Read an excerpt from THE DREADFUL TALE OF PROSPER REDDING by bestselling author Alexandra Bracken!
Alexandra Bracken, bestselling author of popular YA series The Darkest Minds and Passenger, has a new middle grade fantasy coming out in September called The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding. The cover was released alongside a fascinating excerpt from the upcoming book.
Check it out!
A Word from the Malefactor
Light a candle and step close to the looking glass. Time is short, and we cannot delay.
In another time, in another world, you would not have been worth the slightest flicker of my gaze. However, even I cannot break the terms of our contract. So if you find yourself still foolish enough to follow, there are three things—three things—you must know. Three lessons that must be heard, obeyed, remembered. These may one day prove crucial to your survival, human. Whether you choose to pay attention is entirely up to you. I’ve never had time to suffer fools.
The first is that you can never trust a Redding. The family will whistle lies between their teeth and beg for mercy until their wagging tongues tire. Do not give in. Cover your ears, your eyes, and block out their cowardly stench. These are the humans that broke a contract written in blood the moment they feared for their fortune. Their tradition is one of foolishness. They are no family of yours.
Listen. Mind me well, for the light grows dim and our hour approaches. The Reddings will tell you they were wronged, misunderstood. They will tell you I am a liar, a cheat, and a scoundrel. But do not forget that even as I slept, they feared me. As should you.
For the second thing you must understand is that my tradition is one of revenge.
And the third: anything I give you, I can—and will—delight in taking back.
Which, in the case of the Reddings, is everything.
CHAPTER ONE
Founder’s Day
See, here’s the thing.
In the big scheme of life and planet Earth, the town of Redhood is a tiny speck. An itty-bitty speck of a speck. Don’t even bother pulling out a map, because the town isn’t on most of them. It never held a witch trial, wasn’t responsible for starting any kind of revolution, and the Pilgrims landed on a rock about two hundred miles away. To most people, the only interesting thing about Redhood is the family that founded it.
Well, you might be interested to know that there is nothing interesting about us Reddings. I mean, okay, my great-great-great-great-great-whatever came this close to signing the Declaration of Independence but got held up by a sore throat that killed him two days later. A sore throat. Which, sorry, is just about the lamest way a guy could go. I don’t think he should get points for almost signing. That’s like me telling my parents I almost got a perfect score on my math test—a D is only four grades away from an A, right?
Read more of the excerpt here, and check out Alexandra’s post on Instagram below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BT3_Ou2FH46/
The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding hits shelves September, 2017.