Autumn Krause's sophomore YA novel is a dark, lush, original folktale told from two perspectives: Mexican American teen Catalina, a girl searching for The Man of Sap, and John, who through his misfortune becomes the Man of Sap.
In a broken-down shack in early-19th-century Wisconsin, Catalina's father is killed, and her brother, Jose Luis, is kidnapped by the Man of Sap, a man/tree creature who, "sowing seeds of sin... grows apples of ash." Catalina's father had told her stories about the Man of Sap and his deadly apples since she was a small child, devastated by her mother's mysterious death. Now 17, Catalina is determined to rescue Jose Luis, her only surviving family member. In her travels, she meets and joins forces with Paul, a sickly lumberjack who is also seeking the Man of Sap. As they search, Catalina and Paul are both helped and attacked by birds, encounter beings of myth and legend, and find in each other a kindred soul. Woven alongside Catalina's third-person odyssey is the first-person tale of John, an apple farmer whose dream of a thriving orchard led him to sign a deal with the devil.
Krause (A Dress for the Wicked) invents here an original folktale that is part Johnny Appleseed, part "The Devil and Daniel Webster," and uses dual narratives to tell two distinct, engrossing stories that intertwine in unexpected ways. Her prose is descriptive and delicate, her mythical world populated with creatures both intriguing and terrifying. Krause delivers an excellently creepy legend perfect for Halloween reading. --Deanna Meyerhoff, reviewer