In 1812 London, Barnabas McDoon owns a very successful import/export company, where he employs his nephew Tom and allows his niece Sally to explore its dark libraries. All is rather dull and dreary, when one day Barnabas is given a key and a chance to right his past’s wrongs, if he would only open the door to a prison. Only problem, to do so he must travel to the land of Yount, a land that isn’t on any map he’s seen. There forces he cannot fathom will do anything to stop him, where unfathomable monsters stalk and bite, and a once-human wizard, with his own agenda, kidnaps his nephew. While wondering which side to trust Barnabas must decide which is more important, saving the people of Yount from being swallowed by Hell itself, or the souls of the people he cherishes the most.

The Choir Boats immediately propelled me back to my youth, when on rainy weekends I would curl up on the couch and immerse myself completely with such classics as The Prydain Chronicles, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and anything penned by Dickens, Austen and Doyle that I could get my hands on. I was quite surprised by the high level of poetic prose that captivated me instantly and dragged me from my reality to this time and place, and a land named Yount. There wasn’t a moment of boredom while reading this book. With characters so precisely developed, especially the female ones, I did not once scan a paragraph or skip a page (which I admit I do sometimes), for I might miss a pistol duel, a bloody trail of footprints or a strange new species.
For those that have not been gripped by vampire fever,(and perhaps especially those that have) this book is the highest on my list of must reads this year and most definitely a story that future generations will be captivated by. The only issue I had with it, was that it was Volume One…I wanted to keep going…and not return from this dark and mysterious place. Rabuzzi is finally(sighs)an original voice amongst the rehashing of old favorites and the “fang” bandwagon.