Amazon.com "The Volkking struggled， but his sickness attacked him both day and night， a war band giving the enemy no respite of sleep." With the first sentence of Elske readers are tumbled into a vivid medieval world whose rich， elegant detail only continues to entrance. Newbery Award winner Cynthia Voigt (Dicey's Song) brings her Kingdom series to a superb conclusion with this fourth and final story. At age 12， living as a captive in her Viking-styled Volkaric homeland， Elske has been appointed to die. Her grandmother plots to take her place secretly， so that Elske can escape to the merchant society of Traskad. Once there， she becomes a servant to the imperious young noblewoman Beriel--who insists on being the rightful heir to the throne of The Kingdom. Elske finds that while Beriel is stubborn and headstrong， the exiled young queen matches Elske's own honesty and gutsiness， and they soon become allies in the perilous battle to regain the crown. Like the other three books in the series--Jackaroo， On Fortune's Wheel， and The Wings of a Falcon--this story is linked to the others only loosely and can easily stand alone. But young readers who have once experienced Voigt's beautifully drawn characters， lush settings， and riveting plots will certainly want to seek out the rest of the epic tale. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell From Publishers Weekly The fourth and final title in Voigt's Kingdom cycle (begun with Jackaroo) is thrilling， from its dramatic opener to its stunning climax. Newcomers to the Kingdom books can read it with as much pleasure as fans of the entire series (and without ruining for themselves the surprises of those previous works). Set in an imaginary continent that resembles medieval Europe， the story begins in the brutal realm of the Wolfers， a ruthless people among whom 12-year-old Elske has been raised and， horrifyingly， chosen for a sacrificial death. How Elske escapes this fate is the first of many ingeniously plotted turns， reversals that depend on the heroine's intelligence and determination rather than coincidence or authorial sleight-of-hand. There is much to marvel at. Voigt demonstrates a remarkable breadth of imagination in dreaming up the customs of the various lands Elske moves through; e.g.， a Scandinavian-type city builds a thriving economy by hosting biannual "courting winters" for young marriageable， wealthy foreigners. The cast also includes a princess wrongfully deprived of a throne (and willing to go to war to claim it) and a man worthy of Elske but chosen for one of the princess's sisters. The characterizations are as sharp and uncompromising as Voigt's readers have come to expect， and the narration never tips the author's hand. This spellbinding work continually challenges readers to keep up with its far-seeing， swift-thinking protagonist. Ages 12-up. (Oct.) FYI: The Vermeer masterpiece that appears on the jacket， Head of a Girl (a painting that also appears this season on the cover of the adult novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier)， links Elske with the simultaneously reissued paperback of another novel in the Kingdom cycle， On Fortune's Wheel (S&S/ Aladdin， $5.50 -82957-4)， the jacket of which features Vermeer's Woman Reading a Letter. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews