Count Karlstein

Can you hear the distant howling of hounds and the thunder of ghostly hooves? It's All Souls' Eve and Zamiel the Demon Huntsman has come to claim his prey! He's headed straight for Castle Karlstein, where the evil count has hatched an evil plan; he'll sacrifice his two young nieces to save himself. Can Lucy and Charlotte outwit their uncle and his oily henchmen to escape their dreadful fate? From the award-winning author of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife comes a spooky, funny thriller just right for those middle-grade readers looking for horror--and humor.

Amazon.com Review

"I might have occupied my mind usefully with Improving Thoughts, but the only improvement I could imagine then was a pair of wings, to enable me to fly to freedom. And, of course, a Head for Heights. I cleaned the dust from the window and peered out hopefully, but there was nothing but a Horrid Precipice, with jagged crags several thousands of feet below." Such are the woes of young Charlotte, locked in a tower room of her uncle's gloomy Castle Karlstein in 19th-century Switzerland. Escaping this predicament seems the least of her worries: in a solemn blood pact, her evil uncle, Count Karlstein, has promised to sacrifice his two orphaned nieces, Lucy and Charlotte, to Zamiel the Demon Huntsman--on midnight of All Souls' Eve--in return for his current riches. First, however, the heartless Count and his "lip-licking, moist-handed, creeping, smarming" secretary, Herr Arturo Snivelwurst, will have to catch Lucy, too--and it is no small task with the headstrong, 14-year-old Hildi Kelmar; her 18-year-old, handsome-in-a-scowling-sort-of-way brother, Peter; and the intrepid English teacher Miss Augusta Davenport on the girls' side. As Miss Davenport herself points out, "an English gentlewoman can rise above any circumstances, given intelligence and a loaded pistol." The events in this delightful gothic farce unfold quickly in a variety of narrative voices, artfully building in suspense to a powerful, terrifying, deeply satisfying stand-off between the Count and the Demon Huntsman of Impenetrable Darkness himself. Subplots and loose ends are gracefully, happily, justly tied up in the light of day, finally allowing readers to exhale. British novelist Philip Pullman, masterful storyteller and creator of the bestselling adventures The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, mesmerizes us again with his playful, suspenseful thriller Count Karlstein, released in the United States 16 years after its appearance in the United Kingdom. Readers young and old will revel in every angle, twist, and turn of this breathlessly paced, very funny page-turner. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in Britain in 1982, Pullman's light-hearted debut effort appears in the U.S. for the first time. A welcome diversion for fans impatiently awaiting the final installation of the trilogy begun with The Golden Compass, this novel?though lacking the more serious underpinnings of the author's later books?showcases the boisterous narrative style that fans will recognize as an established element of Pullman's repertoire. Set in a Swiss village in 1816, the story revolves around wicked Count Karlstein, his two wards?the English orphans Lucy and Charlotte?and the nasty bargain Karlstein has struck with Zamiel, the Demon Huntsman, a supernatural being who annually haunts the local woods on All Souls' Eve. Pullman adds further zest to the mix with the appearance of characters like the orphans' former schoolteacher, the indomitable Augusta Davenport ("I was able to console myself with the reflection that an English gentlewoman can rise above any circumstances, given intelligence and a loaded pistol"), and the actor and sometime swindler known as Doctor Cadavarezzi (aka Signor Brilliantini), a mountebank as charming as he is sly. Briskly narrated in a variety of voices, including those of Lucy (influenced by such contemporary gothic novels as The Mysteries of Udolpho) and the bumbling, hilariously self-important police sergeant Snitsch, the plot undergoes a series of twists and turns too complicated?not to mention delightfully improbable?to delineate here. In an exuberant conclusion worthy of the best of comic operas, the orphans find a true protector, the evil Count is served his just deserts and the formidable Miss Davenport is reunited with her long-lost love. Dashing, sparkling and wildly over-the-top fun. Ages 8-13. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-In this deliciously gothic thriller there are enough demon huntsmen, evil guardians, and brooding castles to please even the most desensitized reader. The telling of the tale changes hands from beginning to end, but the principal narrator is Hildi Kelmer, a teenage maidservant at Castle Karlstein. When she hears that Count Karlstein plans to offer up his two young nieces to Zamiel the Demon Huntsman on All Soul's Eve as part of an old bargain, she must move quickly to get the two innocents to safety. However, getting from point A to point B in this story is a long, involved process, mined with almost every gothic device possible. Among the cast of characters are Hildi's brother Peter, who recently escaped from jail where he was serving a sentence for poaching; Miss Davenport, a formidable Englishwoman and former teacher of the orphan girls; goodhearted Max the Coachman, whose bad luck with sausages has landed him with the slick debonair outlaw Doctor Cadaverezzi; and Max's true lost love, the faithful but ditzy Eliza. Each of these characters is flawlessly drawn, and the changes in narrative voice would be obvious, even without the changes in typeface. However, it is the intricate plot, with its interconnected twists and turns and cliff-hanger chapter endings, that will really sell this book. The pacing is delightful, with horrific crescendos every few chapters, and comic relief in the others. After the excitement of Zamiel's visit, the literary tidying up of plot threads is a welcome relief. Try this for those readers not ready for Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, but beyond the pale horror of R. L. Stine's "Fear Street" books.Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 6^-9. Including the sort of atmospheric touches the author is known for, Pullman's latest is an energetic combination of melodrama, suspense, horror, and comedy. Multiple narrators tell the story, with 14-year-old Hildi Kelmar, servant in the home of despicable Count Karlstein, setting things up and doing most of the talking. It seems that her villainous employer is planning to sacrifice his young nieces to the Demon Huntsman, to whom he has sold his soul in exchange for his title. What Karlstein doesn't bargain for is plucky Lucy's intervention, or the intercession of his nieces' former school teacher, a con artist and his helper, and Lucy's older brother--a somewhat bumbling bunch. There's lots of running around and plenty of old-fashioned slapstick, the latter thanks mostly to the local constabulary, who can't seem to get anything right. There are also some good laughs stemming from the characterizations: the Count's oily, disgusting secretary has the perfect name--Mr. Snivelwurst. The fun gives way to some real suspense now and again, especially when the Huntsman comes for his due. The plot seems to stagger a bit under the weight of its multifaceted cast and their crisscrossing agendas, but Pullman manages to shore it up by the close so the characters live happily ever after and readers come away both satisfied and smiling. Stephanie Zvirin

From Kirkus Reviews

Using multiple narrators and expertly concocted cliffhangers, Pullman (The Subtle Knife, 1997, etc.) crafts a thrilling page-turner less violent than his Sally Lockhart adventures but no less breathlessly paced. Brought to these shores 16 years after it was first published in Britain, this gothic farce features young orphans, evil schemers, a gloomy Swiss castle, a long-lost heir, stalwart lads, capable women, a con man on the lam, hilariously bumbling police officers, and Zamiel: the Prince of the Mountains, the Demon Huntsman, ``swathed in impenetrable darkness, with eyes of raging fire.'' Having agreed to supply the demon with human prey in exchange for riches, the amoral upstart Count Karlstein and his slimy secretary Snivelwurst plan to lock bereaved young Lucy and Charlotte, believed to be the last Karlsteins in the direct line, in a hunting lodge on All Souls' Eve. Fortunately, 14-year-old servant Hildi and chunky but superbly competent English tutor Augusta Davenport get wind of the plot and engineer a clever reversal, but not before a sequence of mishaps, desperate searches, captures, and escapes, complicated by a tangle of subplots and capped by a gloriously frightening glimpse of Zamiel himself, at whose hands Count Karlstein meets a well-deserved doom. In the ensuing hubbub, doughty Miss Davenport is reunited with her lost love Antonio Rolipolio, an escape artist whose feckless assistant Max turns out to be none other than Castle Karlstein's real heir, kidnapped as a baby and thought lost. It's whirlwind plotting, manipulated into a pulsing tale of darkened hearts, treachery, and at long last, redemption. (Fiction. 11-13) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From the Inside Flap

Can you hear the distant howling of hounds and the thunder of ghostly hooves? It's All Souls' Eve and Zamiel the Demon Huntsman has come to claim his prey! He's headed straight for Castle Karlstein, where the evil count has hatched an evil plan; he'll sacrifice his two young nieces to save himself. Can Lucy and Charlotte outwit their uncle and his oily henchmen to escape their dreadful fate? From the award-winning author of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife comes a spooky, funny thriller just right for those middle-grade readers looking for horror--and humor.

About the Author

Philip Pullman was born in Norwich, England and was brought up in Rhodesia, Australia, London and Wales.  Philip graduated from Oxford University in 1973 with a degree in English, and has taught middle school at Westminter College.  He is the author of many highly-acclaimed books for young readers, from contemporary fiction to Victorian thrillers, and has written plays and picture books for readers of all ages.  Philip's current book, The Golden Compass , has been hailed as "a rich combination of high fantasy, high drama, and intense emotion" by author Lloyd Alexander, and "extraordinary storytelling at it's very best" by the Detroit Free-Press .Philip currently lives in Oxford with his wife, Judith, and children.

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