rushing outside, drinking from a water pump and then
following the sound of a flute down towards the cottage. Jess wakes
up herself, writes about her dream in her diary, before realising she
too can still hear the flute music, which she follows down to the
cottage. She walks in the door, and the flute music stops, the flute
itself falling to the ground, as if whoever had been playing it had
literally just dropped it. She picks it up, and finds it dusty and
ancient, with Epsilon's symbol carved on it. She tries to blow it,
and blows out a piece of paper stuck inside it. The paper is a sketch
of her, sitting in her attic bed, reaching out for her globe lamp,
and also a diary page written by a boy called Sebastian Wren.
The
diary page is apparently what she saw Sebastian writing in her dream
before he went down the cottage, and in it he talks about just having
a dream himself about a girl who follows a flute down to the cottage
(Jess). He talks about her nose ring being a sign of the 'Borus,
which Jess does not understand, and also that Epsilon has told him to
write the diary. He signs it, using the words "as Agapetos is my
witness", and the date, 1894. Jess is bewildered, but realises
the words a "followed sound" mean the flute music, and the
"mirrored dream" is what she and Sebastian have just
experienced: "I drew him, just as he looked when he woke after
dreaming of me. He drew me, just as I looked when I woke from a dream
about him." But she doesn't know what will now begin.
The
next day Jess falls ill, and her Mum, concerned, gives her the
belemnite she found, which Jess does not appreciate - ")Oh wow.
A baby stone carrot. Why can't she give me a CD like other mums?)"
The doctor, Dr. Parker, also comes to check her over, and tells her
that it is probably just running about in the heatwave, and that even
in the early mornings when she goes out she must be careful. She
spills out all her woes to Dr. Parker, but feels protective when he
picks up the bucket off her windowsill, and feels like something is
flowing out of it. He invites her to his garden party, the Greet,
next week, and leaves, but when Jess checks the bottom of the bucket
again, the base is bare - Epsilon's name and symbol have gone.
In
the chatroom, Jess works out that V is actually Epsilon, as he gives
her the riddle "V is a letter that is not a letter". The
letter V actually corresponds to the Roman numeral 5, E is the fifth
letter of the alphabet, and in Greek the letter "E" is
called "Epsilon". Epsilon tells her that her mother is in
danger, and that she shouldn't trust Dr. Parker. He also tells her
that someone evil is watching her, whom he calls the "Eye of
Miradel". Jess becomes exasperated with him and leaves the chat
room. She later goes down to the cottage, where she spots the tall,
dark man again. She opens one of the drawers in the desk, to find 3
boxes, only the first of which she can open. In it she finds another
diary page from Sebastian. He has discussed the girl he saw in his
dream (Jess) with Epsilon, and the whole village is getting ready for
the Greet. His mother is behaving strangely, collecting hundreds of
shells from the beach, which she has dumped in his father's
hollyhocks, which has made him angry; Epsilon has warned Sebastian to
look after her. He also writes down the "Ballad of Yolandë",
which he has heard the carver of the may pole (or the Coscoroba),
Jerry Cork, singing. Epsilon also warns him that this ballad is not
all it seems and gives him the clue "V then V then V then V",
which Sebastian does not understand. He has also heard his mother
singing this ballad in the middle of the night, which worries him.
Jess
reads the ballad and cannot understand what Epsilon means about it,
as it seems perfectly innocuous. But then, in another chat Jess has
had with Epsilon, when Epsilon said goodbye, E, "Or should I say
V." At this she realized there were 5 V's, not four, and this is
what she finds out from "The Ballad of Yolande" (every five
words):
"I
awake in the time of dark choices
I stir in my wrath For the treasures of the deep Are hidden from my eyes. The workers of my enemy are busy. I will call my faithful out From east, west, north and south. I sip weakness like nectar - Crush honesty to dust. My bone hands bring lies and death. I must possess! My black heart sows ruin; To ruin is my delight. Mark my chanting, travellers -- Flee from my song of beauty!"
She
was appalled at this, and went on the greatest, biggest adventure of
her life, to save her mother, and herself, and destroy the evil
beings.
- The
Riddles of Epsilon Wiki
The
Riddles of Epsilon was published in 2005 by Katherine Teen Books and
received many positive reviews. I like this book for the mystery
aspect and the whole creative clue hunt the main character jess goes
on and the basic history line weaved in about her family and the
community on the island they've moved to. My favourite character is
jess. I felt I could really get behind her especially since we see
the book through her eyes. I reckon the book could do well as both a
movie or a TV show giving the right casting and production teams. I
highly recommend this book for teenagers and up and I give the book a
9/10 rating.
Christine
Morten-Shaw grew up in Blackburn, England where she reportedly had
many supernatural and spooky experiences. Morten-Shaw moved to
Sheffield and attended Sheffield Hallam University gaining a Masters
Degree (MA) in Creative Writing. I appreciate Her style of writing
and I hope she writes a whole lot more in the future.
Website
bibliography:
And there
you have it a book for all the ages, definitely under the banner of
AWESOME!!!. So we'll be leaving this here for today please leave a
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THE BANDERSNATCH, I'M MAMA OGRE AND REMEMBER STAY WEIRD, STAY WACKY,
STAY WONDEROUS AND I'LL SEE YOU SOON...
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