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Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers' Favorite
Malve von Hassell’s The Amber Crane is a gripping, suspense-filled historical fiction and time-travel story. The story is set in Germany, in and around the harbor town of Stolp in Pomerania along the Baltic Sea, in 1644, during the closing years of the Thirty Years' War. The novel’s inspiration comes from the folklore and legends of amber, prized for its colors and beauty, and inclusions of plants and animal remains. Peter Glienke, 15, is an apprentice in the amber guild. The guild is very protective of its trade, and any amber found must be turned in to the guild. Peter finds two pieces of amber and decides to keep them, working on them surreptitiously. He knows the risks of being caught by the amber guild: he would never be allowed to become Journeyman Peter Glienke. Then he begins to have strange dreams of a different time. He learns from a young German woman in the dreams that he has somehow slipped into the Germany of 1944, three hundred years in the future, and into a war between Germany and Russia. The story twists and turns in the two different times, 1644 and 1944.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Amber Crane for its remarkable characters and its multilayered, suspense-filled time-travel story. The story sprang to life through the magic and enchantment of the amber pieces that Peter finds. I enjoyed Peter’s character development, set against the backdrop of war in 1644, interwoven into his daily life and his apprenticeship in the amber guild. I liked the settings showing Peter learning to transform original pieces of amber into fine beads, jewelry, and decorative pieces. From the skillfully crafted dialogues, the descriptions of settings, and Peter’s own thoughts and emotions, I could imagine his entrancement and the meticulous way he transforms the pieces into the ornaments that he has already created in his mind. The story gained great depth and suspense when Peter finds himself in 1944, in a different war but still fraught with devastation, danger, and peril. The immersive details of Peter’s dreams, the time travel into 1944, and particularly the young German woman, made the story poignant and profoundly moving. I highly recommend Malve von Hassell’s The Amber Crane to readers who enjoy complex, multilayered storylines, with great character development, suspense, and mystery.
