The Lion Tamer's Daughter

The Lion Tamer's Daughter is one of four ghostly stories in this collection. All four show ordinary young people encountering something otherworldly and inexplicable. Time travel, ghosts, and two sets of unusual 'twins' are featured. (As a twin myself, I loved these.) Dickinson is a master of not telling you too much -- he stays within one character's viewpoint and makes you long to know what's going on in other characters' minds. Highly recommended for when you're in the mood for fantasy-in-eve [...]

Short interesting take on the doppelgänger myth that was a bit mysterious and a bit undeveloped. An ok read.

Every time I read this book I see another bit of depth or perspective.It is 4 stories, unlinked except by theme. They involve doubles, mirror images and enantiomorphic images. . d each has some element of magic. The first (shortest) and last (longest) are even, in a sense, reflections of each other. And each involves an adolescent grappling more or less with the question of personal identity.The first, "The Spring" always strikes me (when I am not reading it) as sad and a bit disturbing, but whe [...]

I really enjoyed this book although there were many puzzles left unanswered. Some readers may be frustrated by this, but I felt that it could lead to interesting discussion. I would consider using it with Year 6 since there were some moments that were genuinely unnerving. The plot is original and I also thought Dickinson did well to sound like a teenage narrator. It was also interesting to see strong relationships between mothers and their children whereas the fathers were either dead or perceiv [...]

This was a very entertaining book! I picked it up, having nothing else to read and just couldn't stop reading. The characters were well developed, the plot was interesting, and the writing wasn't too difficult but not too easy either. My idea of a perfect book. But why did I give it four stars instead of five? Well, the ending confused me a lot. It wasn't until the main character explained what had happened while talking to another character, did I understand, but it still left me feeling a bit [...]

It's always difficult to rate a book that is made up of several short stories, even if all the stories are by the same author. While I enjoyed a couple of the stories more than others, I found myself captivated from cover to cover. Dickinson's writing style creates characters that the reader can relate to and understand. I will definitely be looking for more books by Peter Dickinson in the future.

Bit of a weird one, this.Re-read in March 2013: I like Keith's narrative voice, and the ordinary-ness of the settings in the UK, but the denouement with Monsieur Albert and the mirror seemed to go on for too long. I also felt like the explanation wasn't terribly satisfying.

So good. Uncanny, odd stories, and such excellent ones.

Haven't read short stories in a while - nor supernatural ones. Happily both. And a journey back into teen fiction

This is four short stories--contemporary with a paranormal twist. Intriguing and enjoyable.

I love all the stories in this book, but my favorite is "Checkers."

I thoroughly enjoyed these four stories with a supernatural twist.

Hm, two stars or three? I went with two in the end because this just wasn't my cup of tea. I like magic I can "believe" in so to speak but this was just presented as rather silly.

REALLY, REALLY great stories!

A really excellent story collection. Each story gets better in sequence, and the title story is just fantastic. Highly recommended. This book deserves to be better known.