Learning about the threat that will destroy the world in which she lives, fourteen-year-old Merle, an orphan girl protected by the Flowing Queen and apprenticed by a magic mirror maker, heads off on a perilous journey to use her magic to put a stop to all those involved in this fantastical tale set in Venice, Italy. Kai Meyer's engaging fantasy portrays Venice as a city alive with wonder--stone lions pad with heavy paws on the canal banks and sometimes fly (as steeds for the Venetian Guard); the canals are full of mermaids with wide shark jaws, and the island city has been under siege by Egypt for 36 years. Only the power of The Flowing Queen, the mysterious spirit of the waters, has kept the city safe. But now the essence of the Queen has been stolen by traitors within the government, and the powers of Hell are offering a blood treaty. Two orphan girls, Merle, 14, and blind Junipa, 13, have become apprentices at the workshop of Arcimboldo, the maker of magic mirrors. He treats them kindly and restores gentle Junipa's sight by replacing her eyes with two round silvery bits of mirror. Merle soon emerges as the more adventurous of the two, and experienced fantasy readers are not surprised when she is given a quest to save the doomed city. American readers of this German bestseller will be reminded of Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord , by the intriguing mix of actual Venetian locations and a fantasy underworld, and also Neil Gaiman's Coraline , by the matter-of-fact acceptance of grotesqueries. In this unusually short (for fantasy) initial volume, Kai Meyer has planted enough backstory, hints, foreshadowings, and unanswered questions to fuel several sequels. (12 and up) --Patty Campbell Starred Review. Grade 5-8–This inventive and original fantasy is set among the canals of a fantastical medieval Venice and grounded by powerful imagery of light and shadow, stone and water. Two orphans are apprenticed to a magical mirror maker. Junipa, 13, is blind, but is given her sight in a magical but dangerous process. Merle, 14, is impulsive, courageous, and already the owner of a magic mirror. She finds herself at the center of the struggle for the survival of Venice in the face of the invading Egyptian army that is besieging it. The city has been kept safe thus far by the Flowing Queen, but now her spirit has been trapped in a glass vial. When Merle comes into possession of this vial, she is commanded by the Flowing Queen to drink the water in it, thus imbibing her spirit and voice. She then has to free Vermithrax, a flying lion of living stone long held prisoner by the Venetian authorities, as the first step in the process of ensuring the safety of the city. A powerful mix of political intrigue, adventure, and magic, the novel is peopled with believable and likable human characters along with mermaids, both feared and enslaved by humans; lions of living stone; and a fearsome and horrifying representative of the Kingdom of Hell. The Water Mirror is a standout in this year's crowded field of fantasy novels, and will have readers clamoring for the next entry in the series. –Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Gr. 4-7. This darkly atmospheric fantasy import is set in a nearly ruined, alternate Venice, which faces either conquest by one ruthless empire or an unholy alliance with another. When 14-year-old Merle, an orphaned mirror-maker's apprentice, witnesses treachery by the city's counselors, she is forced on a quest guided by the deity-like essence of the Venetian lagoon. Crawford ably translates from the German, and readers will shiver over descriptions of mermaids ("Anyone who thought there was a worse bite than that of a shark had never looked into the jaws of a mermaid"); living stone lions; and the fearsome political powers, one of which is Hell itself, that vie for Venice's control. But the rushed characterizations and plot have the feel of a curiously elaborate preamble, which may give way to more substantive explorations in subsequent entries in the Dark Reflections series. This will draw readers eager to revisit a setting that has gained considerable allure through titles such as Cornelia Funke's The Thief Lord (2002) and Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza series. Jennifer Mattson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Kai Meyer is the author of many highly acclaimed and popular books for adults and young adults in his native Germany. Pirate Curse, the first book in the Wave Walkers trilogy, was praised by Booklist as "a fast-paced fantasy featuring plenty of action and suspense." The Water Mirror, the first book in the Dark Reflections Trilogy, was named a School Library Journal Best Book, a Locus Magazine Recommended Read, a Book Sense Children's Pick, and a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. It received starred reviews in both School Library Jour